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Danica Patrick Becomes Second Woman in NASCAR History To Take Pole Position

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:51:21 GMT

Danica Patrick suffered a rough crash yesterday during a preliminary round at the Daytona 500, but the GoDaddy.com driver bounced back to take the pole position for the DRIVE4COPD 300 Nationwide Series race. Patrick is the second woman in NASCAR history to take the pole position in one of the top three national series. Shawna Robinson was the first to accomplish the feat in 1994 whenshe took the pole in a Nationwide Series race in Atlanta.

Patrick said:
“I don’t think about it from a girl perspective. It was about being the best driver, not the best girl.”
The New York Times reports that Patrick topped a field of 50 cars at the Daytona International Speedway. Patrick posted a lap time of 49.250 seconds to clock a speed of 182.741 miles per hour. Trevor Bayne, who won the Daytona 500 last year, finished in second.

Patrick’s pole position is surprising, not because she’s new to NASCAR, but because her primary car was destroyed in her crash yesterday. Patrick joked at the time that maybe it was a “blessing in disguise” and that maybe her backup car was really faster. Well, it looks like she may have been right.

Patrick said:
“I was thinking about how disappointing the end of the day was yesterday and how happy it can be 24 hours later. It was a good turn of events. It’s always good to have something that brings your spirits up.”
The pole position will give Patrick the top spot on the grid tomorrow, but it will also put a little more pressure on her shoulder. Patrick knows now that her car is fast enough to win, now it’s up to her to drive it to victory.

“I got much more nervous because I know my car is fast. And when you sit on the pole, you’re the fastest car. So if you don’t win the race, then I just wasted the fasted car. So yes, it adds a lot of pressure and now I feel nervous.”

Danica Patrick Unscathed After Big Crash At Daytona 500 Qualifying Race

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:12:14 GMT

Race ace and model Danica Patrick has been cleared to drive in this weekend's Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup challenge in Florida after she was involved in a nasty crash on the track on Thursday.

Patrick was among the top 10 racers when she crashed one lap from the end of a qualifying race, but she walked away from the wreckage of her Chevrolet to seek on-site medical attention.

After getting the all-clear from medics, Patrick talked to reporters and admitted she was lucky to escape the accident unscathed. She said, "It felt pretty big. I don't know what it looked like, but it felt pretty big."Patrick has already qualified for the big race.

Danica Patrick gears up for Daytona 500 debut

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:53:30 GMT

Danica Patrick has never been one to shy away from the spotlight. And from IndyCar Series races to flesh-filled GoDaddy.com Super Bowl ads, the spotlight seems to follow her wherever she goes.

All eyes will be on Patrick once again on Sunday when she makes her NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at the Daytona 500.. “I think that if I had not experienced all the media crazy around this whole part of things it would have been somewhat overwhelming,” Patrick said. “My whole (public relations) team knows how it works and how to organize everything so it’s done effectively and efficiently.

“But I feel good — let’s not forget I’ve been exposed to the Indy 500, which is one of the biggest races in the world, if not the biggest race in the world, and there’s lots of media around that, too, and lots of hype.”

But while fans anxiously await the green flag on Sunday, NASCAR is even more excited to finally have Patrick on board full time. “I hope it’s something like Tiger Woods, where we get more and more people to watch the sport,” Gene Haas, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing told ESPN during Patrick’s qualifying lap in her No. 10 Chevrolet. “Obviously, Tiger was a man in a man’s sport. She’s a woman in a man’s sport. If she can just hold her own, I’ll be impressed.”

Patrick will compete in 10 Sprint Cup races for Tony Stewart this year while racing for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series. And NASCAR is already seeing results. An Associated Press report cited Nielsen Company ratings showing a 9 percent ratings boost for the 13 Nationwide events in which Patrick drove in 2010. And through last week, she already ranked in the top 10 in 2012 merchandise sales.

But don’t expect Patrick to use her new cash flow on high-end automobiles. She recently told Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports that she sold the Lamborghini Gallardo she bought in 2007.

“The last straw was probably having to pick up my sister at the airport in a Lamborghini,” Patrick told Wetzel. “I couldn’t have felt more stupid. I’m serious. I felt so stupid. She’s got bags. I don’t have a trunk. I’ve got a briefcase-sized spot in the front of the car. I have no space.”

Patrick knows space will also be at a premium on the track Sunday when she returns to pack racing in the wake of a crash-filled Budweiser Shootout that saw 22 of 23 cars damaged.

“I feel like I’m tapping into my childhood again when I got back to the years when I had bumpers, and I could get aggressive,” Patrick told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. “And it gets my blood boiling in a good way.”

Motorsports: Danica Patrick makes run at Daytona 500 Feb. 26

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:21:42 GMT

NASCAR jump-starts its 2012 season this weekend with the 54th annual Daytona 500. “The Great American Race” has become the biggest, richest and most prestigious event in the world of motorsports. This year, it’s even a little bit more special for local race fans. It’ll be the first time we get to see former Roscoe resident Danica Patrick race for the coveted title of Daytona 500 champion. She’ll be making her Sprint Cup debut in NASCAR’s biggest race.

Last season, Patrick ran 12 races in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports, with GoDaddy.com as her sponsor. She managed two Top 10 finishes in those 12 starts. Her best finish was fourth place at Las Vegas early in the season, and then in July she came home 10th at Daytona. The fourth-place finish is the highest ever by a female driver in a NASCAR national event. Patrick will run twice at Daytona this weekend. Patrick will hit the track Saturday afternoon, Feb. 25, for the 120-lap Drive4COPD 300, and then at noon, Sunday, Feb. 26, she’ll take the green flag for the 200-lap Daytona 500.

The practice runs she is getting as one of the entrants in the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup race Sunday should be a huge help in the Drive4COPD 300 Nationwide event the day before. “There’s very little Nationwide testing here,” Patrick said during Speedweek’s Media Day last Thursday, Feb. 16. “I thought to myself, ‘What a wonderful thing that I’m doing the Daytona 500,’ because, in my lack of experience, I didn’t notice a difference between the two cars (the No. 7 car owned by JR Motorsports that she will race in the Nationwide season opener and the Stewart-Haas No. 10 Chevrolet she will be in for the Daytona 500).

“I didn’t drive them back to back,” she said, “but when I came and tested (the Daytona 500 car) a few weeks ago, it feels very similar to a Nationwide car. I think the Cup practice is going to be great for the Nationwide race, and I think the Nationwide race is going to help a lot for the next day for the Daytona 500.”

Patrick has downplayed her chances of winning “The Great American Race” in her first try. She has cited her inexperience and the talented field she’ll be up against as two of the biggest obstacles she’ll be facing. She does have one huge supporter on her side, last year’s Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart.

“Did anybody think Trevor Bayne could win the race last year?” Stewart questioned. “Anything can happen here. It’s anybody’s ballgame. Talent-wise, there’s no doubt in my mind she’s got the ability to do it.”
Patrick is scheduled to compete in all 33 Nationwide races in 2012 and also plans to run in nine other Sprint Cup events. This season will mark the first time in seven years she will not be competing in the IndyCar Series.

Commentary: Danica Patrick wants to redefine image

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:41:57 GMT

It sounds more like the product of a slow news day at the Daytona 500 media session than a demand from Danica Patrick. Still, Patrick — who makes her Sprint Cup debut in Sunday’s season-opening event — would rather be referred to as pretty than sexy. And both come behind racer.

That Patrick wants to redefine her image is acceptable, especially as she moves forward in her NASCAR career. But she’s going to have to stop doing those GoDaddy.com commercials — or at least tone them down — to be taken seriously. I have yet to hear anyone whose watched one of those commercials — where Patrick entices viewers to race to the Internet to see how the suggestive commercial ends — say after viewing, “Well, that certainly was a pretty commercial.”

As for Patrick, she told reports: “If there is a pretty girl, (reporters) don’t know how to describe her other than being sexy. It has such a negative connotation to it. You don’t say those kinds of things to frame it like that for a guy or even sometimes talk about it ... .”To be fair, Carl Edwards was likely described in a similar manner by some when he bared his six-pack abs for a Men’s Health cover in 2006.

And I agree with Patrick ... to a certain point. Google Danica Patrick and the Internet is more likely to turn up bikini photos — including a very popular shoot for FHM in 2003 — than her racing achievements. Patrick took full advantage of her looks to advance her racing career early, but now that Patrick has arrived she’s ready to put those photos in the rear-view mirror.

Danica Patrick keeps pace in qualifying

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:51:55 GMT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Crew chief Greg Zipadelli leaned into the window of the No. 10 Chevrolet, gave his driver a few last-second instructions and -- with a light chirp of the tires -- Danica Patrick was off on her first qualifying lap in a Sprint Cup car.

"I hope it's something like Tiger Woods, where we get more and more people to watch the sport," said Gene Haas, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, as he watched his driver's big day. OK, this wasn't Woods walking down the 18th fairway of Augusta National in 1997 en route to becoming the first black golfer to win the Masters.

Patrick qualifying 29th wasn't close to having historical significance. Unless she wins the Feb. 26 Daytona 500 she won't be the first female to do anything here.

But that wasn't Haas' point. The attention Patrick brings to NASCAR is similar to the attention Woods brought to the PGA Tour. The difference is Woods didn't take long to establish himself as the best golfer in the world. Patrick? Uh, well ...

"Obviously, Tiger was a man in a man's sport," Haas said. "She's a woman in a man's sport. If she can just hold her own, I'll be impressed."Patrick held her own in qualifying. She was faster than two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, 2004 Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch and perennial Chase contender Denny Hamlin, to name a few.

The real test will come during Thursday's qualifying races and the 500, where for the first time her skills will be matched to the max against the best drivers in the sport.

She doesn't lack for confidence, though. When discussing her observations of Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout wreck fest, which she didn't compete in, the former IndyCar star went straight to Kyle Busch's slingshot move around Tony Stewart for the win.

"Trust me, I'll be studying that last pass at the end with Tony and Kyle to see when the perfect time is to do that," Patrick said. If Patrick is in position to win she will make history. Otherwise, focusing on how to survive the return of pack racing might be her order of the day.

"You've got to do everything you can to keep from causing [a big wreck]," veteran Jeff Burton said. "If you're a younger driver, that needs to be your mission. By the way, if you're an old driver, that needs to be your strategy, too."

Burton can only imagine what it must have been like for Patrick to watch the Shootout in which 22 of the 23 cars were damaged and think ahead to her first Cup race.

"I would have stopped [watching]," he said with a laugh. "I would have closed my eyes and said, 'Aieeeeee, don't watch that.' "If Patrick was nervous about what she saw, she didn't show it on Sunday. Maybe it's because she's been under the giant spotlight for so long, but she was relaxed to the point of being flip.

When asked about her qualifying lap, she quipped, "I'm curious, what do other drivers say when you ask them, 'Talk about your run?' " Patrick said with a smiled. She had us there. Qualifying at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway is so anti-climatic that Dale Earnhardt Jr. once said his grandmother could do it.

"Yep, I've pretty much just got to hit my shifts," Patrick said. "I did that. It felt better than it did in practice, so I thought, 'Sure, this is a good sign.'"As a driver you just try to go through the gears smooth and just try to be smooth on the track."

Patrick was smooth on and off the track, as she has been since arriving at Daytona. When a legion of questions came at her all at once, she stopped everyone and said, "It's all right, I'll get to all of you."

She paused, then added, "I feel like an ass when I pick one and not anyone else. I should pick the most quiet ones, shouldn't I?"

Later, when a large cheer came from the crowd as Patrick explained the difference between qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500, she stopped and said with almost a giggle, "Was that Dale?"

No, it wasn't Nationwide Series boss Earnhardt. It was four-time champion Jeff Gordon pulling up after his qualifying run. Patrick then returned to her explanation, saying, "Since it's easier [to qualify at Daytona] it's a little less nerve-racking because there is a little less to worry about as a driver. To say I wasn't nervous at all is a lie. Of course I was a little bit. I want to do a good job.

"As far as nerves go it was less nerve-racking, but there was no lack of photographers."Patrick doesn't go anywhere at Daytona without a handful of photographers stalking her. It's been that way since she made her stock car debut in the 2010 ARCA race here.

Because SHR formed a technical alliance with Tommy Baldwin Racing to guarantee her a spot in the 500, those cameras will be around Patrick through the Daytona 500. Without that guarantee Patrick would be really nervous about having to race her way into the field on Thursday.

Qualifying 29th wasn't good enough to be locked in on speed. Thursday still will be big, though. "Big time. Big time," Patrick said. "It's going to be about getting some rapport with some of the drivers I haven't raced with yet, getting a feel to how the pack running is going to go. "If anything, I'm probably more nervous now because it's going to be time to get running with everybody else. The running so far has been the easy part."

Yes, the easy part is over for Patrick. From Wednesday's draft practice to Thursday's qualifying races to Sunday's 500, the spotlight on her will become even brighter. It won't be Tiger-like. Having been at the '97 Masters, where you had to skip every other hole to get close to the green around the massive crowds that followed Woods, it won't be close.

But this is a big moment for NASCAR, a time when more eyes than normal are on the sport because of Patrick. "This is just a major change in our sport," Haas said. "If she can just stay with the guys, it will be a monumental achievement."

Danica Patrick in spotlight at Daytona

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:21:29 GMT

The buildup for Danica Patrick's first Daytona 500 began in earnest at Thursday's annual media day, where auto racing's sweetheart was saddled with a full schedule of commitments.

Patrick was shuffled from interview to interview, answering questions and shooting promotions for her first full season in NASCAR. She couldn't even find solitude in the bathroom: an autograph seeker followed Patrick inside and patiently waited for the driver's signature.

Patrick will make her Sprint Cup Series debut in the Feb. 26 season-opening Daytona 500. It's the first of 10 races this year at NASCAR's top level driving for three-time champion Tony Stewart. She's also racing for the championship in the second-tier Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports.

Her defection from the IndyCar Series is complete, and Patrick will be the center of the spotlight for Speedweeks at Daytona. She's fine with it, though, as seven years of running the Indianapolis 500 taught her how to handle intense attention.

“I think that if I had not experienced all the media crazy around this whole part of things it would have been somewhat overwhelming,” she said. “My whole (public relations) team knows how it works and how to organize everything so it's done effectively and efficiently.

“But I feel good — let's not forget I've been exposed to the Indy 500, which is one of the biggest races in the world, if not the biggest race in the world, and there's lots of media around that, too, and lots of hype.”

NASCAR has been anxiously awaiting Patrick's move to stock cars because, as one of the most recognized athletes in the world, she'll bring attention to the series. Research shows she's already increased interest:

— According to The Nielsen Company, ratings for the 2010 Nationwide Series opener at Daytona were up 33 percent with her in the race from the 2009 ratings.

— Overall, 11 of the 13 Nationwide races Patrick ran in 2010 had better ratings than the 2009 events. Average viewership for her 13 events was up 9 percent.

— Patrick's merchandise sales last season ranked in the top 15 best-selling drivers at the NASCAR.com Superstore.

— Through last week, Patrick already ranked in the top 10 in merchandise sales in 2012.

— A survey last August of the NASCAR Fan Council showed that 80 percent of those polled agreed with the statement, “Danica Patrick is good for NASCAR.”

— Nielsen N-Score data through January showed that Patrick ranks in the top 5 of most recognized NASCAR drivers among the U.S. population.

“There's so much interest with Danica coming over to NASCAR, I think it's going to really broaden our fan base,” Lesa France Kennedy, the CEO of NASCAR sister company International Speedway Corp., said last month.

“When she shows up, it just has a different feel to it. She's a real dynamic individual to start with and I think it'll be interesting to see her compete on the track. There's certainly a spotlight, without a doubt, but she seems to do well with that. She seems to do well under pressure.”

Patrick said she's prepared for the workload leading into the Daytona 500, and with the increased schedule in NASCAR. The IndyCar season was just 18 races; the Nationwide schedule is 33 races and next year, when she moves full time to the Sprint Cup Series, she'll have races on 38 weekends. Dabbling in the Nationwide Series the past two years has prepared her for what to expect.

“Back a few years ago, I definitely was concerned with the work load that NASCAR schedules bring,” she said. “But the last two years, I went from doing a 16-18 race season to about 30, and now it's going to be about 34 or 35 weekends, so it's really only an extra month worth of weekends so it's much more tolerable than jumping from Indy Car to NASCAR in one jump.

“I'm very good when I know what's coming. When I get surprised and things getting added on the schedule is when I get frustrated because expectation levels are everything for me.

“But not only from my perspective am I more comfortable now, but from my assistant's perspective and the help she gets from Junior Motorsports and Stewart-Hass, I think we all have a much better picture of how to do everything and how to keep it in line and how to help (the media) do your job.”

Danica Patrick says Nationwide Series not just about her. But is it?

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:23:05 GMT

Ricky Stenhouse needed to figure out a team name for a Nationwide Series version of the “Family Feud” game recently. He looked at his team of Nationwide drivers – himself, Sam Hornish Jr., Brian Scott, Justin Allgaier and Danica Patrick – and a team name popped into his head:

“Danica and Those Other Guys.”“I didn’t want the media to get confused about who we were, so I went with ‘Danica and The Other Guys’ because I figured that’s our series, right?” Stenhouse said. Everyone had a good laugh. Except maybe Patrick, who shouted, “Nooo.”

The issue has followed Patrick everywhere she’s gone in recent years – criticism over her dominating too much of the spotlight. It was an issue when she raced in the IndyCar Series as too much media attention was placed on the woman known as much for her sexy poses in advertisements as for her racing ability.

Now that Patrick will race full time in NASCAR after two years of part-time competition for JR Motorsports, it wouldn’t be surprising if the issue comes up on a weekly basis. Surely, other drivers notice the attention – when Patrick announced she was coming to NASCAR full time, even NASCAR Chairman Brian France put out a statement about the impact.

That doesn’t happen for other drivers. There has been some muttering from some drivers and teams already about the attention she is getting, and the fact that she will run 10 Sprint Cup races, including the Daytona 500, means that Yahoo’s most searched athlete will get more, well, searched.

At least publicly, drivers are saying that’s a good thing for them, too. “If she’s in the race, and I go out there and win the race and run up front, I’m going to get TV time, too,” Richard Childress Racing’s Elliott Sadler said. “It’s not like it’s me against her or anything like that. She’s bringing a whole new audience to the Nationwide Series we didn’t have two or three years ago.”

While Sadler has had his share of notoriety after more than a decade in Cup, other drivers are trying to get noticed. “It’s difficult because sometimes you get caught up in the fact that you hope that you get more time on TV and you hope you do all these things,” said Turner Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who is in his fourth year in Nationwide and seeks his first Cup opportunity. “But if you’re winning races and you’re running up front, you’re going to get the same amount of TV time you did before.

“The thing we all have to remember is we need the fans. They’re obviously the most important [aspect] of our sport. If they’re not there, we’re not there. If that’s who they want to see, that’s who they want to see.”

Patrick takes a similar attitude – she can’t dictate what the media does or who people want to see. “I can’t control what people focus their attention on, what they talk about, and what is said to the other drivers, what is asked to the other drivers,” Patrick said. “I’m sure they do get questions. I don’t really know the extent of that. My hope is they think about my relationship with them as a friend and as a competitor.”

That’s the way Sadler approaches it. He sees Patrick as a solid competitor, one who set a NASCAR national series standard for a female driver with a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas in March 2011. “It’s awesome,” he said. “She’s going to be one of the biggest names in our sport. She is one of the biggest names in the Nationwide Series, if not the biggest, and that’s great with me.

“She’s going to bring more sponsor attention, more fan attention. And she can drive. In the last two years, she’s probably the most improved race-car driver that we have in the whole circuit.”The other drivers hope that if Patrick drives ratings, then they will have more opportunities to attract sponsors.

“Obviously in a time where it’s hard to engage fans with all sports, you have to have that upper edge,” Allgaier said. “Obviously she’s a huge media draw. We’re glad to have her. She’s competitive as well.”

And for what it’s worth, Patrick says the team name that Stenhouse gave the group is not her perception of the series. “When Ricky said something about that’s what it is [like], that’s not true,” Patrick said. “There’s tons of great racing out there and if I was out there by myself, nobody would be watching. Trust me.

“I don’t agree [with him]. I do get a little uncomfortable sometimes but only because I don’t want them to think I agree with that. There’s a lot of great personalities and drivers, and they all make the series, that’s for darn sure.”

Danica Patrick comfortable using her looks, sex appeal to attract attention

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:35:43 GMT

Google Danica Patrick and you may quickly wonder whether she’s a race-car driver or a supermodel. Look closely and you’ll discover that she is a bit of both. But it may take a while to reach that conclusion.

The first several photos that pop up feature Patrick in a variety of sexy poses. There’s the bikini-clad Danica bent over the door of a hot rod, and sprawled across the hood like she’s stretched out on a bearskin rug.

There’s Danica peeling off her IndyCar uniform, revealing her white bikini top, or showing off the small American flag/checkered flag tattoo on the small of her back. There’s Danica in high heels, Danica in an evening gown, Danica on the red carpet in short, short skirts and even Danica in a T-shirt and jeans, looking like the All-American girl next door.

There’s Danica on the cover of magazines like FHM, Maxim and Shape. And Danica featured in the ever popular Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She’s in every outfit and pose you can imagine, looking more like Gisele Bundchen than Jeff Gordon.

Scrolling through the photos, it takes a while before you see Danica in a race-car driver’s firesuit – or actually wearing one, anyway – or Danica with her racing helmet, or with an actual race car. There are far more photos of the pretty, sexy Danica than of her inside a race car or actually driving around a track.

While Patrick is one of the most popular athletes in the world because of her talent behind the wheel, it’s her looks and sex appeal that make her a red-hot celebrity and a household name.

That popularity and sex appeal, and the enormous marketing prowess that comes with it, will be on full display this year as Patrick embarks on her first full season of NASCAR racing.

Patrick, 29, will be one of the biggest stories of 2012 as she runs the full Nationwide Series schedule for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports and 10 Sprint Cup races for Tony Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing.

The media spotlight will follow her everywhere she goes and she will be of utmost interest to the majority of NASCAR fans – male and female alike.

Why such intrigue surrounding a driver who has just one IndyCar victory and just one top-five finish in 25 NASCAR starts?

“She’s a woman. They move the needle, too,” says Earnhardt Jr., the sport’s most popular driver. “She’s got a great personality. She has a dynamic edge to her personality. She’s assertive and determined and that’s exciting, especially coming from a woman in this sport. It’s rare. It’s very rare. So it’s very intriguing and interesting.”

It’s not just that Patrick is a girl – there have been numerous female drivers in NASCAR over the years, and she’s not the only one today. But none have ever brought the full package of looks, sex appeal, marketing power and driving talent to NASCAR.

Patrick’s racy commercials for GoDaddy.com, her primary sponsor, are among the most popular on television and the web. And GoDaddy is clearly as interested in Patrick the sexy model as Patrick the race-car driver.

Patrick knows there are critics who frown on her using her body and looks to attract sponsors and generate media exposure. She’s used to it, and it doesn’t bother her at all.

“I’m a girl, and to say that I can’t use being a girl doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “In this world, there is so much competition out there and you have to use everything that you have to make sponsors happy, to attract them and to be unique and be different.

“But more than anything, I’m just glad that I get to show different sides of my personality. I’m really fortunate. I don’t have a cookie-cutter sponsor, and that’s pretty cool.”

Patrick, who is married to physical therapist Paul Hospenthalher, is open and honest about her looks and image and has no qualms about being portrayed as a sex symbol by Go Daddy, other sponsors and even men’s magazines.

“I do what feels comfortable to me and then I’m good with it,” she said. “I’ve always been lucky enough in my career and my life to be an honest person and to be authentic and whatever good and bad may come from that.

“With the Go Daddy commercials, we have a lot of fun with them. And not just Go Daddy, I look pretty in different ads for other people, too.” Patrick, who lives in Phoenix and doesn’t plan to move to the racing hub of Charlotte, already is one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers. She developed a huge following in the IndyCar Series and brought many of those fans with her while also attracting a legion of new ones.

She already is near the top in NASCAR souvenir sales, with long lines forming at her merchandise trailer at every track, every week. Charlotte Motor Speedway even named a concession stand after her last year, offering a menu of healthy food items selected and endorsed by Patrick. As with most things endorsed by Danica, it was a hit.

But Patrick also knows that there are fans who don’t like her because she’s a female driver and because she uses her gender and sex appeal to her advantage off the track.

She’s prepared for that as well, she says. “I’ve been around for a long time, this is my 21st year of racing, and there are going to be people who like you and people who don’t like you and people who think you can do it and people who don’t think you can, and I’m glad for that,” she said.

“It’s important in sports to have people who cheer for you and cheer against you. … That’s good, competitive fun. “So it’s important that there’s two sides to the story. It’s not something that I consciously think about [as far as] trying to change people’s minds, but if they do get changed, then that’s just a little bit of pride.”

Earnhardt Jr. said he believes Patrick will be a hit with NASCAR fans and will eventually win over her detractors. “Even people that will not [root for her], everyone, and more people than want to admit it, want to see her do well, want to see her succeed because they want to see what the results of that are for the sport, not so much for her but really what does that do for everything else around them and how does that affect the sport?” he said.

She already has one huge fan – and not just because he’s her boss. “I like her personality. I like her as a person, and I’m glad that she wanted to work with us, obviously. And I’m glad she’s here,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I’m glad she’s making the choice to come here full time. I think it’s a good choice.

“Maybe I’m being a little selfish, but I think it’s good for the sport. She attracts a lot of attention. We need a bit of a rebound in some areas if you listen to the people that matter talk about the sport. She can provide that spark to sort of refresh some corporate sponsors interested in the sport and do things like that.”

Patrick approaches her off-track projects – modeling, commercials and occasionally acting – and extracurricular activities with the same gusto that she shows in racing – go for it with all she’s got, and then adapt and adjust when she needs to.

She will carry that philosophy into the biggest challenge of her career this year as she tries to get a firm grasp on stock-car racing and build a new career on an even bigger stage. And she’s not worried about critics who believe she’s making a mistake leaving IndyCar, or who believe she won’t make it in NASCAR.

“People’s negativity really doesn’t factor in for me,” she said. “I try get the most out of myself as I can possibly can and with that it means working really hard and trying new things, and if it’s not working, trying something new.

“The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It’s breaking ground and trying new things to make it happen, and doing everything possible so that I don’t have an excuse as to why I didn’t do it, because that’s where I’ll feel guilty and where I’ll feel bad and then people’s words will get to me. But if I am doing everything that I can, then I won’t.”Patrick will face her new challenge under the glare of an enormous spotlight. But she’s ready for that, too.

Her career as a daring race-car driver and a sexy supermodel has prepared her for anything. “Being unique always draws attention,” she said. “That’s something I’ve been lucky enough to be my whole career. I have enjoyed that, I have fun with that and I don’t ignore that. “I don’t want people to not think of me as a girl, because I am. I’m fortunate that I have a unique platform.”

Danica Patrick likens career, scrutiny to Tim Tebow's

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:18:55 GMT

As sports figures, Tim Tebow and Danica Patrick share one thing in common: polarization. Love them or hate them, there seems to be no in-between, only a tremendous public interest and fierce reaction that doesn't tolerate indifference.

The notion that the career arcs and public perception of Tebow and Patrick are similar came to Patrick's husband, Paul Hospenthal, while watching Tebow quarterback the Denver Broncos' Jan. 8 playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"He said, 'He's very much like you and how your situation has gone down,' " Patrick said. "When stuff happens so quickly and you become popular so quickly, it becomes polarizing. Everyone has an opinion without really knowing you.

"There are similarities between us. He's playing in the NFL as a quarterback, so obviously he has talent, but everybody wants to say he's not very good. I know what that feels like. His situation is very interesting to me."As her journey into NASCAR accelerates in 2012, Patrick will be the story at every race, whether successful or not. Her radio transmissions will be dissected and interpreted (and occasionally censored). Her interactions with fellow drivers, crewmembers and fans will be analyzed. She'll be praised and trashed, often in the same sentence. Her every action will cause a reaction. In short, she's not in the Izod IndyCar Series anymore. She's in the NFL of racing, with all of the attention and scrutiny that entails.

One win, lots of attention
The story of Danica Patrick begins as quietly and Midwesternly as Rockford, Ill., a picturesque, wooded city of 157,000 near the Illinois-Wisconsin border. It is an ordinary and pedestrian place, except for the little girl from nearby Roscoe who races go-karts. She's so good in the mid-1990s that she goes national — one of her rivals as a teen is eventual Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. — and heads off to Europe at 16 to race formula cars against some of the world's best young drivers. All this attention she's receiving now? That's yesterday's news. She has been a story since she was a teenager, just not this high on the wow scale.

"When I first started, I was doing all kinds of media," she said. "MTV did a story on me, and there were camera crews at my high school. It's something I'm used to. It's not like all of the sudden people started talking about me or writing stories about me. This has been going on for a long time."From there, it blew up. After she led her first Indy 500 in 2005, Patrick became a national sensation, a woman — check that, an attractive woman — racing against men. Soon she was on the covers of magazines, often in provocative poses and clothing, selling her image. Ask most IndyCar drivers their opinion of Patrick, and the response will consist of rolling eyes. All that attention for one victory in 115 races? It's more about glamour than results, they mutter, some less quietly than others. They say it's more marketing than credibility.

The haters call her Princess Sparkle Pony (a term for her popularized by sports-car champion Tommy Kendall). Or worse. Patrick has heard all of the derogatory nicknames. She also has heard the backlash from using sex appeal to sell her brand. True, it's simple marketing — perhaps insulting to feminists — but it's effective. She's a national sensation with one victory — a little-seen, middle-of-the-night race in Japan in 2008 — on her résumé.

Patrick can't go to a grocery store without being mobbed, yet Dario Franchitti, a two-time Indy 500 winner with four IndyCar championships, can have dinner in downtown Indianapolis without much fuss.
"People judge you and think you don't deserve all the attention, but your story is interesting to the public," Patrick said. "It's something that just gets bigger and bigger. Tebow is experiencing the same thing. What can you do about it as an athlete? It has advantages, but people judge it. It's just there. It's a story that interests people, but some people judge it negatively."

Racer Danica vs. Regular Danica
For now, Patrick's signature move — her Tebow — is "The Stomp." In 2008, angered that she was knocked out of the Indy 500 when her car collided with Ryan Briscoe's, she marched toward Briscoe's pit, helmet on, with all the fierce determination a 5-2, 100-pound woman could marshal. She was intercepted by security, the confrontation averted, but the opinions of that episode are as divided as the opinions of Tebow's cockeyed throwing motion and his prayerful touchdown pose. Patrick's fans saw "The Stomp" as assertive and fiery. The haters saw it as obnoxious and comical. Not lost on Patrick is the double standard: Had the stomper been a man, the incident might have been largely forgotten by now.

"The guys get to yell and scream, and nobody says much about it," Patrick said. "But if I do it, I'm losing it. Men who get angry during a race are seen as assertive, but if I get angry, I'm being bitchy. It's a bit of a mission for me to try to find out why those double standards exist and why people can't be consistent in what they expect from men and women."

Beyond The Stomp is more of the double-sided reaction to Patrick. To some, she seems awful. To others, she seems wonderful. It's all about perspective, and usually that means location. At the track, she can be brash and standoffish, focused solely on the task at hand. Away from the track, she can be calm and engaging. She has two sides: Racer Danica and Regular Danica. "You should have seen me when I was younger," she said, laughing. "I was way worse. I've really calmed down over the years."

She has clashed famously with former IndyCar teammates. Tony Kanaan delights in taking shots at her, doing a spot-on, hilarious imitation of Patrick's blow-past-the-fans, clenched-cheeks rapid walk.
Away from the track, Patrick is pleasant. Endearing, even. The angry young woman in the race car is unassuming and caring away from it. Jana Watt, then a publicist for a rival IndyCar team, once took her young daughter, Ella, an impressionable Danica fan, to a Patrick meet-and-greet. Upon introduction, Patrick did not just sign a toy for the girl and walk away. She spent time with her, played games with her and left a permanent and positive impression. "She didn't have to do that," Watt said. "She didn't really know me, but she focused in on (Ella) and took her time with her. She was just so nice to her.

"Danica is great with people, especially kids, but I don't think most people really know that."
Patrick is often surprised by the surprise of those who meet her. The woman of The Stomp and the R-rated radio transmissions is, when removed from competition, appreciative and accommodating.
"A lot of people don't know what to think of me until they meet me," Patrick said. "They think the worst. They think I'm demanding or a prima donna or self-centered. I'd like to think that when they meet me and the people I work with, they realize that I'm not any of that. I'm just a person who works hard and treats people well. The people who really know me know that about me."

Busy days, busier schedule
Her typical day away from the racetrack during the season never seems to end. It's a constant stream of phone conversations, meetings and appearances. Scheduling with her personal assistant. Conference calls with sponsors. Meetings, dinners, more meetings. The periphery of the Danica Patrick brand far outweighs the workload of the actual racing.

She's going from a 2011 schedule of 29 races (17 IndyCar, 12 Nationwide Series) to 43 in 2012 (33 in a full-time Nationwide schedule and 10 in Sprint Cup, including the Daytona 500). "It's going to be a little busier," she said. "NASCAR is a bigger platform. The fan base goes up, and interest goes up, the sponsors get more excited about using me to help activate everything. I anticipate it to be a little busier, but I think the way I did it helps out. It has been a nice, gradual way of getting exposed to NASCAR. I didn't jump in all the way. I did (29) races total last year, and there will be 34 race weekends this year. There will be more races this year, but not a whole lot more race weekends. I feel like it's going to be a fairly comfortable transition."
Center of attention

It's unclear yet if people are naming pets or children after her, a la Tebow, but it is clear that the Danica phenomenon is about to hit its apex. She has been part time in NASCAR for two years, but the start of a full-on run in Nationwide and Cup with teams operated by two of the sport's most recognized stars, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart, begins later this month at Daytona International Speedway. Last week, she made headlines when Stewart-Haas Racing, her Cup team, made a deal to have her drive under the owners points earned last season by Tommy Baldwin Racing, a move that locked her No. 10 Chevrolet into the Daytona 500.

There won't be many weekends when she isn't part of the racing discussion. Just as much of the NFL coverage late in the season seemed like a contest to see how many times "Tebow" could be said or written — to the point of aggravation for many — so, too, will "Danica" be placed in heavy rotation during the NASCAR season. Patrick sees the similarities between herself and Tebow and their mile-a-minute coverage. As with many, she found herself drawn to his story.

"The bottom line is he's been doing the same thing the whole time," Patrick said. "It's the same with me, in a different way. I've been opinionated and fiery, even as a kid. Sometimes that turns people off. People either love him or hate him, but he wins. People had opinions about him even before he got to college. At the end of the day he's become a winning quarterback in the NFL, and he's done it on his own terms. There's something to be said for that."