With each passing hour, it appears increasingly likely that Danica Patrick will take our advice and transfer her various talents to the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Tony Stewart, once mocked as the poster boy of the Indy Racing League, appears to be involved in the deal. Needless to say that nobody is mocking Stewart anymore.
We really have very little to say about Danica's decision. We try to adhere to rational economic analysis. Therefore, we had no choice but to assume that Danica would go to NASCAR, where she will not be the only driver that satisfies consumer demand.
Roggespierre
IMG are no dummies. They have remade Danica in 2009, to the "kindler, gentler" DP. Anyone who knows this women, knows its a act. Anyone who has been around her, as she has weasled her way up the racing ladder, knows the TRUE DP.
ReplyDeleteBut to get her big NASCAR money, IMG and Team Patrick knew she needed to put on a better public face. She needed to, because most sponsors in NASCAR want someone to act like Carl Edwards or Jeff Gordon or Mark Martin, and less like a spoiled prima donna, who is constantly throwing tantrums. Kyle Busch can get away with some of that, because he wins. Her new boss (Tony Stewart) also could (although Gibbs and Home Depot gritted their teeth many times over him).
It will be interesting to see how Danica responds to all the fandom that NASCAR has on a weekly basis. She truly does not like interacting with people and that kind of behavior will be frowned upon, once she gets down South. That kind of act is tolerated in the form of racing she has been used to. But being cold and standoffish, doesn't play in NASCAR. Or at least, it didn't used to.
IMG has pulled the strings all year for her. They are brilliant at what they do. They wisely got her dad out of the picture/loop. They worked this to perfection and in the end, are likely to get everything they wanted for their client. They wanted one more full year in Indy Car. Check. They wanted a slow progression into NASCAR, starting with Nationwide and Trucks. Check. They wanted to get to Cup by 2011. Check. They wanted big money. Check.
IMG will get her all of this. They get her into the major leagues and out of the minors of Indy Car Racing. Will she do well? Probably not. But she will be given at least 4 years, to try it. She will sell a TON of product, no matter how many laps down she is each week. She may become the new Mikey Waltrip, who can sell anything and makes tons of commercials, but finishes 34th every week. And that's OK. The money still spends the same and it will still be there. And by the time the bloom is likely off the rose and its found out that she isn't talented enough to be a Cup driver, she will probably be ready to end her racing career anyway and do something different in life. And, she will have PLENTY of spending money in her bank account to do so.
How could she NOT go to NASCAR? She may not be the smartest cookie intellectually, but she would have to be a complete fool to stay in Indy Car for much longer. Indy Cars, unfortunatley, have no appeal and are about officially dead. Anyone worth their salt, HAVE to go to NASCAR if they get the chance. If you are a serious racer and want to test yourself in the big leagues, that's where you go.
No, Indy Car Racing doesn't deserve Danica Patrick. It doesn't deserve much of anything at this point.
Trick,
ReplyDeleteI love IndyCar racing, but I can't disagree with your assessment of it. IMG didn't get into this so it could have her racing in an alley in Brazil.
Roggespierre
I agree with most of what was written, except about her attitude---when she first came to the IRL she was scoffed, and told that she didn't belong. She put on a tough exterior as we all would do to compensate for our anger. She is very focused, and she has become the "advertising dream", that IMG not only can sell, butcan give her a chance to race where ever she wishes.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, she is talented as a driver, and given a car that Penske or Ganassi could provide she would win.
Stewart is no dummy--she can provide sponsorship, attention, and given time a possibility of a winning driver as well.
In the real world, only Danica can draw any attention from ESPN, SPEED, or any sports publication---frankly no one gives a poop whether Dixon, Franchitti, Brisco or anyone else wins--if Danica has a press conference--or just is quoted---she gets the space.
The IRL needs to put together a package to keep her---she does want to win the 500 and as an old race driver told me--"give her a million just to start next year".
If the old rascal Big Bill was alive and running the IRL, she and a couple of other American drivers would have won this year. Don't tell me it wasn't done---I'll tell you it was done and more than once!
The IRL has lived on a false premise since it's inception---the economy may kill it off, it has been on life support (The Hulman Fortune) which is coming to an end.
Without Danica, and her ads, you'll never see anyone, anywhere, report, anything about the IRL.
No wonder she is smiling--she has the boys right where she wants them. I bet you can guess where!
osca
"The IRL needs to put together a package to keep her."
ReplyDeleteNo, they don't. First off, her value to the league has always been WAY overblown. Look at the TV numbers. Nobody cares. Nobody cares what she races or how she does. Now that she got her only win, the only storyline worth paying attention to is gone. Nobody gives a crap if she finishes 5th in points or leads 10 laps in 2 years. Her story, in the IRL world, is tired and played out.
When she moves to NASCAR, a whole new story begins. "Can she survive in the major leagues?". "Is the good enough to ever be competitive?". "How will a women do in NASCAR?". "Will she be a black hat?". "How will the drivers and fans react to her?"
Second, the Indy Car series doesn't have the finances to make a "play" to keep her. They are dying. Money has dried up and will only get tougher to find, for league and teams alike. Just figureing out how to get to 33 cars at Indy, without Tony George in control of the pursestrings, will be interesting to say the least. That will be the more important money to be spent. Because if it ever gets to the day, that there aren't 33 cars in the Indy 500, not only will the sport be dead officially, but the Indy 500 will be as well.
And the Indy 500 (at 90 something years old) is a lot more important then one driver.
"Now that she got her only win, the only storyline worth paying attention to is gone."
ReplyDeleteHer quest to become the first woman to win the Indy 500 is still pretty interesting, in my book, anyway.
Please check to see what the TV ratings went to the first year Danica was in her first 500 and led---compare it to the year before.
ReplyDeleteIf she were to qualify on the front row, and properly promoted (The IRL couldn't promote free diamonds--but that is another story), the number of people (think girls) who would tune in would explode.
For most of us who care about open wheel racing, we'd watch (and attend) regardless of who is racing---but to rebuild the series, we need an American winner, and better yet if it were a women.
I attended the first race after WWII (1946) so my view is from "an old farts" point of view who still gets tears in his eyes when they sing "Back Home Again in Indy".
I wonder if anyone in the IRL really gives a poop about the fans--it seems like they are trying to drive us all away. I will not be driven away--at least not easily!
osca
osca,
ReplyDeleteThe IRL can't promote because it is too busy reaching for short-cuts in hopes of landing corporate money. Promotion is a grassroots activity that is often not very glamorous. It's county fairs, girl scouts, and local radio shows.
It is not lining up the Indy field in Manhattan in hopes of appealing to that sponsorship and activation that simply must be just around the corner and that will solve everything!
Best,
Roggespierre
"Please check to see what the TV ratings went to the first year Danica was in her first 500 and led---compare it to the year before.
ReplyDeleteIf she were to qualify on the front row, and properly promoted (The IRL couldn't promote free diamonds--but that is another story), the number of people (think girls) who would tune in would explode."
osca,
2005 was an exception to the rule.
Danica was a new story, did well throughout the month in practice/qualifying, ended up getting all sorts of media attention as the month went on (Letterman, PTI, Jim Rome's TV show, etc.) and people tuned into the race and watched.
On the flipside, in 2008 the Indycar series had EVERYTHING going for it: Unification, Graham wins, Danica wins, Danica ends up on the cover of Sports Illustrated a few weeks later after her win at Japan and qualifies 5th for the Indy 500, yet the race itself drew a 4.5, which was up 5% from 2007, but not even in the ballpark of where it was in 2005.
So at this point, I don't know if Danica qualifying up front matters all that much, because if it did, the ratings for the 2008 race should've been at least a 5.5 (1 full ratings point within where it was in 2005) and they weren't.