Honda confirms Danica Patrick F1 test

[Jag_Warrior]

Comedy just writes itself sometimes.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/10062008/23/honda-confirms-danica-patrick-f1-test.html

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Try the veal. And don't forget to tip your waiter.

[ykiki]

So much for this article earlier today...
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/honda-f1-denies-danica-patrick-test-planned/

[BenRoethig]

It makes sense from a marketing standpoint. Honda's F1 program isn't very competitive. So, if they're going to suck, why not suck in way brings positive publicity for a while.

[Lee Roy]

How about a match race. Danica Patrick in a Honda F1 car against Kyle Busch in a Toyota F1 car.

[AussieV8]

Well this is nothing much, just Honda trying to counter the publicity of Kyle Bush in the Toyota F1 car.

[beachbum]

Some time ago, Danica mentioned in an interview (no link) that she was once offered an exhibition drive in an F1 car, and turned it down, suggesting that she didn't do exhibition drives like Fisher did in the McLaren at Indy. But change the name to "test", even if it is an end of year courtesy drive, and suddenly it is her ticket to F1. Kyle has stated he knows his "test" is just a courtesy drive as a reward for his success, not a real test, and so should she.

[cartpix]

Some time ago, Danica mentioned in an interview (no link) that she was once offered an exhibition drive in an F1 car, and turned it down, suggesting that she didn't do exhibition drives like Fisher did in the McLaren at Indy. But change the name to "test", even if it is an end of year courtesy drive, and suddenly it is her ticket to F1. Kyle has stated he knows his "test" is just a courtesy drive as a reward for his success, not a real test, and so should she.

In the article she stated & this is a direct quote from the piece, The 26-year old Andretti Green Racing ace has hinted in interviews at her long-held desire to have an outing in an F1 car. Now it seems that dream has come true.

I'm confused...

Jeff

[beachbum]

I'm confused...

JeffAren't we all. In 2006, she (or rather TJ) was making overtures to move to NASCAR.

A quote from a recent Reuters report from May 9, this year - "While Fisher drove a McLaren Formula One car on an exhibition lap at Indianapolis before the 2002 U.S. Grand Prix, Patrick has said she would be interested only in a serious test.". The same article was also on Autosport.

Is this a serious test, or more a courtesy drive similar to Legge's run at Minardi?

[beachbum]

ykiki, I didn't check your link. False alarm, nothing to see here folks.

That isn't the only report that Honda didn't actually offer a test. It now looks like the "test" was just a comment taken out of context, embellished, and blown out of proportion.

This sounds a lot like her possible link with Roush at NASCAR in 2006, when Jack had the send out a press release stating they hadn't had any serious discussions with her. They gave her entourage a couple free passes to a race. Somehow the press twisted that into an offer for a ride.

Like many things Danica, it is hard to tell fantasy from reality.

[beachbum]

In the article she stated & this is a direct quote from the piece, The 26-year old Andretti Green Racing ace has hinted in interviews at her long-held desire to have an outing in an F1 car. Now it seems that dream has come true.

I'm confused...

JeffJeff, it took some searching, but I found an article from this May when the "story" broke that stated "She was initially offered a chance to demonstrate an F1 car at Indy in 2005, but declined saying it was just for show." Apparently this whole mess started when she won Montegi and Honda indicated they might be willing to talk to her about being a test driver

http://formula-1.updatesport.com/news/article/1209714832/formula_one/USracing/Honda-open-to-F1-test-for-Danica-Patrick/view.html

[Wilf]

I don't see a direct quote from Danica. I do see direct quotes from Nick Fry. The amazing part is that no one, not this thread or Honda, is coming down on that great institution: YAHOO!!! It was their story which was inaccurate!!!!

[Gluaistean]

This whole Danica show is really getting on my nerves. She is somewhat OK to look at but as a driver she is mediocre. The amount of press she gets and the ABC/ESPN devotion is appalling. Sure she is an attraction to some but if I were a sponsor currently in this league I would be so ticked off. Anyone see the Conquest sponsors lately? Anyone see Citgo? Not that they are doing earth shattering things on the track, but on an oval the IRL should be getting on these producers to at least show a car once or twice through two hours and not Danica running tenth or eleventh whining about handling or some other issue every five minutes.
Her getting an F1 test! Man, she is in one of the top teams in the league but if it were not for HER she would have been axed long- ago.Danica Patrick is not FI talent. Not by a long-shot. If she is then why is Dixon not getting a test? Do you believe for a second that she is as good a talent as Justin Wilson?

[bblocker68]

I think the new Honda "Bunny Ears" that are on the nose of the car would look great on her head :)

[coogmaster]

Good. Get her out of here.

Bring on the criticism!

[beachbum]

This whole Danica show is really getting on my nerves. She is somewhat OK to look at but as a driver she is mediocre. The amount of press she gets and the ABC/ESPN devotion is appalling. Sure she is an attraction to some but if I were a sponsor currently in this league I would be so ticked off. Anyone see the Conquest sponsors lately? Anyone see Citgo? Not that they are doing earth shattering things on the track, but on an oval the IRL should be getting on these producers to at least show a car once or twice through two hours and not Danica running tenth or eleventh whining about handling or some other issue every five minutes.
Her getting an F1 test! Man, she is in one of the top teams in the league but if it were not for HER she would have been axed long- ago.Danica Patrick is not FI talent. Not by a long-shot. If she is then why is Dixon not getting a test? Do you believe for a second that she is as good a talent as Justin Wilson?Danica! Just the name sets off internet bloggers and message board faithful into page after page of point / counter-point. As one who shares most of the sentiments mentioned above, from the first day I heard about her (Toyota Celebrity race - how fitting) I wondered what all of the fuss was about. IMHO, I think I have an idea.

It is her celebrity status. Not so much that she is a celebrity, but why she is a celebrity. How much is real and how much is manufactured? Is she a celebrity because she is a racer or is she racing because she is a celebrity?

For one reason or another, Danica has had a charmed career. In a very early article about her racing in Britain, she claimed she wanted to be a female sports celebrity (sorry, can't find the link). Her family got the the John Mecom Group as her agents and made all of the right contacts and name dropping references. As seen in this article, the hype started early

http://atlasf1.autosport.com/2000/aus/okeefe.html

That article was quoted in many other reports of the era. Like many reports, it had lots of implied references of support (she spoke to Jackie Stewart) and had a few embellishments. Her WKA record can be found online, and it doesn't quite match the record quoted. Her WKA records are interesting, but also show who regularly finished ahead of her, such as Sam Hornish, RHR, Sarah Fisher, and others who have successful racing careers. Her record wasn't that brilliant. Later articles are equally interesting such as this one

http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/0306ec_danica_patrick/index.html

Like many later situations, her failures in England were blamed on her team. What was not said was that her contract was not renewed. Was it lack of money to buy the ride or lack of talent to keep the ride? Her one success was the second at the Formula Ford festival, but the fact that she was at the back of the top ten until a bunch of the leaders crashed or had problems in the very last laps is rarely mentioned. In her own biography, she admits she was a party girl and burned a lot of bridges. The article implied that she was earning opportunities in all kinds of series for tests and this was a measure of her talent. But none of them resulted in any offers. The claimed BMW M3 ride came from a test in December 2001, when BWM had already been informed in November that the car likely wouldn't be racing the next year. Minor detail. BMW did hire her apparently for promotional purposes. But she never raced for them.

Mentors like her family in the early years, and Rahal later (he had connections to Tom Milner and the BWM situation) helped her career immensely. Rahal 's Ford connections got her the midget and stock car tests and later he maneuvered a ride in a Prodrive Ferrari at Road Atlanta for an endurance race. That ride is frequently mentioned in her promotional material. The fact that her practice times were off the pace (by seconds), and they only ran her one stint even though her co-driver was suffering severe dehydration and was put back in the car instead of her is never mentioned. The ride was touted at the time as a multi-race deal, but she never ran for Prodrive again. And how did she later repay Rahal?

She had a one-race Grand-Am drive at Daytona with lots of fanfare. Because of the hype, there were lots of in car shots and radio chatter. At one point, she was sent out and told to take it easy as the engine was overheating. First lap, coming out of an infield turn, she bangs the rev limiter - with a weak engine in the early laps of a 24 hour race. Then she started screaming on the radio that the mirrors were messed up. Shortly thereafter the engine let go. The team tried to patch the engine to keep it going, but put another driver in the car instead of letting her continue.

Anyone see a pattern here? So what does this mean? Not much by itself. Other racers have been in the right place at the right time and have had careers built on the one lucky break. But almost from the beginning of her career, there was lots of hype and often embellished reports, and careful inferences with little factual support. How much of what is "known" about her today is real?

I had the fortune of being heavily involved with professional motorcycle road racing for a few years and knew a number of champions as friends, and met many others. Some were great people to be around and some were not, just like the real world. A few I knew from when they were nobody's. While some were bonafide celebrities, all earned the status by performance. Some enjoyed the accolades but none that I knew sought it out, although some were known to take advantage of it or play it up a bit. They knew they had to self-promote to get ahead, but they promoted by results and acting as a good corporate spokesman when needed.

What sets Danica apart is not her racing talent. She is good, and much better than some critics like to claim, but perhaps not as good as the manufactured persona Danica!. She has achieved her celebrity status not by her on track performance but from the media attention and swimsuit shots, and other hype. That really bothers many people. They feel she didn't "earn" the right to be where she is today.

Wikipedia has a great examination of celebrity and the phenomenon of people who are famous for being famous. A related topic of celebrity worship is even more interesting as it may explain the almost fanatical responses Danica! evokes and why some fans will excuse almost anything she does. She is their celebrity hero and anyone who doesn't see that is somehow evil.

My take is that she is an annoying mid-pack racer who is starting to believe her own hype. She seems to have forgotten how she got where she is, and the good fortunes that fell her way to place her in the right pace at the right time. She is living off the celebrity status, which can change and turn on her in a heartbeat. And then what? She is the racing fashion of the moment, but can she survive on racing talent alone? I doubt it.

[Gluaistean]

Danica! Just the name sets off internet bloggers and message board faithful into page after page of point / counter-point. As one who shares most of the sentiments mentioned above, from the first day I heard about her (Toyota Celebrity race - how fitting) I wondered what all of the fuss was about. IMHO, I think I have an idea.

It is her celebrity status. Not so much that she is a celebrity, but why she is a celebrity. How much is real and how much is manufactured? Is she a celebrity because she is a racer or is she racing because she is a celebrity?

For one reason or another, Danica has had a charmed career. In a very early article about her racing in Britain, she claimed she wanted to be a female sports celebrity (sorry, can't find the link). Her family got the the John Mecom Group as her agents and made all of the right contacts and name dropping references. As seen in this article, the hype started early

http://atlasf1.autosport.com/2000/aus/okeefe.html

That article was quoted in many other reports of the era. Like many reports, it had lots of implied references of support (she spoke to Jackie Stewart) and had a few embellishments. Her WKA record can be found online, and it doesn't quite match the record quoted. Her WKA records are interesting, but also show who regularly finished ahead of her, such as Sam Hornish, RHR, Sarah Fisher, and others who have successful racing careers. Her record wasn't that brilliant. Later articles are equally interesting such as this one

http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/0306ec_danica_patrick/index.html

Like many later situations, her failures in England were blamed on her team. What was not said was that her contract was not renewed. Was it lack of money to buy the ride or lack of talent to keep the ride? Her one success was the second at the Formula Ford festival, but the fact that she was at the back of the top ten until a bunch of the leaders crashed or had problems in the very last laps is rarely mentioned. In her own biography, she admits she was a party girl and burned a lot of bridges. The article implied that she was earning opportunities in all kinds of series for tests and this was a measure of her talent. But none of them resulted in any offers. The claimed BMW M3 ride came from a test in December 2001, when BWM had already been informed in November that the car likely wouldn't be racing the next year. Minor detail. BMW did hire her apparently for promotional purposes. But she never raced for them.

Mentors like her family in the early years, and Rahal later (he had connections to Tom Milner and the BWM situation) helped her career immensely. Rahal 's Ford connections got her the midget and stock car tests and later he maneuvered a ride in a Prodrive Ferrari at Road Atlanta for an endurance race. That ride is frequently mentioned in her promotional material. The fact that her practice times were off the pace (by seconds), and they only ran her one stint even though her co-driver was suffering severe dehydration and was put back in the car instead of her is never mentioned. The ride was touted at the time as a multi-race deal, but she never ran for Prodrive again. And how did she later repay Rahal?

She had a one-race Grand-Am drive at Daytona with lots of fanfare. Because of the hype, there were lots of in car shots and radio chatter. At one point, she was sent out and told to take it easy as the engine was overheating. First lap, coming out of an infield turn, she bangs the rev limiter - with a weak engine in the early laps of a 24 hour race. Then she started screaming on the radio that the mirrors were messed up. Shortly thereafter the engine let go. The team tried to patch the engine to keep it going, but put another driver in the car instead of letting her continue.

Anyone see a pattern here? So what does this mean? Not much by itself. Other racers have been in the right place at the right time and have had careers built on the one lucky break. But almost from the beginning of her career, there was lots of hype and often embellished reports, and careful inferences with little factual support. How much of what is "known" about her today is real?

I had the fortune of being heavily involved with professional motorcycle road racing for a few years and knew a number of champions as friends, and met many others. Some were great people to be around and some were not, just like the real world. A few I knew from when they were nobody's. While some were bonafide celebrities, all earned the status by performance. Some enjoyed the accolades but none that I knew sought it out, although some were known to take advantage of it or play it up a bit. They knew they had to self-promote to get ahead, but they promoted by results and acting as a good corporate spokesman when needed.

What sets Danica apart is not her racing talent. She is good, and much better than some critics like to claim, but perhaps not as good as the manufactured persona Danica!. She has achieved her celebrity status not by her on track performance but from the media attention and swimsuit shots, and other hype. That really bothers many people. They feel she didn't "earn" the right to be where she is today.

Wikipedia has a great examination of celebrity and the phenomenon of people who are famous for being famous. A related topic of celebrity worship is even more interesting as it may explain the almost fanatical responses Danica! evokes and why some fans will excuse almost anything she does. She is their celebrity hero and anyone who doesn't see that is somehow evil.

My take is that she is an annoying mid-pack racer who is starting to believe her own hype. She seems to have forgotten how she got where she is, and the good fortunes that fell her way to place her in the right pace at the right time. She is living off the celebrity status, which can change and turn on her in a heartbeat. And then what? She is the racing fashion of the moment, but can she survive on racing talent alone? I doubt it.


Nicely written post and interesting articles. I agree with you on the fact that she has some talent but mid pack at best.

How often is it mentioned and how many times is it ever shown the fact that she took out three or four cars at Indy while under yellow? One I recall was Schekter. A driver like him with a team that is striving to achieve and her in the well funded Motorola machine doing what?!

Did anyone at ABC do a live interview with Briscoe at Indy? I don't recall but I did read an account from Briscoe and watched replays over and over and there was plenty of room for her to move ove. If you are in the pit area andknow that there are others there at the same time it should be considered prudent to move as far to the right as possible. Then again, they are always turning left so that is probably ingrained.

Then that walk. Oh man. That is when I said to my wife that I hope she makes it through to the Penske guys because then she would have to do something. Whiner and moaner. Give Sarah the same bucks and car and I bet she wins legitimately in less than 50 races.

[beachbum]

Gluaistean, your reply somewhat proves my point. Danica Patrick as a driver is viewed and treated different than most other drivers because of her celebrity status. Other drivers have made rookie mistakes at Indy and taken out a couple cars, other drivers have collided in pit lanes, drivers have confronted each other after a race probably since the first race ever, and more than 1 has made a public spectacle of themselves on TV. But when Danica! does it, the recriminations and arguments go on forever. Another forum had pages about her language on the team radio. Well duh, most racers swear like a seaman (no disrespect to seaman) under pressure. But pages and pages are wasted with her worshipers defending and her detractors attacking.

If she didn't have celebrity status, this thread and others wouldn't exist. IMHO she isn't an exceptional driver and other women racers have shown as much talent or more, if not as much skin. Without the marketing machine behind her, how far would she have climbed? D Patrick might be a line in race results, not a household name.

The only really unique thing about Danica! is the volume of hype and fanatical fan reaction surrounding her. She is becoming famous for being famous. She is treated like a rock star or famous model or other over-hyped talent. IMHO, that is somewhat demeaning to other drivers whose exploits get pushed aside in the media fervor. But that is the nature of our media driven world today. Popularity is more important than performance. It is somewhat sad that a performance driven sport like racing has fallen into the realm of promoting a media generated celebrity rather than making celebrities out of the winners and champions.

[indyracefan]

...I don't see Marco and definitely not Danica ever being in a F1 ride outside of the publicity tests.