Danica Patrick paid a visit to several Charlotte area NASCAR shops last week including Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing. The NASCAR world was all abuzz about ‘her’ and that soon ‘she’ may be trying her hand at the world’s largest stock car racing organization.
Should the IndyCar star decide to make a foray into NASCAR she’ll be joining some of the other female stars that have won races and been competitive in the sport. Women such as, um, well…then there’s…oh and what about….
The point is that a woman driver in NASCAR has never really enjoyed the success that most men have, and Danica Patrick may not be any different should she decide to make the leap. 
Women racers in NASCAR have stretched all the way back to nearly the sports inception. With female drivers such as Sara Christian who entered 7 races in 1949 and 1950, Louise Smith who raced 11 events from 1949-1950 and Ethel Mobley, Ann Bunselmeyer and Ann Chester who ran at least one race in 1949 and 1950.
In the decade of the 1970’s there were women such as Janet Guthrie who competed 33 times, Christine Beckers and Lella Lombardi who entered one race in 1977. In the 80’s we had Robin McCall and Patty Moise.
In recent times drivers such as Shawna Robinson, Deborah Renshaw, Kelly Sutton, Erin Crocker and Sarah Fisher have all taken their turn in NASCAR.
None of the women mentioned have ever won race in NASCAR’s top three touring series and even their top-10 finishes combined equal less then a dozen.
As of right now there are no women racers in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide of Camping World Truck Series that compete on a regular basis.
Does that mean that a woman can’t compete and be successful in NASCAR? Certainly given the right combination of talent and equipment any racer could win and be competitive. However given NASCAR’s history when it comes to the lack of success with female racers, any woman coming into the sport will have a tough time.
There’s some argument that the feeling still persists in the garage area that there is bias against women drivers. But more and more women now work the garage area, and they are quite successful as crewmembers. And with the amount of attention that NASCAR draws from the media and fans, the ‘good old boy’ days are long gone. Sure they may still exist but only in the darkest of shadows.
Some might say it’s bias, but there are some arguments that can be made that the endurance level for most women for a 500 mile race just isn’t the same as a man.
Unfortunately in NASCAR’s recent history the lack of success for women racers had less to do with their on-track performance and more with what happened off the track. For Fisher, sponsorship money dried up forcing her back to the open wheel ranks and for Crocker an alleged tryst with her team owner caused her to become damaged goods to other teams.
As for Danica Patrick, should she decide to make the leap, she’ll need to refocus the attention back to racing. It seems that in the last few years Patrick has become more of a woman who is a racecar driver and less of a racer who just happens to be a woman. She’ll have to put away the bikinis, forget the SI covers, the titillating website ads and turn her full attention to racing. Because should she decide to head to NASCAR history shows that Danica Patrick will have a difficult road to success.
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Breaking News: Danica is NOT coming to NASCAR
Comments
Let's see. Her record with USAC is? Her silver crown record is? What did she do in a supermodified? Wink, wink you betcha, she is a winner.
YAWN, Danika who!?
She barely "successful" in Indy therefore there is no reason for me to think she will be anything more in NASCAR. Win some Indy races and then come back and we'll talk. There is almost a reverse discrimination thing going on here - if she was just another guy in Indy she'd be Scott Speed.
Danica could win in NASCAR in great equipment, maybe not right away, but should could probably do it before, oh I dunno, before these guys:
Speed
Stremme
Ragan
Sorenson
Ammendinger
Menard
Gilliland
Amorola
Hornish
I mean outside of Hornish and Ammendinger (who were very good in Indy cars), how'd those guys even get a ride at Cup level?
and let's not forget these guys who haven't won in a very long time:
Labonte
R. Gordon
Sadler
Andretti
And a couple of other guys who just drive well enough (but don't win very often) to hang onto their ride...
McMurrary
Mears
Vickers
Seriously, how does a guy stay in a Cup ride and never win or be competitive?
if you're an owner wouldn't you want to put somebody in that car who has talent (and for all the knocks against her, not having talent isn't among them) and can bring in sponsor dollars?
Hell, Danica might win in Cup before JR wins again--t\let's face it, he hasn't adapted very well to the COT (which is his
I'd love to see her come to Nascar. She could replace any one of the 12 to 15 hacks who are currently running laps in the back of the field. I think it would be great to see her win a race before Jr. wins. People say Danica who? I say Junior who?
NASCAR is a difficult sport for anyone - male or female. Using your logic to predict the future based on the lack of precedents, a black man would never be elected the President of the U.S., and men would never land on the moon.
J.J.:
Every basketball player is not Michael Jordan and every golfer is not Tiger Woods. Should everyone else just quit? Where are your other candidates to replace the ones you denigrate? I have no doubt that any on your list could run well if he were in Jimmy Johnson's car. Too bad Hendrick doesn't make 43 of those, only 4 or 5. Most of the guys in them are doing great. These days you have to be able to drive as well as speak as if you might have graduated high school. Until someone knocks you off the mountain, there are 43 spots to be filled.
@Tim considering Sorenson, Stremme, Menard, Speed, Ragan haven't won at ANY national or international touring level and that there are plenty of guys who can walk and chew gum at the same time in the so-call minors, I'm pretty sure those rides could be filled.
Johnson, Kahne, Busch (both of 'em), et al all did something, aka won, to earn their rides. Hell, Truex and Vickers at least won in the the Busch series... And even Earnhardt has shown he knows how to win (not lately, but he'll come back one of these days), but those first five guys I named? Haven't done a thing, so why not replace them? Surely there are others who can fill the field as well as they can, right?
Greg wrote:"It seems that in the last few years Patrick has become more of a woman who is a racecar driver and less of a racer who just happens to be a woman."
Lesson 4 U: Bobby Rahal ran into the peppy young teen when she was living in England an ocean away from her parents during the time he was Jaguar F1 boss. After a disastrous 3+ yrs in England, Patrick came back to America and after being entered in the Long Beach Celebrity race, Bobby hired her with the intention of grooming her for an American audience simply BECAUSE SHE WAS FEMALE & American, had marketing potential, and was er.."wild" & uninhibited. He first put her in Barber Dodge and she was less than spectacular. He then put her in his Atlantics team for 2 yrs and again she was hardly a standout (no wins, only podiumed 2 or 3x each season). Even so Rahal then put her in his IRL IndyCar team, passing over dozens of far-more qualified and capable drivers, simply because Danica was FEMALE & marketable, not because of talen
I'm beginning to wonder why this guy hates women so much. Cars ain't cars. Some people can drive and win in anything (Tony Stewart, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti come to mind) but many keep searching until they find the right fit. Anybody remember when Steve "King of the Outlaws" Kinser tried running an Indycar? Not purdy! DA could do the same thing in NASCAR or she could find her niche and take off! Anybody remember when Jeff Gordon came into the sport? It was consensus that he would never make it because he was too young and aggressive...whatever hppened to him, anyway?
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