So this whole Danica Patrick coming to NASCAR thing is irritating to me on a couple levels.
Take out the fact that she’s a girl and a fan favorite for a moment. What has she done? She’s won ONE race in IndyCar. One race. Uno. That’s all she’s got. No one was losing their mind about the possibility of Sam Hornish Jr. coming over to NASCAR, and he’s won the Indy 500 and the IRL Championship three times.
So what’s with all the hubbub about Danica? If you take out her record then it’s because she’s a woman and she’s pretty. I’ve got absolutely nothing against her (ok, I’m still irked she didn’t know who Gloria Steinem was, but whatevs), of course I want to see a woman compete at the highest levels and win everything there is to win.
And it’s not that I don’t want her to ever come over to NASCAR, I just think she should stay where she is and get great — win more races, and win a Championship. Conquer IndyCar first and then give NASCAR a try. Otherwise, it smells like a gimmick and I don’t like gimmicks.
It reminds me of those guys who are basketball phenoms in high school who skip college and go straight to the pros. I don’t like that either. I’d say the same thing about this whole situation if it was Marco Andretti who was thinking about coming to NASCAR. He’s only won one race so far, but his last name carries weight.
We’ve got enough “fan favorites” in NASCAR. We’ve got a lot to talk about. And to the people who think that it would “help” NASCAR if she came in, I think that’s complete horse crap. NASCAR doesn’t need her. NASCAR has female fans, and female fans don’t need to look at female driver in order to enjoy racing. I think that whole train of thought comes from short-sighted men who don’t give women enough credit.