Could Danica Spurn NASCAR For Formula One?
Danica Patrick Painted on a Boeing 717
It’s no coincidence that Danica Patrick’s contract with Andretti Green Racing is due to expire at the end of this year and rumors are increasing about her moving from the IndyCar Series to NASCAR.
Let me throw a curve ball into the mix.
Given slipping TV ratings and at-track attendance, sponsorship issues and other maladies that the sport is trying to fight through, I’m betting Patrick is using the possibility of moving to NASCAR as a bargaining chip.
But not to return to Indy Cars. Thanks to a very well-placed motorsports source in Germany, what would you say if I told you Patrick may be trying to work both the IRL and NASCAR to leverage a high-profile ride in Formula One?
No, I’m not crazy. Hear me out:
* Why become a big fish in a small pond of NASCAR and in the U.S., when she can literally have the world at her beck-and-call as the most visible competitor in F1 after reigning champ Lewis Hamilton? Because European workplace attitudes towards females are more primitive than in this country, Patrick could literally be a vehicle for change, much like President Obama has been in this country. And despite the current global economic crisis, Patrick would be a magnet for sponsorship dollars that she could only dream about if she were to go to NASCAR.
* To assure proper sponsorship and building infrastructure around her, regardless of which racing series she winds up in, Patrick is going to have to make a decision probably in the next month or so, at the very least. When she signed with AGR three years ago, she inked her contract on July 25, 2006. If an F1 team(s) is serious about Patrick, they’ll have to start moving soon on a potential contract.
* While male egos at McLaren and BMW would likely keep her from being hired on at either of those locales, Patrick might even have a shot at Ferrari, as well as a number of other teams that would be very interested in her, including the budding U.S. F1 team that hopes to start racing next season. Some might consider that a risky move, but it would meld the best of both worlds for her – even though I still think she’d wind up with a more established team.
* Virgin Airlines chairman Richard Branson is rumored to be drooling at the chance of getting Patrick under contract. Again, think of the sponsorship possibilities, particularly with Branson using her as the star of worldwide ad campaigns for his airline and other businesses. Why would she settle for being touted from Loudon to Fontana when she could have her face plastered on billboards from London to Beijing?
* Many in F1 would love to see Patrick fail in a high-profile role – which is all the more incentive for her to go over the big pond and prove the naysayers wrong. She has that kind of chutzpah. Why waste it in her homeland when she can prove the world wrong.
* Having recently signed with management and marketing powerhouse IMG, Patrick will have everything managed for her in such a way to maximize her looks and fan appeal – even if she winds up not being able to drive an F1 car worth a damn. Then again, what happens if she somehow DOES win in F1? Her popularity would soar to heights that would make her one of the highest profile females in the world, not just one of the highest profile female racers.
* Like NASCAR needs Dale Earnhardt Jr. to rebound to help the fortunes of the sanctioning body, F1 is a shell of what it used to be. And even though Bernie Ecclestone once called Patrick a “kitchen appliance,” she could singlehandedly become F1’s savior. Wouldn’t that be ironic?
* One of Patrick’s current major sponsors, GoDaddy.com, could rule the online world internationally, especially when you consider that only 21 percent of China’s one-billion plus population is online, and only 7 percent of India’s population is online. That leaves a potential customer base of, oh, 2 BILLION people that it could eventually serve as primary Web provider (regardless of China’s limitations on Web access).
* She previously raced in England in her younger, developing days, so she already knows a great deal about the F1 structure and culture.
* If stock cars are too heavy or difficult for Patrick – who is what, maybe 100 pounds soaking wet? – to handle, what better way to take the next big step in her racing career than to segue to F1, which are essentially Indy cars on steroids.
* Even though she is still one of the most lusted-after female athletes in the U.S., Patrick has to remember that beauty can be fleeting, especially with each passing year. If she really wants to be taken seriously as a race car driver and not always be labeled as a good-looking woman who just happens to race cars, moving to F1 would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If she passes on it now, she may never have another chance like this again.
* Patrick may become the target of scorn and contempt in NASCAR, particularly among her potentially soon-to-be future driving competitors. If she’s going to put up with scorn and contempt, it’d be much better – and more lucratively worth it – to do it on a world stage. Plus, think of all the women internationally that she would not only become a role model for, they’d also be the source of support for both her, which she needs, and F1, which desperately needs it.
* Sure, Patrick could still go to NASCAR and ignore any potential overtures from F1. She could get a deal much like Roger Penske gave Sam Hornish Jr.: try it and let’s see what happens. On top of that, she could have it written into her contract with whichever NASCAR team she’d wind up with that she’d be able to race in the Indianapolis 500 every year.
* Chip Ganassi and Jack Roush have been among those mentioned as potential owners that could lure Patrick into their NASCAR stables. Wouldn’t there be a bit of irony, particularly with Ganassi, if Patrick came to NASCAR and raced for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, the same team that spurned Dale Jr. into moving to Hendrick Motorsports?
Yes, I know a lot of what I’ve suggested here is just hyperbole and “what-if” scenarios, but one thing I’ve learned in covering motorsports for nearly a quarter-century is that nothing is too outlandish or out of the question.
So, if Danica goes to F1 instead of NASCAR, don’t say I didn’t tell you here first.
| 
|