Home

On December 19th 2009 I went to Daytona International Speedway to check out Danica Patrick's debut in Stock Car Racing. What had long been rumored around the racing world became reality when Danica climbed into an ARCA car and drove for team JR Motorsports. She had fueled the rumor fire by visiting several NASCAR teams the past few months and when the smoke cleared Dale Earnhardt Jr and Rick Hendrick had what it took to convince her to drive for them and the team they co own. They also brought in Dale's sister Kelley and Danica's new Crew Chief Tony Eury Jr. into the partnership so they could share in what promises to be a wildly successful program.

I had mixed feelings when I first heard Danica was considering a ride in NASCAR. She appeared to be vastly different than those that compete in NASCAR in her attitude and wasn't very fan friendly during the times I saw her at the track. She avoided them while I've seen Dale Earnhardt Jr. go way out of his way to sign some autographs or pose for a picture with some fans. While she has talent in the Indy cars she would only be able to carry over the driving basics and pretty much have to learn how to drive and race again in a very different type of car. Her willingness to listen and learn along with applying the new information on the track correctly with be the difference between success or failure. I think she feels that she will make the transition easily and driving for a top notch team with the best equipment will make it easy for her to win races and nothing could be further from the truth. The one thing she won't start with is the skill, knowledge and ability it takes to drive a stock car in the NASCAR Series competitively. That's something that will only come with time which she will have precious little of as she campaigns the full Indy Racing League Series in 2010 and will only drive 13 in NASCAR.

However well Danica does she will most certainly bring much needed attention to NASCAR in a lagging economy and create legions of new fans as well as those that follow her over from Indy cars. I hope she does well but my gut feeling is she will fade quickly once she sees how difficult it really is. Juan Pablo Montoya came over to NASCAR from open wheel racing after winning almost every prestigious race and after three years of full time racing in the Sprint Cup series is just now becoming a top team and only has one win that came on a road course. Danica will test the water and then have to come to a decision as to whether this is the direction she wants to go.

So with a three day test for ARCA I chose saturday to come watch Danica as she took to the track for the first session that would allow for drafting and groups of cars together which should make for some good action. Inside the track was closed to the public so my only vantage spot would be the one section of stands at the exit of turn four DIS keeps open for public viewing. Not very many spots there to get a clear shot from as the fence was in the way most of the time but I tried to make the best of it. Besides, the fence adds a little character to the shots. It makes you feel like an outsider looking in and i can't help but think that's how Danica must feel right about now.

The first time I got to see Danica in person was at a ROLEX 24 hour race at Daytona a few years ago. She kept out of the public eye and stayed in her trailer most of the time and only came out when it was time to drive. She also wouldn't sign autographs even though fans waited patiently for her to come by. At last years ROLEX she was much more open and walked about freely signing autographs. I even got one for myself. She's changing for the better and her new attitude will help her go far with the fans and in a way free up her mind to concentrate on her racing. The pictures below are from the 2009 ROLEX 24 when Danica Patrick drove for RCR along with co driver Casey Mears.

Her first stock car race went smoothly as she ran in the ARCA race at Daytona on February 6, 2010 and finished a very respectable sixth place. With such a confidence building experience she decided to go ahead and race in the February 13, 2010 Nationwide race at Daytona marking her debut in NASCAR. I was there as she took to the track in the #7 GoDaddy.com Nationwide car driving for JR Motorsports for the practice sessions and then for the race.

Danica seemed calm and cool in spite of the tremendous media following that hounded her where ever she went. I've got to give her credit as she tried to oblige them even though she faced the monumental task of jumping in a stock car with only a few precious laps of experience and going out on NASCAR's biggest stage to compete with the world's best. Somehow she still managed to crack a smile. I must admit I was a bit skeptical at first from what I've seen from her before but she's really opened up and embraced what NASCAR is all about. She seems enthusiastic and open to learning which has made a believer out of me. The bottom line is I want to see some really good racing and if she can get in the middle of it and mix it up with the boys i think it will be exciting to watch for race fans. The Daytona race turned out to be an eye opening experience for her as she quickly dropped to the rear after feeling uncomfortable with the handling of her car. She dodged an early wreck with Days of Thunder style but was later caught up in the big one which ended her race with a dissapointing 35th place finish. Click her pic at the right to see the action I captured.