I Don't Like Danica Patrick

I went on Twitter today and asked for some advice about what to write. I was told that there is always something new with Danica Patrick, which spurred my creative juices. So I figured, "Hell, I can write a rant about Danica Patrick, and enjoy myself while doing so".

I don't like the fact that Danica gets paraded around as the IRL show girl. Luckily, it has declined a bit this year, but, I still find it terribly annoying that a driver who won 1 race in 5 years (74 starts) is the face of the IRL. Unfortunately, we seem to be stuck with this situation as she is the biggest name we have, since we can't seem to produce stars to carry the series. I guess we need multiple American Women to get even more popularity for our drivers.

The fact that she is creating headlines simply by showing up in Nascab shops is annoying as hell, and the fact she is eating it up in the media by waiting it out until the end of the season to announce her future plans.

I have nothing against women in racing, in fact I think it's a positive to see both men and women competing together, but it bothers me when I see Danica being treated differently then the rest of the boys. She keeps saying she just wants to be one of the boys, and just be another driver, but then she throws herself on the cover of Sports Illustrated in less clothes then Pamela Anderson usually wears.

Problem is, if she leaves, the IRL is relatively screwed. If ratings drop, which they most likely will unfortunately, if she leaves, it will be twice as hard to grow and develop new faces for American fans to grab a hold of as their own. To grow stars, we need people watching when Ryan Hunter-Reay beats the big dogs again and steps on top of the podium, or when Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson battle it out in the late laps in a historic Indycar race. If no one is watching, then no one cares how great these battles and drivers are.

Unfortunately, as much as I dislike Danica, I realize the need we have for her in the league. I guess if people hate Paul Tracy while agreeing he would be an asset, Danica could be put in the same boat unfortunately. Maybe Danica pushes some of the same buttons PT pushes with fans, some people love them, some people don't, but either way, they are both huge news makers when they are driving, or talking about driving, or pushing someone on TV in pitlane.

If Danica leaves, it's a huge blow, but that won't stop me from hating seeing her do well. I guess I know how all these PT hater's feel.