Danica Patrick to Run Indy and Daytona 500 Before Retiring Next Season

[Rastas]

Still better driver than anyone here........

 

[NASCRAP]

Brittany Force is the NHRA Top Fuel Champion ?

lol

Brittany Force is the exception. There are always exceptions. Especially when they get help from Daddy.

Danica Patrick is the rule.

 

[Durge Driven]

Thank goodness then that dad is not prejudice like most males ?

 

[Case_]

There are so few women in racing because they aren't any good at it.

Yep. That's absolutely the only explanation.

 

[Durge Driven]

Lizzy Musi

 

[ghostshades]

Being fast isn't why Danica Patrick is a driver now, that's business calculations that keeping coming back in black every year and not red. If you could get 5-15% more women to come to races than before, is it worth to keep her on contract? And sponsors, suddenly a whole new market chance pops up and what do the shareholders think of that? Of course she gets a Penske, she just didn't earn it from her brilliance on track.

Try to see the big picture regardless of what you feel about this, anything else might come across as naive or sexistic and in these times they crush you for it. Ask Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey.....

If you ask me, the biggest shame is that she wasn't better than she was. Bringing women in can only be good for the sport in every way except increased average lap times on the racing population as a whole

ps, that last assumption is absolutely based on the fact that they are coming as adults to start their careers and not like Lewis Hamilton or any other F1 star, whose dad did double shifts so the boy could pursue his dreams. Now that is true sacrifice...

 

[Nestoche]

lol....Well here in the south of GA, when someone tells you "Well Bless Your Heart" It's an insult. I'm sure you were being sarcastic......no?

As my grandmother used to say, "Well bless her heart, at least she tried."

 

[arthurvince]

View attachment 222712
Female racing icon Danica Patrick has confirmed her intention to race at the 2018 Indy 500 and Daytona 500 before calling time on her high profile racing career.

A clearly upset Danica Patrick has today confirmed she will be stepping away from full time racing competition after 2018's Indy and Daytona 500 events, marking the end of what has been a spectacular period of time in the spotlight for Americas most famous female racing driver.

"Nothing that was being presented excited me, then about three weeks ago, I just blurted out, 'What about Indy? Let's end it with the Indy 500,'" she said. "This ignites something in me. But I am done after May. Everyone needs to put their mind there. My plan is to be at Indy, and then I'm done."​

Although in receipt of plenty of the motorsport headlines over in the USA, Patrick has had anything but a successful career on track in first the IndyCar Series and recent years driving in the high profile NASCAR series, securing a lone pole position in her 189 NASCAR Cup starts.

With her NASCAR full time career effectively over at the end of the year, Patrick will be taking one final tilt at the big Daytona 500 round as well as ending her career for good where it all started, over in the IndyCar series at the world famous Indy 500, a race the controversial driver promised she would never return to when leaving to form a career in NASCAR back in 2011..

"I know I always said I'd never go back to Indy, and I was always being honest," she said. "Well, things change. I know now you can never say never. I'd been going through this in my head and kept asking myself, 'How am I going to get the words out and say it's over?' And trust me, I lost my (stuff) a few times over that.

"But this seems right, and this seems good."
​

Patrick has yet to confirm which team(s) she will be competing in at Daytona and Indy next year, although it is certain the American will be keen to secure drives in machinery capable of taking the fight to the front running drivers, something that looks increasingly difficult considering many of the top outfits already have firm driver plans in place for the coming season and Patrick appears to be struggling to secure the necessary sponsorship required to fund a top team drive in either American series, one of the contributory factors to her decision to walk away from the sport at the end of the 500 in May:

"I didn't want to be pushed into anything, and everyone can relate, sometimes things just shift and change around you," she told AP. "Especially with me and the sponsor situation. I've never been there before. I've always had a sponsor. It forces you into thinking about things and nothing was lining up easily. If I don't feel like I can run better than where I am, then I don't want to do it. And, there have been times that I could not have been more miserable.

"That's not why I come, and I feel like it takes away from everything else I accomplished. I don't want to be remembered for the things that didn't go as well. I want to be remembered for the things that went well."​

Danica Patrick has made 189 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, securing seven top-10 finishes and a sole pole position at the 2013 running of the Daytona 500. According to Motorsport.com Patrick has raced in 53,321 laps of competition and has led for 64 of those laps... not exactly a world beater on track, but without doubt a trend setter for other women looking to make the break into top level professional motorsports.

Love motorsport and want to share your passion with fellow fans of two, three and four wheeled sport? Drop in to our Motorsport Sub Forum and get yourself involved with the community today!

View attachment 222717

Like what you see here at RaceDepartment? Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow us on social media!

RaceDepartment YouTube
RaceDepartment Twitter
RaceDepartment Facebook
RaceDepartment Twitch
RaceDepartment Instagram

Do you think Patrick can have one more turn in the spotlight before retirement next year? Can she achieve success at Indy after so long away from the series? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[arthurvince]

Mostly when Female drivers quits, another "challenge" hits, ..to be a mom.

 

[Hor-hay]

 

[randMracer]

Mostly when Female drivers quits, another "challenge" hits, ..to be a mom.

Yeah she's 35, so that clock is ticking.

 

[randMracer]

lol....Well here in the south of GA, when someone tells you "Well Bless Your Heart" It's an insult. I'm sure you were being sarcastic......no?

Nope not being sarcastic at all. Just because it means an insult in your limited part of the country, that doesn't mean it's like that everywhere else. I've lived in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Let's just say, to put it nicely, there are some interesting traditions and people in the south.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Courtney Dauwalter would like a word...

Amy Ruman too, and whilst we're there, can we discuss Michele Mouton? Ya know, the lady who drove Group B cars and left rallying when they switched to Group A because it wasn't hardcore enough?

 

[Rob Every]

There were plenty of decent female racing and rally drivers over the years

It just so happens that most of the ones around in recent years have been very average and would not have got as far nib the talent they had if they were men.

 

[Nestoche]

Well, I am not from Atlanta Ga myself. I'm originally from New York City, Bronx NY. Been down here in the south since 2000 from a job transfer, (now retired) and that's what these local yokels here warned me about if someone said to me "Bless Your Little Heart" as an insult....Hey, these folks are bread and born here in Atlanta Ga... So I take their word for it!..lol

Nope not being sarcastic at all. Just because it means an insult in your limited part of the country, that doesn't mean it's like that everywhere else. I've lived in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Let's just say, to put it nicely, there are some interesting traditions and people in the south.

 

[Alex Townsend]

Brittany Force is the exception. There are always exceptions. Especially when they get help from Daddy.

Danica Patrick is the rule.

'Especially when they get help from Daddy'? You implying that male drivers don't get family assistance?
I'm really not sure what this comment means, as a parent myself i can't imagine not having a vested interest in giving my daughter the absolute chance in becoming anything she wants to be.
We all know the story about Lewis' dad working two jobs or extra shifts to pay for his sons' early career in racing.
And then on the other side of the spectrum are drivers like Maldonado and Stroll...
Doesn't matter, rich or poor, any Father worthy of the title would do anything he can for his kids career.
Sorry for the rant...

 

[Rob]

Here's hoping there comes a day when female drivers are represented well enough that physical beauty doesn't have to be the first thing that comes up when they get mentioned!

And so the vitriol in this thread is why I respect her even more, and am glad, for her sake, she stayed stateside. After all, look what happened to Michael Andretti. Danica, unlike 90% of F1 these days, had to fight for every scrap...and also fight true misogyny (not the fake kind like is taught in Universities these days).

I've met Danica face to face, and spoken with her. The great irony of all this, is that, in person, "beauty" or whatever your definition of it is, didn't come to mind (although it did with another female driver I met why really did have all looks and no talent...and boy did she have looks...lol). She's about 4'11" and very hard looking, but, just like any other competitive IndyCar driver, extremely driven, extremely ambitious, and extremely good, in most anything on four wheels. Her great advantage was that she looked great on camera. lol. Usually that means you don't look good in person. Whatever.

The fact is, IndyCar and IndyCar alone has been the most inclusive, and the most color-blind of all the world's racing groups. Danica was just another rung in that long tradition. They are not pampered elitists, like you find in F1.

She was just a kid when I talked to her, and she was trying to break her habit of saying "you know" after every sentence. She eventually did. Her Dad, known for pushing her, and her Mom, known for marketing her, made a good combination. She was 100% muscle, so her lightness and "pounds per inch" were a massive advantage. Drivers take what they can get, and in IndyCar, picking a light driver was rewarded. For those "experts" who insist she just can't cut it, I'd say the opposite. She is part of an elite few who can step into a stock car, an IndyCar, or whatever F1 calls a car these days, and run against anyone at any track, including those tracks that many drivers say are "too dangerous" for their wealthy lifestyle.

IndyCar and NASCAR are the most dangerous racing series' out there, and she tackled them both as if it was nothing. Many drivers fail to ever win any IndyCar race. Many drivers never get past year one in NASCAR. Many drivers never get to either, let alone run them both for about a decade. That puts her in the same class (but not quite) with JPM. She could have easily won more ovals, and easily won more in a faster car...like all drivers, including Fernando Alonso.

Those that know her, and racing best, say it best...

"She's always had a smooth driving style, and Indianapolis is a place that suits her very well," he said. "She's always been smooth and fast, [but] I do think today's world is a lot more competitive world than when she was there. To run at the top is a hard thing to do. It has gotten significantly harder than the early days when I was doing it.

"If you can finish in the top 15, you're doing a good job, so I think she's going to find that a little bit more of a challenge. I'm excited for her. I'm eager to see how she does. Selfishly, I'm happy for her, and happy that Indy will be her last [race]. Indy, at the core of it, is who she is. I'm excited to see her back home."

-- Graham Rahal

 

[Rob]

Yeah she's 35, so that clock is ticking.

Strange. Never heard that about Fernando. Clearly he's washed up too.

 

[randMracer]

Strange. Never heard that about Fernando. Clearly he's washed up too.

I didn't know Fernando could give birth? Pay attention now. Look at the original comment you disagreed with.

 

[DrSmile]

Here is why people don't like Danica:
Her marketing team pushed revisionist history.

Auto racing fans are for the most part fairly intelligent, at least when compared to stick & ball sports fans. The majority of these people know the following names: Janet Guthrie. Michele Mouton. Shirley Muldowney. Ashley/Brittany/Courtney Force. Erica Enders. Leah Prichett. Susie Wolff. Angelle Sampey. Katherine Legge. Sarah Fisher. Cristen Powell. Rhonda Hartman-Smith. Lori Johns.

Women competing in auto racing has been a non-issue since the late 1970's/early 1980's. There have been truckloads of females before Danica, and they've also had solid rides. Mouton was an Audi factory driver in the WRC's most dangerous cars. Cristen Powell had Reebok come on board for a season. Angelle Sampey had Winston. The Force sisters had BP/Castrol.

They've also won. A lot.

Her marketing team portrayed Danica as the first professional female driver ever, and implied she was smashing down gender barriers left and right. The barriers Danica was said to be breaking, had already been broken down some thirty years ago by Mouton & Muldowney. It was insulting as an auto racing fan to see the rightful pionneers outright ignored. Footage of Mouton & Muldowney tearing it up exists. Why aren't you showing it? Why aren't you interviewing them? Who's this Danica girl and why should I care about her mid-pack finish in front of an abysmal crowd when Ashley Force just won the biggest event in drag racing?

It rubbed people the wrong way.

And of course her stats didn't help.

You forgotten the best of them all: Sabine Schmitz
Cheers