"D" (Danica Patrick)

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Keith Morganstein
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"D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Keith Morganstein »

So "D" (that's what Danica prefers to be called by her crew) made her Nationwide debut.

I think "D" can be competitive and effective in NASCAR. Pretty good driver but it will take some adjusting by her.

If she can, I bet she is hooked and her NASCAR schedule will overtake her Indy car racing schedule. It's not a bad thing, Danica is popular and may bring more interest and revenue.

I may be heavily biased because I have coached competitive girls sports. I know just how hard competitive girls/women will work and the sacrifices they will make. However in most sports, women just can not compete with men on a purely physical level. Motorsports seems to be were an exceptional female athlete/driver can compete with the men. "D" may be the first that is good enough to really make it interesting.

What does everyone think?
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by tjs44 »

Keith,I agree,I think she has handled herself well and will bring MANY new eyes and sponsors to the sport.Tom
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by rskrause »

She sure will be a big draw. But FWIW I will watch just about ANY racing excpet NACSCAR.

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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by CamKing »

It will be great for Indy car when she goes to NASCAR full time.
Indy car is a fragile series, and it hurt the series when the only ink they got was about the girl finishing 9th.
NASCAR should be strong enough to handle that, but it's already started. In the ARCA race, all the news outlets reported on the 6th place finisher, but no one knew who the top 5 finishers were. In the Nationwide race yesterday, they billed it as "Danica's NASCAR debute, oh and Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and a few other guys will be in it too".
When I turned on the computer, the sports headline was "Danica involved in mid race crash", no mention of Tony Stewart winning the race.

PS, Danica should do better in NASCAR. Her one disadvantage in Indy Cars was her strength, but with power steering in NASCAR, that shouldn't be an issue.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Cogburn »

I have done some engines for a young gal. It is fun for her to go kick butt and get tore down and be found legal. Gee, the 15 year old blond chick just kicked everybodies butts. LOL.

Danica looks like she will be pretty competitive. I think It will be fun if she makes it to cup and wins some races.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Keith Morganstein »

CamKing wrote:It will be great for Indy car when she goes to NASCAR full time.
Indy car is a fragile series, and it hurt the series when the only ink they got was about the girl finishing 9th.
NASCAR should be strong enough to handle that, but it's already started. In the ARCA race, all the news outlets reported on the 6th place finisher, but no one knew who the top 5 finishers were. In the Nationwide race yesterday, they billed it as "Danica's NASCAR debute, oh and Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and a few other guys will be in it too".
When I turned on the computer, the sports headline was "Danica involved in mid race crash", no mention of Tony Stewart winning the race.

PS, Danica should do better in NASCAR. Her one disadvantage in Indy Cars was her strength, but with power steering in NASCAR, that shouldn't be an issue.
Didn't she win Indy Japan 300 in 2008? BTW, I fear Indy is in big trouble with or without Danica.

I agree strength and stamina are a factor, just not so much as other sports. Otherwise 50 year old men would not be able to compete with the under 40 year olds.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by CamKing »

Keith Morganstein wrote: Didn't she win Indy Japan 300 in 2008? BTW, I fear Indy is in big trouble with or without Danica.
Yes she did, and I think she had two 2nd place finishes also, but that never mattered. She was the only news story, no matter how she performed. It was the same yesterday. If you do a google news search for "Tony Stewart wins Daytona", you gets 653 links. If you search for "Danica Patrick crashes Daytona" you get 2,013.

NASCAR is big, and can handle this type of coverage, but it was helping to kill Indy Car.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Ron E »

Are the cars weighed with the drivers in NASCAR? If so, she's also giving up a performance advantage by switching as she was among, if not the lightest driver in Indy car racing.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by BirdMan »

I think she is too tentative and doesn't drive close enough to the edge to be great in either series.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Keith Morganstein »

BirdMan wrote:I think she is too tentative and doesn't drive close enough to the edge to be great in either series.
I'm not sure she will be great either, very few are. Out of 43 starting the Daytona 500, there are 5, maybe 10 "great" drivers at their peak. She's smart not to push too much, too early in her NASCAR racing career, because she will be punished for her mistakes. She's good enough to win in Indy car and has been racing since a little kid. Great? probably not. Good enough to make it interesting? Yes!
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Fahlin Racing »

I think, even after she settles in and gets used to racing. With the reinstated? bump drafting and such rules allowable. She won't be very dominant. My girlfriend doesn't think shes too great at all. If Dale Jr has any amount of his father in his racing style he will be a good contender from being aggressive. We will see how the 2010 NASCAR season will roll. I hope it gets interesting, Its been boring ever since I knew of the sprint cup or whatever. I am a short track fan mainly.

If the younger racers have the hunger to race well and be aggressive but not careless, the big names will have to keep there guard up for anything to happen too.
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by Keith Morganstein »

I keep hearing that this week "she'll have to drive in CA", a reference to handling and on/off throttle . Wouldn't you have a share of that in indy?
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Re: "D" (Danica Patrick)

Post by tjs44 »

was at Fontana today,heard in the Pit that they were going to try and finish the race,stay out of trouble and get more seat time.The crowds around her were insane.She with many others got caught speeding in the pit.I think she and Edwards were the only two twice.Great day of racing.Going back tomorrow for the Cup race.Tom
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