Regardless of the outcome, the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday would've been historic. There were countless story lines going into the race; from Helio Castroneves trying to become only the fourth racer in Indy history to win four Indianapolis 500 races, to the story of Sam Schmidt, the former driver who was paralyzed in a tragic accident and now had the chance to become a winning owner at Indy. No matter what story line you were looking at, there is always one that remains, and that is the story line of whether or not Danica Patrick can become the first female driver in the history of the event to cross the finish line in first place.
Throughout the years, there have been a few women, eight total, who have attempted to become that first female driver to win the Indy 500, none as high profile as Danica Patrick. There are many people, myself included, that feel that the only reason for her status as a "high profile" driver is the fact that she is...let's just say it...hot. Not counting the 2011 Indianapolis 500, Danica has had a total of 103 professional races in the seven years she has been a professional driver. Out of those 103 races, she has only one victory, and only seven total Top Three finishes including that victory. For the math wizards out there, that's only 6.8%. Less than 7% of her races have resulted in a top three finish. To put this into perspective, each of the last three winners of the Indianapolis 500 have won no fewer than 15 races each: Dan Wheldon in 2011 (15 wins/129 races), Dario Franchitti in 2010 (17 wins/99 races), and Helio Castroneves in 2009 (19 wins/139 races) So, is Danica "high profile" because she's good, or just because she's a pretty face in an otherwise male-dominated sport?
I don't think anyone questions the fact that, in order to drive an open-wheel race car (or a stock car, for that matter) at speeds in excess of 220 miles per hour, you have to have some level of talent. With that said, there's no question Danica has talent in the field of racing cars. Her level of notoriety, however, stems more from her physical gifts than her actual driving talent. Along with those talents, she's also developed somewhat of a "diva"-like quality which has begun to overshadow her on-the-track talents. She has been known to shift blame from herself onto her crew. She's been known to call out many of her competitors during times she's crashed out. She's also been known to walk up the pit lane to physically confront a driver for a mistake she believed he caused. These types of actions have actually started to have a negative effect on the overall perception of Danica Patrick. Yet, she still remains one of the biggest story lines each time she races.
On Sunday, it was almost as if the race gods began to pay her back for some of these "sins". Twice during the race, as she was coming in to pit lane, yellow flags came out, thus altering her pit schedule, which eventually led to a lack of fuel toward the end of the Indianapolis 500. It couldn't have come at a worse time, either. Danica took the lead of the race on the 179th lap and led for the next 10 laps, until fuel, and a slower car, became an issue and she was forced to pull back. Somehow, I don't think many people were actually disappointed with that.
What's even more baffling to me is the fact that, despite the mediocre success she has actually had in the IndyCar circuit, there is almost no doubt that beginning in 2012, Danica will, in the immortal words of LeBron James, "take her talents" to NASCAR on a full time basis. But the question is...what makes her think that she's deserving of that jump? With only one victory in 103 professional races, and being overshadowed by her fellow competitors when it counts...on race day...what makes Danica believe that moving to NASCAR is the best thing? The way I look at it, she needs to actually prove herself as a driver, and not as a model or spokeswoman, before she can take on a new challenge. In a time where Danica wants to be seen as just a race car driver and not as a female race car driver, it would seem logical that proving yourself as a driver would be the utmost priority. For whatever the reason, however, it seems she's still more interested in proving herself to be the worst Go-Daddy.com spokeswoman there is, rather than the most successful race car driver she can be.
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