Danica Patrick, Stock Car Driver
Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 by Chuck Rocker in Business, Dis & Dat, Sports
In Danica Patrick’s first stock car race she has given us a taste of what to expect from the sports future. Look, she’s a great driver and I’m not contesting that. But she finished 6th and the cameras never let her out of our sight.
She qualified 12th in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, an ARCA race that was supposed to help her get settled in behind the wheel of a stock car. And she drove well, really well.
“I was pretty excited to go from last back to the top 5,” she said after the race. “The car felt really good. That was fun!”
She should have had fun out there. The SPEED cameras capturing the race were trained on her almost continuously and the announcers could hardly update us on any of the other drivers. It was Danica’s day from start to finish and the media was gonna drive that point home over and over again. I’m not sure if this is a good or bad thing for fans but according to NASCAR president Mike Helton:
“It’s given us all the things that any sport or business would love – the exposure, uplift,” he said. “We have people following the sport that may have never looked at it for any other reason. So it’s huge.”
Nobody gets excited about a 6th place driver…this is all about the dollars.
