The Firing Of Danica Patrick
4/23/2014
Jim Fitzgerald
Hello, my Race Friends!
I hope you all had a nice Easter.
That was a nice weekend off from racing activity, but I’m really ready
to get back at it. I feel the need for
speed! This week, my silly little random
thoughts come from heart via the brain and fingertips. I bring you a topic I’ve wanted to address
for a few weeks, but other thoughts came first.
I think now is just as good as any time to address Danica Patrick and her
on-track performance. Danica Patrick is, make no mistake, not performing as expected. There it is, out in the open, disagree or
agree, it is up to you, my race friends.
But before you jump on this bandwagon, or douse it in gasoline and set
it aflame, let’s discuss which expectations we are considering. I was certainly not a fly on the wall during the contract
negotiations which brought Patrick to NASCAR, specifically the NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series. I am unaware of any
performance expectation or thresholds which needed to be met on the track, or
any merchandise sales totals which needed to be achieved to classify the
Patrick signing as a success. I was not
there. I’m guessing you were not there
either. By the way, if I’m wrong on the
last part, let me know. We should
talk…you know, about racing…and stuff. No, my Race Friends, the expectations of which I write are
not those of Stewart-Haas Racing. They
are those of the jury of the Court of Public Opinion. They are those of us, the race fans, and they
are unfair, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Anyone who knows me as a race fan knows I am addicted to the
NASCAR channel on satellite radio. I
love it because I get to hear the opinions of so many race fans, the known and
the nameless, familiar and faceless.
They are my people, and I listen to them. I hope NASCAR listens to them too, because
they have a lot of good things to say.
Anyway, it has been almost two paragraphs since I mentioned the topic of
this column, so let’s get back to Danica Patrick. Those voices I hear on the radio, they are so very critical
of Danica Patrick. They ask why she has
not yet won a race. They ask why she has
not done better. And, they ask why she
still has a ride. Really? I find that to be a rather confusing question. After all, let’s consider some facts. And I’ll be honest; I have to look up these
stats. Michael Waltrip went sixteen
years without getting a win. Now, I’ll
admit that the behind the scenes access and fan opinion we have now dwarfs what
we had in the 1980’s and 1990’s, but let me tell you, I don’t recall anyone
writing into Winston Cup Scene or any other publication I read back then asking
for Michael Waltrip to lose his ride.
That dude had to wait until the Daytona 500 of 2001 to get his first
win, and then, he couldn’t even enjoy it…and we all know why. Derrike Cope never really set the world on
fire in the Cup Series either, but he did score two wins, once in the 1990
Daytona 500 and once later in the same year at Dover. Yes, it took him about eight years to win his
first race. That would be the same with
Lake Speed. A good, solid eight
years. Well, not good for him, but…you
get the idea. Jimmy Spencer took five
years to win, and some folks say that he won just because he got the “call”
from NASCAR in the McDonald’s Ford owned by one very influential Junior Johnson. Okay...think what you want. We’re not here to discuss that this week. I said I wasn’t going to be a stat-spitting robot, but I’m
trying to prove my point. And here comes
the big one. Fans that have any memory
of the 1990’s are going to know where I’m going with this one. This gentleman started driving in 1976 for H.B. Cunningham
and had his father for a crew chief.
Then, keeping alive his record of driving for car owners who only used
their initials as a first name, he drove for J.D. Stacy and D.K. Ulrich. After driving one race for his father, he
took a turn in a car run by Billy Matthews before taking Roger Hamby’s car to a
Rookie of the Year title in 1983. Put
that in perspective. Between the time
that this driver won the Rookie of the Year title and won his first race, Rusty
Wallace won the Rookie of the Year title and a Championship, in 1984 and 1989,
respectively. So, yeah, this guy had a
kind of a rough go of it. I remember the
first race at Atlanta in 1991, when he was driving for Junior Johnson. He led almost the whole first portion of the
race, but rain came, and the race was postponed until the next day. His car wasn’t the same, and Kenny Schrader
took his third career win. Then this
driver went to race with the Stavola Brothers, and still no wins. No, friends, it wasn’t until the 1994 Daytona
500 when this driver won his first race, and then did it again the next
year. I’m talking about two-time Daytona
500 Champion Sterling Marlin, who waited, ahem, eighteen years to
get his first win, and, if not for sustaining a broken neck, may very well have
won the 2002 Winston Cup. (Remember
Jamie McMurray driving Sterling’s No. 40 Coors Light Dodge to his first win at
Charlotte?) Anyway, no one was calling
for Sterling to be kicked out of any of those cars, but then again, Sterling
didn’t need any help hopping from one ride to another. Is that too much history for you? Let’s talk about current drivers, then, and
one in particular, very close to Patrick.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has five less starts than Patrick, and no wins as
well. I’m surprised I can even type this
with all of the clamor and bickering over whether or not Stenhouse should get
kicked out of his ride. Listen to all
the naysayers! (Crickets chirp… and a
firefly passes by harmlessly, doing a slow dance as the evening settles in.) Paul Menard has a win.
That’s one win in 263 starts, and it came after 166 of those
starts. Shoo-wee, you wouldn’t believe
the witch hunt that went on for Paul Menard to get the boot from his
opportunities. How about Dave Blaney, or Aric Almirola, or A. J.
Allmendinger? All of these drivers have
no wins, and at least twice as many starts as Danica Patrick. Yet for those drivers, all I mostly hear is
encouragement, and not requests for their beheadings. No, my friends, it seems as if Ms. Patrick is the victim of
her own popularity. Her name was on the
lips of so many so very soon, and then came a pole position and a top-ten
finish in her first Daytona 500, which only helped to fuel that fire. And then when she didn’t win, and still
hasn’t won, it must be time to kick her out. I’m sorry folks, but I just don’t see it. What difference does it make to you if Danica
Patrick is driving the No. 10 car or not?
Have you heard anyone from Stewart-Haas Racing say that they would love
to get “Driver X” in that No. 10 car if they could just get rid of that dad-gummed
marketing cash cow named Danica Patrick?
Easy, now…just a term, I’m not calling her a cow. Now I would hope that no one would take this personally, but
is this a sport still so deeply rooted in its origins of “back-woods-livin’, moon-shine-runnin’,
outlaw-makin’, racism-fosterin’,
sexism-nurturin’, cheap-beer-swillin’,
no-shirt-wearin’, red-neck-havin’,
soap-and-water-dodgin’, tooth-brush-ignorin’ past” that many are still looking down on minority
and/or female drivers? I would hope not,
but, never say “never.” After all, look
at IndyCar racing, and look at drag racing.
Microcosms of the Great American Melting Pot, they are, in both race and
sex. Somehow, stock car racing does not
seem to have advanced as quickly as those other forms of racing. Perhaps the truth is that Danica Patrick is a victim of a
combination of over-hype and this “bigger faster stronger better right now”
world in which we currently live. She
came into our sport with so much publicity and almost hysteria, that she was
destined for nothing but failure if immediate success was not achieved. That, my friends, is unfair. The cards were, and continue to be stacked
against her, and she will be treated differently for better or for worse. Look no further that the use of her name as
an example. During any race broadcast,
you can hear it. “Edwards
is picking up about a tenth of a second per lap.” “Bowyer
looped his car around, but got it headed back in the right direction.” “Kenseth
passes Gordon to take over the third spot.” “Danica
comes in for a splash of gas.” Not “Patrick,” but “Danica.”
In fact, I don’t believe I have ever heard an announcer call her
“Patrick.” Sometimes they will use her
full name, yes, but never just the last, that I recall hearing, anyway. That’s just something to chew on, my
friends. No, it’s not a big deal, probably
not even intentional, and most certainly not as malicious as the remarks made
by those who are calling for the seat of the No. 10 car to be filled by a
different body. I believe we should let this one play out as it will, kind
folks, because you never know what is coming around the corner, be it success,
failure, or super-stardom. I’m giving
“Patrick” her due time to prove what she can accomplish. Until next time, my friends…
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!