Danica Closer to AGR deal

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Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Im not officially back but I wanted to post on this topic...

Danica Patrick will resign with Andretti Green Racing at least through next year. The deal is done but the paperwork hasnt been finalized.

Boost Mobile will be her primary sponsor again.

I am very excited about this. After talking to her this year, I felt that she would stay with AGR, definitely the IRL. She loves indycars.

Her staying made me very happy and now next year we can see her really buckle down and win several races. I look for her to be a contender for the championship next year.

Everyone, enjoy the rest of the season. Im out... :D

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Thanks DF. That fits with all of the other rumors, although a 1 year contract is a bit of a surprise.

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Originally Posted by beachbum

Thanks DF. That fits with all of the other rumors, although a 1 year contract is a bit of a surprise.

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It wouldn't surprise me if the length of her contract coincides with the length of the sponsor deal they are able to get.

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Originally Posted by indycool

With Danica, you're either for her or against her -- there's no in-between. This discussion (or argument) will/could go on forever. The first gripe was that she didn't win in Atlantics. Then she won Indy car poles. Then the second gripe was that she didn't win races. She won a race. For those who dislike her, if she won every race, they'd STILL dislike her for one reason or another.

In every series, there's a "bad guy." In Indy cars, it's been people like Hiro Matsushia (who eventually made the show at Indianapolis when the Penske team was shut out of a starting spot) to Dr. Jack Miller (who was always a good qualifier but not much of a racer) to Milka Duno.

When Darrell Waltrip won his championships, he got booed everywhere -- even though he was a winner and his wife taught special needs children and they established foundations for them. Bill Freehan, the ex-Detroit Tiger catcher, was booed at home even though he bought property, built diamonds and started baseball leagues all over Detroit. Gary Bergman, the former Detroit Red Wing defenseman, was booed at home lustily even though he and his wife spearheaded the muscular dystrophy campaign in Detroit ACTIVELY.

So, Danica? She's won poles. She's started on the front row. She's won a race. She's fifth in points and the leading AGR driver in points. She throws tantrums. She isn't really a crasher. She models. She's on commercials. Unlike some volleyball players, Olympians, etc., she's never bared it all. She doesn't smile very often, the direct opposite of Helio, for example....but neither did A.J. Foyt.

You'll like her or you won't. And that's what this thread is all about, I guess.

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You are right, there is no middle ground with DP. But your comparisons don't work. King Hiro won races before the IRL. Dr Jack was never more than a back of the pack driver like Milka. Waltrip, Freehan, Bergman, even Foyt did a lot for their communities behind the scenes (Foyt's community being the racing world). Danica has done none of these. She is all about HER brand, not helping others.

There is no doubt that Danica can drive, and she can be fast. She definitely has talent behind the wheel. But she can also be erratic and doesn't seem to race well, particularly in close quarters. Like Marco, she came in with lots of apparent talent, but after all of the years, she hasn't really improved and has become less competitive on road courses over time. This year she has at least stayed out of trouble most of the time and has worked hard to play down her childish bad girl image. From most reports, she is still difficult to work with and admits she knows nothing about mechanical things and can't set up a car. But those characteristics fit a number of drivers.

So why does she turn people off? IHMO, there are several reasons.

1. The hype. Ever since she went to England to run FF, her marketing machine made sometimes wild claims about what she was going to do and how good she was. When someone like Bernie has to send out a press report denying he ever endorsed her (as stated by her PR), her marketing hype went over the line into fantasy. Since then there have been many such "issues" such as when her brand managers claimed she had a offer from Roush (denied in a press release by Jack).

2. How she promoted herself. There is nothing wrong with modeling, but some of her early work was a "bit " suggestive. She has never quite bared it all, but very close. Even so, what bothers people like me is her getting attention for that instead of her racing record. I worked with a female professional racer who just wanted to be taken seriously as a racer, not as a curiosity. Danica's playing of the sex card is offensive to them. She is sometimes better known for dragging Tom Kendall around on a leash and posing for SI than her success on the track. Google her, and the first thing that comes up are her photo shoots. Just what is important to her?

3. Her racing record in her primary series. Contrary to the hype, her record isn't very stellar. Even back in karts, she had a good record, but there were many with much better records - like Sam Hornish, Sarah Fisher and a number of drivers now in NASCAR and other series. Other than one result in FF, her record there wasn't noteworthy as a driver. Many tout her result at Long Beach in the celebrity race, and forget a celebrity won overall - going away - and Sarah Fisher (who had never road raced a car) ran with them until she decide to back off. DP was good in Atlantics, but couldn't win. Her forays into other series like ALMS and Grand-Am did nothing noteworthy - in a positive sense.

4. The fact she has never had to work her way up. Look back over her career, and when did she have to struggle in a back marker team and learn to carry the car and push to the edge? In FF, she started with one of the best teams, who didn't renew her contract - clue? From there, her next stop was with Rahal, who gave her the very best in every series. Even Robert Clark from Honda admitted on Windtunnel (to Dave's amazement) that they gave DP the best engines so she would do well. From there, she landed at AGR at the height of their success.

5. Her record outside of the IRL. Admittedly, she has done very little outside of the IRL. But Rahal did get her some tryouts in a number of good cars, from Ford factory backed midgets to a Ford Busch series car and a factory backed BWM. The very few spotty reports indicate she did ok, but not outstanding. The only result was a job from BWM - giving rides to BWM customers. When Rahal managed to get her in a Pro-Drive Ferrari in ALMS, she was so far off the pace at Road Atlanta the team yanked her from the car before her stint was over and put her co-driver back in - who was very ill and really didn't want to drive. She was supposed to run other races for them, but that was quietly canceled. Her 2 runs in Grand-Am were noteworthy for her being faster that Rusty Wallace - who was well off the pace - and again being yanked from the car in her last outing at Daytona.

6. Her attitude and judgment. No much has to be said about that. She has a history of anger issues and sometimes seemed to promote a "wild child" image. She has often demonstrated questionable moves on track. This year she has done a lot better, but it is only one year - one where she needed a new contract.

Take away the hype and the opportunities she was handed by mentors, and what would you have? Probably a ex-driver no one would know about. IHMO, racing history may show how she maximized her assets and promoted them into a career far beyond the level her racing talents alone would have given her.

Your last paragraph says it all. Don't each of us maximize our assets and do our best to grow or better ourselves?

Here is a link to set the record straight on her record:

http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/229/career/

It is pretty lack luster. Even more so than I ever thought. Her time in Europe was no where near as good as I thought it was. Guess I bought the early hype too much.

Gary

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Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Her staying made me very happy and now next year we can see her really buckle down and win several races.

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was there something specific that prevented her from 'buckling down and winning several races' this year?

To be clear, part of it is that I don't like Danica at all (oh, cat's outta the bag now! :D ), and part of it is that I don't really respect Danica. I didn't like Tom Sneva. I didn't like Alain Prost. I didn't like Michael Schumacher. But I respected all three, because they were great drivers. I like Milka Duno. She's a super nice person. But I don't respect her as a driver... she's in way over hear head. This year included, Danica's career is that of an average driver, not a great driver. Only in her own swelled head is she something special (on the track). What sort of complete ego maniac would think that they were prepared for NASCAR, straight away, when they've NEVER done anything to suggest they were ready for top tier stock car racing? AND when other racers, with a much higher pedigree, did ARCA, Busch Series or Trucks before going to Cup? Apparently she was only cured of this delusional thinking when Ganassi opened her eyes to reality. But all we heard from The Danica was how high ratings would be if she went to NASCAR. And I think she's right. If she goes, it will produce another round of Danicamania - no doubt in my mind. Hell, I'll skip work to catch the qualifying (since I doubt she'll make many/any races).

Like I've told DanicaFan, I doubt that I'll ever like her... cause I think she's a swollen headed, little *****. But yeah, when she does well, I give her a grudging amount of respect. This year has been the best of her entire career in cars, IMO. For the most part, she has kept it together and been rather consistent. So, she doesn't have to defend that she's in the IRL. But for her to think that she is in any way ready for NASCAR (or F1), based on some middling performances and a single IRL oval win? :rolleyes:

Some people want to see her in a bikini. Not me - I'll see much hotter girls at the Labor Day party. I want to see Danica's azz at Bristol or Martinsville... when the hype goes to bed and the reality of the situation smacks her in the mouth. Sign that NASCAR contract, Danica!!! Remember, you are The Danica. You can dooooo it. Cause we all know, you're just awesome like that! :bounce:

This post is mainly for Mark...because I feel like I have to disagree with him on what he has posted...

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Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa

...She proved it yesterday at Infineon. She cannot run road courses, and THAT is one of the ways for an OW driver to wedge a foot in the door with a NASCAR team, that is be a "ringer" ....

....Her attitude stunk too. No one in NASCAR with a team would have stood for her stance it was Cup or nothing. She only started talking about going to the Nationwide cars when it was clear no one was buying her BS.....

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What did she prove yesterday at Infineon? That she got ran off the road by Dan Wheldon and her RF got damaged? I would say look at the fact that she DID make the top 12, and although it was a really rotten idea for her to wait until the last 3 minutes of the session to go out and place a lap, she qualified her best on a road course this year. I think she would have done a fair job in the race if she was given the chance.

And what about her attitude stinks? I was an extreme Danica-hater before this year, but I have to admit that she has cooled off a lot and realized that there is more to racing than stomping and whining. I'm not her biggest fan now, and in fact I still think she has a lot to learn and mature, but look at how she has performed this year. 5th in points, that means something. She has kept her nose clean and performed better than we all expected her to. Give credit where credit is due man...which leads to your next quote:

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Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa

I know why she is 5th in points. Because the quality of drivers on ovals is thin. The Justin Wilson's and the like are not threats on the ovals but he and Will Power make the road races a much deeper field. Danica is good on ovals and they are enough of the sched that she can hang around and get good points days.

She isn't as good as the points show, she isn't as good as she thinks she is, and I will say again, she doesn't have that ride without the look. Katharine Legge won 3 races in Atlantic in bigger fields and she cant buy a break...

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If you remember, she has a win on an oval, fluke or not. She has 4 poles on ovals, she has top 5s in 4 of the first 5 races and is awfully close to everyone's favorite Indy 500 winner (yet never ICS champion!!!) in the points.

In order for Danica to keep stability in her racing life, she NEEDS to stay in ICS. And this is going to hurt, but the SERIES needs her to stick around also. We love to hate Danica because she is the main cause for drama and she is, like it or not, the figurehead of this series. We lose our figurehead, we lose all the creepy/stalker Danica fans (pun?) that are carrying our dreadful ratings.

I like that Danica is staying in the series. Give her one more year...see if AR can get someone on the team to set up cars again and we'll see what happens.

besides a spike surrounding her 4th place at Indy have ratings improved or declined while danimania has swept the nation?


as far as her going to nascar..... i think EE heard exactly what the plan was


the plan was to head on over to a top team for top dollar..... and i expect there was interest from nascar team owners....


but when said owners started shopping her to perspective sponsors the top dollar offers simply didn't happen

it will be interesting to see if we ever hear what Boost is paying for the season


I'd bet dollars to doughnuts it's not $7mil for the season

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYyKpucUS-c


^and i suspect the above was a linchpin in what essentially has become stalled negotiations for danicas people...


the fact that the attempt at Viral marketing failed miserably just shows she isn't nearly as marketable as (her) folks want her to be.....



and i believe Gary owes me a rootbeer!