Is Danika Patrick the Anna Kournikova of Indy car racing?

Well Gordon is alot like Kobe Bryant(without rape) in the NBA....not many people will like him but ask them to name the Top 5 drivers and Gordon will come out first or second. The crowds love Kasey Kahne and he is pretty much the same, Gordon was just the first driver like that, they were too used to Texas Terry and Dale being hardasses so he got lots of flack for being the first pretty boy, every pretty boy now will have it easier because of Gordon's sacrifice

 

fixed it for you.

 

I don't know about NASCAR not wanting Danica, did you see how much they wet themselves when Bill Lester qualified for that one race...They need minorities and women because they are trying to shed this redneck image.

 

There are a ton of Gordon fans in the Midwest and West. I think Gordon's image is a somewhat regional effect. Once you get out of the south and the south touching states, the paradigm shifts a little bit. It would help if the Southern's didn't act like Hook 'em about every little NASCAR decision that doesn't slurp the South.

 

I wish them good luck with that, but seriously. heh.

 

Nope. Think Shirley Muldowney.

 

NASCAR wants Erin Crocker to be their breathrough, because she will have worked her way up through the ranks, and she's not particularly hot. Who would attract more new female fans to NASCAR, the hot chick or the chick succeeding soley on merit.

 

I think Danica Patrick is the Carrie Underwood of auto racing.

 

who got 5 minutes of attention.

I don't like NASCAR simply for those ugly hats. style obviously be damned.

 

Actually, I think she's cute in a wholesome, girl-next-door kinda way.

Patrick OTOH is being marketed as a steamy sultress of open wheel racing.

 

that too.

 

Danica is a COMPLETE HYPE job!!! As someone said if she wasn't hot NO ONE would give two sh!ts about her!! Personally i'm annoyed that the media and others make such a big deal of girls "playing w/ the guys." So what, you can play with the guys great for you. Any amatuer worth anything could do the exact same. The real question is.. are you gonna win anything?!?! As Herm Edwards soooo correctly put it. "You don't just play the game to play it." "You play to WIN THE GAME!!!"

 

You don't need a track to make money off NASCAR...just rednecks.

 

Actually the post question should be will Danica Patrick turn out to be another Sarah Fisher? Well, if there's one thing Danica's got right now, it is staying power. Sarah Fisher was definitely a 15-minutes-of-famer for the IRL.

 

I don't care what you guys say, if she was ugly no one would be paying her any attention. She's merely a novelty. Like a girl placekicker or something.

 

Wonder if one of Patrick's fellow IRL drivers will pull a Gary Barnett and say, without hesitation, that she was "terrible."

 

I think the worst thing that happened to Patrick was her performance at Indy last year. I call it a case of the "too much too soon" disease. After what she did at Indy, the IRL fans and the sporting world anointed her the next great thing and there was more scrutiny and criticism on her after Indy, especially when she failed to win a single race the rest of the year. Granted, she's in her second year but she would have been better off in the long run if she didn't place that high in Indy.
Even if she does manage to win some races, she'll probably still have fewer wins than she does endorsement deals. And that's the sad truth right there.

 

Yeah, but there's no real shame in that in the racing world. I mean, even the back-of-the-pack driver who never even sniffs a top 10 finish has endorsement deals just on the basis of being in the league.

 

I think they should improve on the fire retardant racing bikini.