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she ahs been in sprint cup for one season. remember jeff gordon? he won his first championship in his first season in sprint cup, NOT. and neither did dale earnhardt, or richard petty. how about we give her a little time to gain some experience before we start slamming her as a do nothing driver shall we? give her another season or two, then we can talk.
remember she has already done more than janet guthrie and patty moise did in their careers.
Janet Guthrie and Patty Moise never had the equipment or the sponsor money Danica has, either. Guthrie never ran a complete season, but did manage to post 4 Top 10s in 19 races during the 1977 season - including a 6th at Bristol - which to me is more impressive than a crap shoot Top 10 at a plate track.
For your edification: Driver (First Full Season)
Richard Petty (1960)
40/44 races, led 447 laps, 3 wins, 16 Top 5s, 30 Top 10s. 2nd in points.
Dale Earnhardt (1979)
27/31 races, led 605 laps, 1 win, 11 Top 5s, 17 Top 10s. 7th in points.
Jeff Gordon (1993)
30/30 races, led 230 laps, 0 wins, 7 Top 5s, 11 Top 10s. 14th in points.
Tony Stewart (1999)*
34/34 races, led 1227 laps, 3 wins, 12 Top 5s, 21 Top 10s. 4th in points.
Dale Jr (2000)
34/34 races, led 426 laps, 2 wins, 3 Top 5s, 5 Top 10s. 16th in points.
Danica (2013)
36/36 races, led 5 laps, 0 wins, 0 Top 5s, 1 Top 10. 27th in points.
(*) - Stewart never raced a partial season in Winston/Sprint Cup. 1999 marked start #1 in the series.
Danica lags considerably behind every one of these drivers in terms of first-season performance.
Want a somewhat comparable first-year driver? Here's one:
Larry Pearson (1989)
29/29 races, led 5 laps, 0 wins, 0 Top 5s, 2 Top 10s. 23rd in points.
I predict she will be no more successful as she is now and the same posters who are defending her now will still be defending her then.
if she is no more successful at the end of next season than she was last season, then her support will fall away. in fact she is already losing tv coverage. remember at the beginning of last season, she was all over the announcers lips, towards the end of the season however, she was mentioned only a bit more often than jj yeley. so we shall see what happens this season and next.
Ignoring Petty, his comments, or her gender, lets analyze her as a race car driver:
IndyCar: 115 starts. 1 win (0.8%). 7 "podiums" (6.0%). Laps led 124 out of 17837 (0.6%). Avg finish 10.6
Nationwide: 61 Starts. 0 Wins. 1 top 5 (1.6%). Laps led 64 out of 9863 (0.6%). Ave finish 18.8.
Cup. 47 starts. 0 wins. 0 Top 5's. Laps Led 7 of 13206 (0.05%). Average finish 26.9.
Combined total for 10 year professional driving career. 1 win in 223 starts (0.4%). 195 laps led out of 40,906 (0.5%). Avg finish 14.7.
The real question is, why should Petty or anyone else, analyzing this "race driver" independent of any gender bias, believe this driver is competitive with the top talent in the sport? Certainly she does not come statistically anywhere close to who we would say are the top drivers of the sport, which is a long list (Johnson, Gordon, Stewart, Kurt and Kyle Bush, Harvick, Kenseth, Edwards, Hamlin, Kayhne, Earnhardt, Biffle, Bowyer) nor does she really compare to some of the next tier, like Newman, Lagano, McMurray, Truex, Mears, Ambrose, Burton....
I guess my point is, as a current cup driver, we can look over this race driver's career and see that this driver has always been a middle of the pack at best driver, who occasionally runs a decent race and has pulled off the rare high finish. However, when push comes to shove, this driver does not regularly or consistently run near the top with the leaders, and rarely if ever challenges for wins.
With a 10 year career under this driver's belt already, and at an age of 31, this track record would lead talent evaluators to look elsewhere when trying to find the next great Cup driver. Regardless of gender.
Honestly, I have nothing against her, and would love to see her have more success. I just do not see it happening. She is not, and has not shown enough talent to be a consistent front runer in any of these race series. I see no reason to think that will suddenly change in Cup.
Ignoring Petty, his comments, or her gender, lets analyze her as a race car driver:
IndyCar: 115 starts. 1 win (0.8%). 7 "podiums" (6.0%). Laps led 124 out of 17837 (0.6%). Avg finish 10.6
Nationwide: 61 Starts. 0 Wins. 1 top 5 (1.6%). Laps led 64 out of 9863 (0.6%). Ave finish 18.8.
Cup. 47 starts. 0 wins. 0 Top 5's. Laps Led 7 of 13206 (0.05%). Average finish 26.9.
Combined total for 10 year professional driving career. 1 win in 223 starts (0.4%). 195 laps led out of 40,906 (0.5%). Avg finish 14.7.
The real question is, why should Petty or anyone else, analyzing this "race driver" independent of any gender bias, believe this driver is competitive with the top talent in the sport? Certainly she does not come statistically anywhere close to who we would say are the top drivers of the sport, which is a long list (Johnson, Gordon, Stewart, Kurt and Kyle Bush, Harvick, Kenseth, Edwards, Hamlin, Kayhne, Earnhardt, Biffle, Bowyer) nor does she really compare to some of the next tier, like Newman, Lagano, McMurray, Truex, Mears, Ambrose, Burton....
I guess my point is, as a current cup driver, we can look over this race driver's career and see that this driver has always been a middle of the pack at best driver, who occasionally runs a decent race and has pulled off the rare high finish. However, when push comes to shove, this driver does not regularly or consistently run near the top with the leaders, and rarely if ever challenges for wins.
With a 10 year career under this driver's belt already, and at an age of 31, this track record would lead talent evaluators to look elsewhere when trying to find the next great Cup driver. Regardless of gender.
Honestly, I have nothing against her, and would love to see her have more success. I just do not see it happening. She is not, and has not shown enough talent to be a consistent front runer in any of these race series. I see no reason to think that will suddenly change in Cup.
oddly enough, i agree with you for the most part. i doubt that she will amount to much more than a middle of the pack racer on sprint cup. that said though she is useful to stewart-hass specifically, and nascar in general. at SH she can fulfill the role of a development driver. she gives good information to her teammates about the performance of her car, thus her team can try things they would not otherwise try in a race knowing that if she doesnt do well it wont hurt any chances at winning a title.
and she is good for nascar in general because girls now watching the sport can look at this and say it possible for them to do this as well. in the past women havent had the impact on the sport like patrick has had. patty moise went from kelly challenge cars to busch racing with little fanfare, and little success. janet guthrie had some success, sort of, but again she was a flash in the pan as well. we shall see about danica.
Danica Patrick isn't in Sprint Cup due to her racing accomplishments.
She is in Sprint Cup due to her celebrity status in Go Daddy ads .
whats your point? top tier racing is as much about talent as it is marketing these days, and right now danica is a hot commodity. unlike janet guthrie she is easy on the eyes.
danica does have some decent race performances in her career, one win, true not against the best competition, but a win regardless. she is the highest finishing female in the indy 500, third place, and she finished fifth in the points standings in 2009. these are pretty good stats for ANY driver, male or female. has her career peaked? i dont know. but i do know that she is in fact a good driver, and has a decent track record. when was the last time any of you finished third at indy? or finished fifth in the season points standings? i agree, she does need to get more aggressive if she is going to win some races, and you may not be a fan of patrick, but dont discount her talent.
You ask what my point is ?
My point is I am not going to brag about her racing when it appears her racing is not what got her into a full time Sprint Cup ride.
You, on the other hand, seem to ( against facts) be arguing that it is her driving ability.
My point is I am not going to brag about her racing when it appears her racing is not what got her into a full time Sprint Cup ride.
You, on the other hand, seem to ( against facts) be arguing that it is her driving ability.
THAT is my point.
as richard petty said, and i agree, danica is a good driver, but she is not a good racer. drivers tend to stay out of trouble, they dont wreck their cars when they can avoid it, etc. racers on the other hand win races, danica hasnt done that yet. will she? i dont know, but until she does she wont be a good racer. there is no question that she has talent for racing, she just needs to dig deep and use it if she wants to win races.
Danica was an OK, not a great open wheel driver and as all NASCAR fans know, open wheel skills do not translate to NASCAR like they did 50 years ago.
The best open wheelers, Indy, F1 do not jump in NASCAR and automatically become winners. It's a totally different type of racing and "rubbin is racing" does not work in open wheel. (sprint car racing being the exception where rubbing is commonplace in that sport)
To be fair NASCAR drivers do not go to Indy, F1 and become automatic front runners.
Danica is too old to start over but she should have started in Modifieds, Late models to gain the skills necessary to be a top NASCAR driver.
Take some of those back markers and put them in Danica's car and they move right to the front.
Danica Patrick isn't in Sprint Cup due to her racing accomplishments.
She is in Sprint Cup due to her celebrity status in Go Daddy ads .
One could make this point about virtually all drivers now-a-days. A sponsor gets you a ride whether you 'deserve' it or not. There are examples in every level and form of racing. She's no different in this regard.
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