Danica's ARCA result shows she's a stock car star in the making

It’s too bad that nobody on the NASCAR RaceDay program Saturday night had the guts to ask Kyle Petty about Danica Patrick’s performance in the just-finished ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 because it would have been fun to watch him eat his words.

While most NASCAR drivers have been either non-committal or mildly supportive of Patrick’s cautious move from Indy cars to the stockers, Petty was adamant several weeks ago that while she might be a "marketing machine," she isn’t much of a racing driver.

Well, if her performance in that ARCA race is any indication – and, yes, ARCA ain’t NASCAR, but still – she’ll do just fine in stock cars, thank you.

Patrick finished sixth in the Slick Mist 200 – a race won for the sixth time by Bobby Gerhart – and she handled everything that was thrown at her with skill and ease. Starts, restarts, pit stops, drafting – she looked like a veteran out there. When she was knocked sideways and out of control by Nelson Piquet Jr. (who, until that point, had been looking pretty comfortable out there also), she stayed calm and cool and collected the car before it could do any damage.

The incident – which forced her into the pits twice for fuel, tires and repairs to the car’s bodywork – resulted in her dropping to the back of the field but she put the hammer down and fought her way back into the top ten, actually running as high as fifth at one point.

On the last lap, coming out of the fourth turn and heading for the checkers, she leaned right down on ex-supercross champion Ricky Carmichael and the two traded paint for a couple of hundred metres before Patrick pulled ever so slightly ahead at the line.

She said afterward that she’d had fun.

"I was pretty excited to go from last to back to the top five again and then I jumped up high (out of the draft down low and up toward the wall) and I was like, ‘whatever, there’s eight to go, who cares? Let’s see who’s coming with me. . ."

Because of her impressive performance, it won’t be a surprise if her employer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., announces that she’ll make her NASCAR debut next weekend in the Nationwide Series race the day before the Daytona 500.

She’ll attract a crowd, that’s for sure. When she left the pits after her second stop, the roar of encouragement from the fans in attendance could be heard above the motors.

The last time an "outsider" made an impression as great as Patrick’s was in 1993 when the reigning world champion Formula One driver, Nigel Mansell, came to North American to drive in the CART series.

As is the case with Patrick, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio or TV without the columnists or commentators going on and on about Mansell. At Indianapolis, the photographers would stake out a spot around Mansell’s pit anywhere from 20 minutes to a half hour before he was due to go out for practice, much to the consternation, irritation (and jealousy) of the other Indy racing heroes of the day.

For instance, when Canadian Ross Bentley was taken to the infield hospital after his car caught fire during a practice run, several dozen reporters were standing outside the care centre being briefed by Dr. Henry Bock, the speedway’s medical director.

Eddie Cheever, who was passing by on a golf cart, stopped to see what was happening. "Is Nigel in there," he asked?

Told no, he responded: "He won’t be happy to know that Ross Bentley is getting more attention than he is."

Mansell won the CART championship that season and the hysteria subsequently settled down, surely as it will with Patrick.

Eventually.

Other ARCA observations:

– Mark Thompson was second and John Wes Townley was third. Steve Arpin of Fort Frances, Ont., was tenth. Jennifer Jo Cobb, the highest-placed woman after Patrick, finished 17^th. Indy car driver Milka Duno was eliminated in an early-race pileup and was last in the 43-car field.

– When Jill George somehow got upside down and went head-first into the wall coming out of the fourth turn at a very high rate of speed, it was a miracle that she emerged from the wreck in apparent good shape.

"Thank God for the SAFER barrier," said announcer Darrel Waltrip (although it turned out that Jill George had just missed it and actually hit the concrete wall). It’s too bad that Waltrip didn’t mention that another person named George was responsible for the SAFER – a guy named Tony George.

– Jill George’s accident resulted in a long red flag so repairs could be made to the retaining wall and protective fencing. Which was a good thing, because it gave the sun time to go down rather than continue to shine directly into the drivers’ eyes coming off the fourth turn.

I realize the ARCA race has to be shoehorned between Daytona 500 pole qualifying and the Budweiser Shootout, but the setting sun – for 15 minutes or a half-hour – can be blinding and potentially dangerous.

I have a friend (no names here, as I don’t want to embarrass him) who was making his very first run in a supermodified racing car at New York’s Oswego Speedway one Saturday way back in 1982.

It was late afternoon-early evening and the sun – as it was at Daytona Saturday – was shining directly into the drivers’ eyes.

"You couldn’t see a thing," my friend told me once, in explaining the completely boneheaded move he was about to make.

"I floored it coming out of four and I couldn’t see and I was going a million miles an hour and I figured I must be just about at the first turn so I lifted off the throttle and I turned left."

The problem was, he was only a little over half way down the front straight so that when he turned left he went straight into the inside steel retaining wall and destroyed his race car and very nearly him, too.

That’s funny. But it’s too dangerous to laugh. Daytona has to do something about that sun, like start the ARCA race earlier, or later, to avoid it.

NASCAR NOTES:

– Mark Martin, who must be a hundred and fifty now, won the pole for next Sunday’s Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start outside on the front row. They are the only two locked into position for the big race. All other starting positions will be determined next Thursday when the two qualifying races are held. Fifty-four drivers are shooting for the 43 starting spots.

– Kevin Harvick won the Budweiser Shootout Saturday night, which ended with a bang. Between six and eight cars piled up on the second-last lap when Jeff Gordon got into the back of Greg Biffle and all hell broke loose.

Kasey Kahne finished second and Jamie McMurray was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.

The drivers seem to have taken NASCAR’s suggestion to "have at it" to heart. Saturday night’s ka-boomer was the third "big one" in three days. A lot of machinery is going to be torn up this season, if the Daytona experience is any indication, which means it’s going to cost the owners a fortune to keep turning out the cars.

Let’s cross our fingers that the cars are the only things damaged.

　

Comments

[Gord Vernon]

Was it Gary Morton ?

[Matti Lilleberg]

I still can't understand how Danica remained on the lead lap after pitting twice for damage repair. But still a very good ride for her!

[exCARTRace fan]

Danica did a great job.
I'm sure there are a 1000 other Racers that could
have done as good a job with the equipment she had!!
And you didn't mention Alli Owens!! she ran 3rd for a long time. I think she did a good job for someone I never heard of before!!

But Danica has put ARCA on the map...and it will be
interesting to how she does when she moves up to
Nationwide and Cup.

I wish her Good luck and yes, she has brought new fans
to Taxi Cab Racing.. LOL

[R. W. Watson]

Given that Danica was driving a Hendrick car, 5th is really not such a great result. Come on Norris, this is ARCA, home of the cast off cup cars. Hendrick cars are, well, anything but cast offs. Really, the Danica fever has been over the top for years and now with NASCAR on the ropes she is their great hope to revitalize an otherwise tired and somewhat boring race series.

[racingmaniac]

Are you really comparing Danica Patrick(accomplished racer, yet to win a championship, gets a lot of attention because she is of the opposite sex)'s one-off stint(so far) in ARCA(one of the many feeder series to the feeder series of the big league stock car) to Nigel Mansell(at the time, reigning F1 champion with most win in a season to that point)'s transition to CART(big league Indy car racing, pre-split)? Really shouldn't be on the same scale...

[john yontoy]

Sam Hornish had the pole and ran 1st all day until problem in pits caused second place finish in first ARCA event.

[DK]

I personally expected much better from Ms. Patrick. She gets so much press because she's an attractive female and she has grown much larger that her talent level deserves.

I remember Kenny Irwin driving a Yates car and winning the ARCA 200 race in his only start. I expected much the same from an IRL winner (even if it was just a fuel mileage win) driving a Hendrick racecar. Personally, I'd recommend talking to Ms. Ali Owens if a sponsor is looking for an attractive female to be their face person. Not only is she a looker, but I’ll bet that an investment of good equipment in her career would return some wins.

While I’d like to see Danica drive at a non-restrictor plate track before I make a final judgment, I’m willing to bet that she will not win in either ARCA or Nationwide this year, based on watching her draft. Usually women are too timid to draft efficiently and she drafted like a girl (not meant to be an insult, just an observation).

[Marc]

DK I guessing, and based on some of the drivers that competed and drafted with her, you're wrong.

Apparently all indications are for a "first timer" she did A OK in the draft.

[Rod Anderson]

Norm:

Are you kidding me? Danica, is a very experienced veteran race car driver, that had the luxury of an absolutely top of the line car and team. She finished 6th, in a car that was very capable of winning.

In fact, I could probably name you 100 racers off the top of my head that would have finished as well or better in the same car and with the same team.

She has been in the very best equipment throughout her professional career and has a grand total of one win. A race in which she never contended for the lead, and may not have passed a car on the lead lap, who was not saving fuel! Oh but she's a "Racer" all right.

She backed into her one, and only, win of her career, but has driven nothing but top of the line equipment, for top of the line teams. If she were a male driver, or if she were not pretty, she would be out on the street looking for a real job. She would have never gotten her foot in the door, with her record, if she were judged on her results on the race track.

There is one, and only one reason, she ever made it to the cockpit of an Indy car, much less, the seat of a JR Motorsports stock car. And it has nothing to do with what she has accomplished on a race track.

It is as simple as that. You can put all the lipstick on a pig you want to, but it still does not change the fact that she has underperformed her entire career.

Now, if she had been in a "regular" ARCA car, with a regular ARCA team and she came home sixth, I would say, well done. But coming on sixth in a car that 98% of professional drivers would have qualified in the top 3, if not on the pole, and would have been in contention for the win, is not big deal.

This isn't about some one, Kyle Petty, or me, or anyone else, eating their words. This is about a very experienced race car driver getting rides she hasn't earned on the track, and continuing to under-perform.

Moreover, she continues to under-perform despite having huge advantages over the great majority of her competitors. After she fails to perform at a level commensurate with her equipment, we get the likes of you and other people telling us how great she did.

You are not her daddy, I expect her daddy to tell us how wonderful Danica is despite her lack of accomplishments; I expect you to give us some critical analysis. If I didn't know better I would think this stuff comes straight out of a PR machine.

For example, why didn't someone, anyone, write an article about how other drivers have performed in similar situations? It takes one of the responders on here to point out that Sam Hornish, in a similar setting, sat on the Pole and came home second in the race.

How about Ricky Carmichael coming home 7th in the same race? Everyone wants to point out how Ms. Patrick "man-handled" him to take a position away on the last lap. No one dare mention that he is a moto-cross rider making a transition to stock cars. For the love of Pete, Ms. Patrick has thousands of miles more seat time than Carmichael, yet she finished just one spot in front of him; no one mentions that?

You want to jump on Kyle Petty, well, if I am not mistaken 30 years ago an inexperienced and 18 year old Kyle Petty won his first Stock car race ever at Daytonna in the same race. He didn't have anything approaching the driving experience of Ms. Patrick; yet he out performed her. Wouldn't you think that would be interesting, to compare, and to put her performance in context, especially since you seem so keen on seeing the same exact guy "eat" his own words?

No, doing things like actually comparing her to other drivers, without "spin," would shine the light of day on her failings and we certainly don't want to do that. Once again, she gets a pass; she gets graded on an extremely favorable curve.

Do your job if you want to be taken seriously.

Kyle Petty is one of the very few that has the guts to call a spade a spade.

[DK]

Marc,

She is not a "first timer" as the draft is concerned. If you don't think IRL drivers deal with the draft, you're wrong. Granted the plates change the nature of the draft, but the draft is very real to an open-wheel IRL car traveling in excess of 200 mph at IRL tracks like Indy, California, and Michigan.

As far as her fellow drivers, first they are ARCA drivers. Most are not very accomplished at restrictor plate racing themselves. Secondly, look at all the buzz surrounding Danica. These fellow drivers know that any criticism would be reported and twisted by the media to the point that they'd be labeled sexist and their own sponsors might drop them. Lastly, I have eyes. I don't need independent validation of my opinion.

I personally don't mean to be overly critical of her. She finished the race in one piece, on the lead lap, and in the top ten. All worthy accomplishments, albeit underachieving for a driver of her experience paired with a team that is essentially a Hendrick team. My point is that she is receiving WAY TOO MUCH COVERAGE for a driver of her limited talent. When I read an article about a driver, I want to read about that driver because of their accomplishments on the track, and not because of the way they fill out their driving suit. Last month JR Motorsports put out a publicity photo of her in front of her Nationwide car. She was dressed like twenty dollar hooker in the photo, not a race car driver. The photo looked more like belonged in a skin magazine than in a racing publication. Her performance in the race Saturday may have deserved honorable mention in some racing article, but certainly not headline billing.

Holding up an inferior driver and making them out to be much more than they really are is not good for the sport. In the long run, it'll make for a bunch of disappointed fans.