Why Danica Patrick is the Sarah Palin of NASCAR

IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, right, is joined by Go Daddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons, center, and Kelley Earnhardt, vice president and general manager of JR Motorsports, unveils the new GoDaddy.com No. 7 JR Motorsports stock car during an event announcing Patrick's intention to make her NASCAR race debut next season Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, in Phoenix. Patrick has signed with JR Motorsports team, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick, and intends to start in her first NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Feb. 6 at Daytona International Speedway. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The announcement yesterday making what was commonly speculated the past couple of months official, that being Danica Patrick will be running a limited Nationwide schedule for JR Motorsports starting next year with her stock car debut being in the season opening ARCA race at Daytona in February, has been greeted with such a level of histrionics you'd think people in the motorsports world are lying when they express extreme disinterest in Mrs. Hospenthal's activities. That couldn't possibly be the case, now could it...

No driver in any series today is such a lightning rod as Danica. With the possible exception of Dale Earnhardt Jr., although in his case the lightning comes primarily in the form of lightning bolts hurled by the Junior Nation at any sportswriter speaking ill of he who drives the #88 Mountain Dew AMP/National Guard Chevrolet. Hell hath no fury like a Dale Jr. fan when their driver is scorned. But I digress; back to Danica.

There's little in the way of middle ground when it comes to Danica. People either love her for her gumption in taking on the boys, dislike her for her sometimes surly persona and penchant for self-promotion, or really really REALLY can't stand her. A large percentage of the latter devote an even larger amount of time to expressing this sentiment, be it in assorted sordid columns for various publication channels or in the comments area of same.

This is where the correlation between Danica Patrick and Sarah Palin comes into play. While the two have little in common personally or professionally aside from letting others dodge shards of glass resulting from their ceiling demolition work, there are at least three common threads between Mrs. Hospenthal and Mrs. Palin. First, very few people are neutral about them. Second, the media to put it mildly seldom befriends them. (We'll get to the third one in a bit.)

The way Danica is slammed around you'd think she was responsible for all that ails auto racing. This will come as news to her new team owner Earnhardt Jr., since usually he's the one blamed by the media for all that ails auto racing. Or at least the department where cars have roofs. This should make for some interesting competition at JR Motorsports as Danica and Dale Jr. scan the Internet to see which one has the greatest number of negative articles written about them that day. Whoever has the most buys lunch.

Once one gets past the personal animosity aimed Danica's way, the charge most commonly leveled against her is she can't drive. One would think her finishing fifth in the IRL points standings this past season during a year when any car not from the Ganassi or Penske stables was a rolling speed bump would answer this, but reality need not apply when it comes to pundits punting around verbiage volleys. While no one will know how she'll do in stock cars until next year, the hunch is her aggressive style will mesh well with the chrome horn school of driving. Or as it's commonly known, that which fans lament is no longer prevalent in NASCAR and lament even louder when someone actually employs the rubbin' is racin' philosophy.

Now, the third common thread. Both Danica Patrick and Sarah Palin have a lot of fans who adore them regardless of how media elements tell them otherwise. There are throngs of people waiting for Palin at every stop in her book promotion tour not to jeer but cheer, fueled by political and personal admiration. Patrick also has her group of followers, young girls invariably decked out in #7 gear in attendance at every IRL race. They're there because their heroine is there, the girl who takes on, holds her own against and sometimes bests the boys. They're there because of how she handles the curves at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, not how she displays them in Sports Illustrated or GoDaddy ads. Now, the young girls will be begging Mom and Dad to go to the Nationwide races in which Danica will participate. They'll be cheering Danica on while Dad dreams of her and Mom does the same about Dale Jr. Fair is fair.

So, how will Danica do in NASCAR? Who knows. Is her presence good for the sport?

You betcha.