Danica Closer to AGR deal

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Originally Posted by indycool

Read the thread. Plenty of references to her being a her. If it was an E.J. Viso or Justin Wilson or Vitor Meira or Dan Wheldon or someone else like them, there would be no multi-page discussion.

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I hope this isn't the part of the thread where a few people that realize they can't make a case to support her go off on some tangent. It hasn't been suggested by me or any recent posts in this thread (to my recollection) that she's a worthless piece of crap driver due to her gender. Frankly, it doesn't matter in terms of performance and results. In other words, I agree with Lyn St. James...the car doesn't know who/what is driving.

If somebody wants to start arguing about this being a multi-page post becasue she's a female then I would argue if she weren't female she wouldn't be racing cars professionally. She doesn't have a pedigree like EJ, Justin, Vitor, or Dan. She only ever got a break by forging her resume and doing photo shoots.

To be clear, for me, the bottom line is she's a mid to back of pack driver with equipment superior to all but Penske & Ganassi. The attention she gets for that is what disgusts me...not that she's female

I guess the only real issue I have with this, as an IRL (and sometime NASCAR) fan, is the way she's going about this in the media and with the supposed scheduling. Unlike Franchitti or Hornish or Montoya, who each won the 500 and the series championship (along with a load of races) Danica can't really say "I've done all you can do in Indycar and I want to try a different kind of racecar". Granted, I didn't totally believe them at the time, but it was an adequate explanation. In contrast, everything Danica is doing here, even down to the split of her doing some IRL and some NASCAR events next season, suggests that the IRL is to her at best a stepping stone and at worst an inferior racing that she wants to get away from asap. Which is not to say that I don't understand where she's coming from, but on the other hand belittingling the series that grew you into a huge moneymaking brand is not that cool. I think of the way Penske/Hornish handled it in a very classy way behind the scenes, with a few practice stock car events at the end of the season, Franchitti also kept it quiet till the end of the season, compared to Danica's weekly and even daily pronouncements about her desire to drive stock cars (and little mention of her desire to drive indy cars) then a schedule that basically says "i'll stick around in indycar to get a payday while mixing in a full schedule of the real racing I want to do". That just rubs me the wrong way.

Most of those guys have said they wanted to try stock cars some time. Montoya, Hornish and Allmendinger are over there now. Franchitti came back. Sneva, Rutherford (although he won a NASCAR race at Atlanta) and Carter had a turn at NASCAR and came back. Foyt, Andretti and Hurtubise all did well in their brief NASCAR stints -- I believe Foyt won seven times, including Daytona. Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough, Bobby Allison and Donnie Allison tried Indy cars and Donnie was the only one who showed well. Paul Goldsmith did 'em both and ran pretty much top 10 in both but didn't win too many.

If a media guy asks Danica about it, what is she supposed to say? "No, I never want to do that." She's apparently smart enough to not burn bridges anywhere. And the media guys are asking and reporting this and it triggers these threads.

I dont agree with that. The media was on Hornish and Franchitti from mid-season on about NASCAR and they just changed topics, wouldn't discuss it. They also weren't publicly going to NASCAR race shops and signing autographs for fans or having several owners publicly make statements about their discussions. They kept all that behind the scenes, and she could have as well. She's played one side against the other all season, for I guess what the ultimate goal was a big 1-year IRL contract for 2010 along with a strong NASCAR contract that will allow her top equipment and to do races throughout the year in between the IRL schedule. She's always wanted to do both IMO to keep the IRL as a safety net, and there's been a lot of posturing to get that.

There are some interesting issues at play here for Danica if you step back from the hype and mystique of the Danica "brand".

The only series where Danica has had any real success is the IRL. Yet by all accounts the only offer she has for next year is a 1 year deal with AGR. Just a few weeks ago, she was saying she wanted to stay in the IRL and expected to sign with AGR. Now suddenly she is exploring other possibilities in NASCAR.

What changed? Was the AGR offer well below what she (or IMG) thinks she is worth and suddenly she is looking at NASCAR for the pot of gold?

If she can't get a good deal in the IRL where people know her and her racing talent, what does that say about her real value to the racing community?

When the people in the IRL who have raced with her and know the realities of NASCAR are saying she should stay in the IRL (Franchitti, Ganassi, even Hornish), what do they know that the media shills don't know?

Why do almost everyone who have worked with her remain quiet about Danica? You don't hear anything from Rahal, or Buddy Rice, or even Kyle Moyer and Kim Green. They seem to have nothing to say about her. Why?

The very few times she tried other non-open wheel series such as sports cars (GT and Grand-Am), her results went from underwhelming (Grand-Am) to dismal (GT). What does that say about her ability to adapt and race other types of vehicles?

Why did her test of a Busch car in 2003 go nowhere? She was supposed to have a second test, but it was canceled (due to a scheduling conflict according to her media hacks).

Is it possible her racing future may not be nearly as bright as her starry eyed fans think? Has the clock run out on her 15 minutes of fame? Are teams now looking for results instead of just a pretty face?

Perhaps a real gauge of her racing value comes from a Google search, where almost the whole first page consists of her photo shoots and celebrity appearances, not racing results. She has gone from a racer who models to a model who races. And as a model, she isn't that dazzling.

In the end, racing is still a performance based industry. Even media darlings like Dale Jr, need results to keep the fan base. Danica came in with lots of potential, but her first year (2005) was arguably her best year. Since then, she hasn't done as well and certainly hasn't improved much, if at all.

With Danica, it is very hard to separate the real from the imagined. IHMO, at some point she has to prove she can race and race hard or her career may be a lot shorter than some think.

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Originally Posted by indycool

Read the thread. Plenty of references to her being a her. If it was an E.J. Viso or Justin Wilson or Vitor Meira or Dan Wheldon or someone else like them, there would be no multi-page discussion.

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Pretty hard to refer to a female without saying her. :rolleyes:

You still haven't supported your statement.

Read post #142.

Remember, it's the silly season where drivers and car owners and sponsors are finding out all their options and yes, playing one another off each other for the best deal, one way or the other. Kanaan almost signed with Ganassi last year and don't you think his guys were playing with both Ganassi and AGR? IMG is a very prominent agency and has done this with golfers and tennis players and b aseball and football players. They're going to represent an auto racing client the same way.

In about 10 years, I can imagine Danica Patrick, Anna Kournikova and Michelle Wie sitting at a table together, somewhere in West Palm Beach. And one of them (doesn't matter which one) looks at the other two and says, "Can you believe what a great frickin' country this is?! Only in America could one accomplish as little as the three of us have and be as rich as we are. A toast to mediocrity... and having nice legs!" :beer:

She's at the top of the IRL in terms of popularity, and she hasn't gotten there on merit. She knows that (somewhere deep down). And so do the people at IMG. I might hate the game, but I don't hate the playa (I don't like her, but I don't hate her). And one thing I have to give Danica credit for: she's playing the game damn well!

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Originally Posted by indycool

Read post #142.

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How does that support your accusations of sexism?

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Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior

In about 10 years, I can imagine Danica Patrick, Anna Kournikova and Michelle Wie sitting at a table together, somewhere in West Palm Beach. And one of them (doesn't matter which one) looks at the other two and says, "Can you believe what a great frickin' country this is?! Only in America could one accomplish as little as the three of us have and be as rich as we are. A toast to mediocrity... and having nice legs!" :beer:

She's at the top of the IRL in terms of popularity, and she hasn't gotten there on merit. She knows that (somewhere deep down). And so do the people at IMG. I might hate the game, but I don't hate the playa (I don't like her, but I don't hate her). And one thing I have to give Danica credit for: she's playing the game damn well!

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I respectfully disagree with your opinion that she is playing the game well. I think she's playing it like a spoiled brat that her parents never taught her proper values. Plenty of reference here as to how true professionals "play the game".