nascar women
Danica’s Move NASCAR EXPECTS NEW FANS, A BOOST IN TV RATINGS TO FOLLOW
W
ithin two days of Danica Patrick’s top-10 finish in her 2010 ARCA Racing Series debut at Daytona International Speedway, her announcement that she would make her NASCAR debut the following week in the NASCAR Nationwide Series season opener triggered a bombardment of telephone calls at the 2.5-mile track’s ticket office. It signaled that her popularity was unquestionable and her participation in NASCAR would help boost TV ratings and draw new fans to the sport.
“She certainly has a lot to live up to.”
– JEFF GORDON, FOUR-TIME NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CHAMPION
50
POLE POSITION // 2011 2012
BY DEB WILLIAMS
However, in 2010 and 2011, the petite, fiery competitor preferred to focus on the IZOD IndyCar Series while testing the NASCAR waters in the NASCAR Nationwide Series under the watchful eyes of veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and JR Motorsports. Patrick quickly realized she enjoyed stock car racing. Last year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, she even broke a mark that had stood for 62 years. Her fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race made her the highest finishing female in a NASCAR national touring series event. Previously, Sara Christian possessed that distinction with a fifth in 1949. The media frenzy that surrounded Patrick’s decision to trade her open-wheel bullet for a full-time NASCAR ride in 2012 wasn’t surprising. Her full-time efforts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series will again be with JR Motorsports, while StewartHaas Racing will provide her with a 10-race ride in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Her debut in stock car racing’s pinnacle series is scheduled for the prestigious Daytona 500 with veteran crew chief Greg Zipadelli overseeing the operation. “She is definitely deserving of an opportunity like this and we’re excited and honored that she chose us to do it with,” said team co-owner Tony Stewart, an IndyCar and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion who, like Patrick, came up through the open-wheel ranks. Patrick, who will celebrate her 30th birthday later this year, is “really excited and really happy” to be in NASCAR with JR Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s the first time in NASCAR history a woman has driven for not only top-tier teams in both series, but the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion’s operation. It’s a situation that Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes has “just opened the door to a lot more opportunities for other women, regardless of whether she measures up to
FAST FACTS
Danica Patrick ■■ Birthdate: March 25, 1982 ■■ Hometown: Roscoe, Ill. ■■ Resides: Phoenix, Ariz., with her husband ■■ Family: Parents – T.J. and Bev Patrick; Sister – Brooke ■■ Has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, SHAPE and ESPN the Magazine. She also was featured in the 2008 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. ■■ Joined Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a cameo role for Grammy-award winning artist Jay-Z’s “Show Me What You Got” music video in 2006.
everybody’s expectations or not.” The general consensus among the competitors is Patrick will be good for the sport, a much different opinion than Janet Guthrie faced in the 1970s and Shawna Robinson and Patty Moise encountered later. For many, Patrick is no longer a novelty, but strictly a competitor. Most people will now focus on her performance in the most grueling racing season she has ever faced. With 31 NASCAR Nationwide and 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup events, Patrick is looking at a minimum 41-race season, plus testing. Her move to NASCAR from the IndyCar Series, where she owns a victory, will bring more attention to the sport and is expected to foster new fans. In return, a tremendous amount of pressure will be placed on Patrick with the former Illinois resident not perhaps being afforded the learning curve of her male counterparts. “To me, it’s far more challenging for her than it was for me because I didn’t have that kind of hype and expectations and that many eyes on me, even though I felt like I did, I know I didn’t,” said four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon. “The most challenging years in my racing career was definitely my rookie year in [NASCAR] Nationwide and my rookie year in [NASCAR Sprint] Cup, because you feel like you have so much to do to step it up and to live up to any expectations that there are. She certainly has a lot to live up to.”