The Danica Drama

[cgr-10]

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[nitrorocks]

Which is my only problem with her.

Fine, women should be allowed to be racing drivers, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that and it shouldn't be particularly extraordinary. But I personally get annoyed at the fact she's on the screen or being talked about constantly regardless of the situation. She's a girl in NASCAR. Get over it.

Exactly. No one cares.

 

[Pupik]

Exactly. No one cares.

The problem is the media that doesn't cover NASCAR cares too much about how much they can't stand Danica, which exacerbates the issues.

The best thing that can make the fluff go away are actual wins, or Johanna Long beating her squarely in a race.

 

[SUfan21]

So much hate regarding Danica, and 99% of it is COMPLETELY unfounded. She's popular, whether you like it or not. How she got popular is irrelevant to the fact that she IS popular, and thus she is going to get media attention. She brings attention to the sport, whether that's good or bad is irrelevant. Attention=Higher Ratings, Higher Ratings are good for NASCAR. Thus, logic says that Danica is good for NASCAR. Anyone who takes issue with her is either immature or just plain jaded.

 

[Mac K]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if Danica wasn't female, she would have been old news and lost the media's attention a long time ago.. Take that how you like.

 

[dsgerbc]

So much hate regarding Danica, and 99% of it is COMPLETELY unfounded. She's popular, whether you like it or not. How she got popular is irrelevant to the fact that she IS popular, and thus she is going to get media attention. She brings attention to the sport, whether that's good or bad is irrelevant. Attention=Higher Ratings, Higher Ratings are good for NASCAR. Thus, logic says that Danica is good for NASCAR. Anyone who takes issue with her is either immature or just plain jaded.

I say put one of the Kardashyans in there. More ratings, lol.

 

[Adamgp]

I think it is a mix of ratings, her gender, as well as Nascar kind of rubbing it in the face of the IRL that their popular driver and ratings getter switched to Nascar full time.

Personally I think it is a mistake. She's not ready for cup as evidenced by her being a rolling road block at Darlington.

She doesn't even have a full Nationwide season under her belt, and she hasn't done squat in that series besides winning a pole at Daytona (which has more to do with the car, then driver).

She needs to spend more time in Nationwide, learn the tracks, score a few wins, maybe a championship.

On a related note, my friend told me his ex-gf went to high school with her and she is a 🤬 in real life.

 

[marcus_war]

It comes down to getting seat time. Bursts of speed are good, sure. But you must remember that she was running Indycar full-time last year while doing a part-time NNS schedule. Is this move not akin to what JPM did in '06? Montoya, nabbed a win in his rookie season.


And did we also forget that Danica has one of the best Crew Chiefs a rookie cup driver could ever have? Greg Zippadeli started with Tony Stewart (now her car owner) and won a few races. Then when Tony left Joe Gibbs Racing, he got a win with rookie Joey Logano, albeit in a rain-shortened Loudon 300. Expect some great results, possibly a surprise win in her remaining Cup races this year.


As for the Nationwide side, she is steadily improving. Don't bash her on being inconsistent. Not even Jeff Gordon is as consistent as he once was. He either shows great speed or none at all, and either get TKOed by competition or his own equipment. In my view his situation on the Cup side isn't much different than Danica's on the NNS side.


This is no different than saying that Cam Newton had a bad NFL season last year because he's a rookie and blah blah blah... Because as with Newton,
Danica will finish the year strong. Not championship ready yet, but give her some time.


The hype that she gets is a little excessive, she deserves only 90% of it. Hype creates pressure which is distracting. If you want her to do well, lay off of her a bit.

 

[Tired Tyres]

She doesn't deserve any of the hype she gets at all. If people only talked about her when she did someone noteworthy on the track, you'd hardly know she existed.

 

[astrosdude91]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if Danica wasn't female, she would have been old news and lost the media's attention a long time ago.. Take that how you like.

If she wasn't a female, she would never have had the media's attention in the first place.

 

[photonrider]

Danica seems to be doing well already this season. Currently the fastest at practice . . and a lot more confidence showing. Be interesting to see how she mixes it up with the big guns this year.

 

[Clark]

Whoops, my bad.

Mods delete.

 

[photonrider]

Thanks. But let's not discuss the ins and outs of Danica there.
She's special, no?

 

[Clark]

No it was my fault, for some reason I thought this was post #1 of a thead and you'd made it just to say that. My fault, don't mind me I'm an idiot.

 

[Carbonox]

With all the moaning and whining and lack of speed and retaliating and wrecking in general, I'm definitely looking forward to this season. 36 races of madness by miss Patrick, now where's my popcorn?

 

[photonrider]

Not at all, Clark. Genuine mistake.

Danica is a phenomenon in her own right and I made this thread with the intention of following her progress in the sport. She had a trying year trying to fit it and now seems to have gained the respect of her peers - as well as improving her racing tremendously. When she got into NASCAR, I wondered about her future; I felt we would only see significant results after a few years.

I'm looking forward to the 500 . . . But, that's for another thread

 

[photonrider]

Danica's grabbed the Pole in qualifying right now with second fastest being Tony. The twist to this is her competition for Rookie of the Year is none other than . . . Yes, you guessed it. Her current date.

This season the circus is going to bring in a lot of bread.

 

[sumbrownkid]

With all the moaning and whining and lack of speed and retaliating and wrecking in general, I'm definitely looking forward to this season. 36 races of madness by miss Patrick, now where's my popcorn?

I'm looking forward to more Go Daddy commercials with her sans clothing.

 

[photonrider]

Photoshop might help you with that.

As I've mentioned before, I've found Danica impressive sans gender - try holding three thousand pounds of hurtling 200 mile per hour steel together, and you'll know what I mean.

But, apart from the fact that she's as good as any when everybody's 'all-dressed', she also brings human drama into the sport. Or else we would use robots to run the race.

Apart from that - to hardcore longtime NASCAR fans . . . this is all part of 'Family'. A hard concept to put into words unless you've lived NASCAR for a long time.

Danica is more than an interesting new Rookie. She's drama, too. In unform.

 

[pinoyboiii408]

Its actually nice to see Danica improving in Nascar in my opinnion, not bad for taking pole position for the Daytona 500.

 

[Wilbur]

Its actually nice to see Danica improving in Nascar in my opinnion, not bad for taking pole position for the Daytona 500.

I'm all for her getting better and showing it but all the drama with her love life, because she is a female gets old really fast. She isn't the only female out there nor drive so let's find something better to talk about. If she wins a race, by all means that's awesome.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Pole is one thing, finishing the race is a entirely different thing, and winning...well even the best just hope to finish.

 

[photonrider]

Anything can happen.

I've watched NASCAR for decades - and I've had enough experience about it to expect that.
Danica was big before she came into NASCAR. NASCAR is not her ticket to fame. It's the other way around. Where are the statistics that will tell us about the percentage increase in the interest taken in the sport after Danica's entry into it and the added (and often overextended) media attention and hype given to her?

But, then . . . is this discussion itself part of the extended hype?

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_Patrick#Career_summary


That's a lot longer than my own driving abstract. (And I drive a lot, there's gasoline in my blood.) So I'm not one to judge her.

But looking at it from an altogether different view - from the viewpoint of 'Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday', from the viewpoint of spectator interest and therefore greater sponsorships which would strengthen the sport, and from the viewpoint of sheer visceral tension for those who truly understand that it's not 'driving in circles' that's happening here, but a high speed and extremely dangerous ballet of machinary handled by the best of the best, whose millisecond mistake could cost lives - even with the fanatical safety measures that NASCAR implements.

From that viewpoint, we don't really care who is in it but what they do to impress upon us how great we can be when we dare to be the best we can be - against all odds about gender, age, creed, caste or colour.

 

[MisterWhiskers]

I'm sorry Danica, but you're the ACR 6.8 from MW3 of NASCAR. Waaay too over-rated. Nobody gives a 🤬 about Dale Earnhardt Senior, the legend, its all just Danica Danica Danica. And I'm not sexist I'm just sayin'.

 

[Carbonox]

No one should even need to say they're not sexist when scolding Danica. She wants to play with 'em boys, she better learn to understand that she's no different from them.

 

[photonrider]

MisterWhiskers - Maybe you haven't met those die-hard fans that adore Dale and have a shrine to him in their homes - most times it's an entire basement, or the whole pool-table room is all about Dale. They'll give you so much 🤬 about Dale that you'll cover your ears and run away.

And then are those who will start talking about Cale or Peterson or the Woods brothers . . you don't want to go there, either.

I'm not saying we should forget Dale. I cried the day he died. I thought he was invulnerable because of the way he raced and survived.

But right now there is this phenomenal woman rookie called Patrick that is right out in front with the Champions, and still there at this moment after a hundred and twenty miles of blinding racing. With less than a dozen of these races under her belt as experience. She's doing okay. Give her a break from the hype and take a look at her as a rookie, and a challenger for this Cup.

 

[Carbonox]

Did Stacy Compton receive the same amount of attention when he got two plate track poles at 2001 with subpar equipment? How about David Gilliland when he won pole for the 500? Or even Trevor Bayne after his 2011 win?

Danica is no more worthy of the attention she's receiving than these guys.

 

[Katiegan]

I don't really think Danica wants to be treated any differently from the guys. It's just the media can't cope with a girl in a race suit.

 

[That90sGuy]

My 2 cents, nothing that hasn't already been said by others though. If Danica wins today, I'll be happy for her and it will be a good achievement. My issue how the hype train treat her, and the way she's been so quickly promoted through to Sprint Cup

 

[Carbonox]

But right now there is this phenomenal woman rookie called Patrick that is right out in front with the Champions, and still there at this moment after a hundred and twenty miles of blinding racing. With less than a dozen of these races under her belt as experience. She's doing okay. Give her a break from the hype and take a look at her as a rookie, and a challenger for this Cup.

As a rookie? Sure I can do that, it's just that she's not been nearly as impressive at the start of her career as most of today's drivers have been. As a challenger for the Cup? Never in all my life. She would need to have an IndyCar against those NASCAR's to even make the Chase at some point.