NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish Pubs Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Sport > Why be 'Petty?' Danica Patrick shows that a woman's place is in NASCAR

Why be 'Petty?' Danica Patrick shows that a woman's place is in NASCAR

Imminent move to NASCAR the next step in a groundbreaking career

Robert Reynolds,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, November 9, 2009, 7:57 AM

Updated Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 6:52 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

6 Comments

Danica Patrick

The imminent announcement that Danica Patrick will join the Earnhardt team for a series of NASCAR races will make the blood boil for many of the traditionalists in NASCAR who believe women belong in the pit and not at the pit stop.

Former IRL champion driver Richard Petty doesn’t think Danica belongs, stating:

"I just don't think it's a sport for women, and so far, it's proved out. It's really not. It's good for them to come in. It gives us a lot of publicity, it gives them publicity. But as far as being a real true racer, making a living out of it, it's kind of tough."

Danica needs to get her Irish up when this kind of nonsense gets talked. She's already broken more barriers than these guys have crashed through.

She is no crash dummy or pretty face ready to make up the numbers. When she gets behind the wheel she can leave men in her dust, no problem at all.

I honestly think she can win a NASCAR race when she finally joins. With the powerful Earnhardt brand behind her, that is totally possible.

Just this weekend we saw Zenyatta, a filly, smash the best of the males in the Breeder Cup at Santa Anita becoming the first filly in 26 years to win the Breeders Cup Classic.

Earlier this year another filly Rachel Alexandra left the colts for dead in the Preakness Stakes, a leg of the Triple Crown.

Danica can be the Zenyatta of the NASCAR track, the pure bred filly, who can show the colts the way and reach the checkered flag first. Dale Earnhardt Senior would certainly approve of his son's move to bring Danica on board. I think Mr. Intimidator, or Ironhead as he was nicknamed, understood the need to market the sport as aggressively as he the way he drove.

1 2 Next page >

Nster.com

E-mail

6 Comments

See all comments

TraveLynn | Nov 12, 2009, 04:53 PM EST

Nothing like the good ole' boy network and chauvinistic comments. I guess he thinks women should just stay home and look pretty. Driving a car has nothing to do with your sex. It doesn't matter if you are 95 lbs or 200 lbs, you are behind the wheel, not on a field using brute force. It takes brains to drive a car, not muscle. I hope she proves him wrong. Actually, I know she will prove the backwoods hick wrong. Maybe he'll decide to enter the 21st century then. I just noticed his nickname was Ironhead, it's more like bonehead.

Report abuse

fwhitehawk | Nov 09, 2009, 06:08 PM EST

First of all Junior is no longer part of DEI. He is with Hendrick motorsports. DEI could use a big name like Danica's. Richard Petty hasn't raced in over 20 years and what has any of his teams won lately?

Report abuse

MalcomAC | Nov 09, 2009, 04:36 PM EST

Patrick's a good driver. And, King Jim, diss Richard "The King" Petty - at your own risk! With the cacophony of publicity that accompanies Patrick, it's often lost that she's a terrific driver. Good luck to her.

Report abuse

KingJim | Nov 09, 2009, 03:44 PM EST

Old Petty never was an IRL champion - and he never had the guts to get behind the wheel of a real race car!

Report abuse

flwilson | Nov 09, 2009, 03:21 PM EST

Richard Petty has probably forgotten more about what to do with a race car than most people will ever know, but when was he ever IRL Champ?

Report abuse

JDunn74 | Nov 09, 2009, 11:53 AM EST

The Patrick -Earnhardt connection could be the greatest marketing move in auto racing history. If you make more money on the looks and names alone -racing and winning is a by product, but they are consistent.

Report abuse