Thursday, March 28, 2013

Is Danica Patrick good enough to race with the big boys?

Danica Patrick, American auto racing driver and model, is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing. The only woman to win a race in the IndyCar Series, where she competed from 2005 until 2011, and holds the highest finish (third place) by a woman at the Indianapolis 500. In 2012 she competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. On May 29, 2005, Patrick became the fourth woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and as of 2012 Patrick joins Guthrie as one of only two women to have competed in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.

On July 2, 2005, Patrick won her first pole position, on August 13, 2005, she won her second pole at Kentucky Speedway, although this time, rain prematurely ended qualifying and position was determined by speeds achieved during practice. She took a third pole at Chicagoland Speedway which tied her with Tomas Scheckter's record for number of pole positions earned in a rookie season. In 2005, Patrick finished 12th in the IndyCar Series championship, with 325 points. She was named Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season.

In 2006 she finished  9th place in the IndyCar Series Championship point standings, besting her 12th place points finish as a rookie.  In November, the March of Dimes awarded her the title of Sportswoman of the Year in celebration of her dedication and success.

For the 2007 season as a whole, Patrick scored her first three career podium finishes. She also scored her career best championship points finish of 7th with 424 points.

In the 2008 IndyCar Series season she finished  in sixth place — the highest championship finish among American drivers for the 2008 season.

On May 24th 2009 Patrick raced at the Indianapolis 500. She finished third behind winner Helio Castroneves and second-place Dan Wheldon. The highest ever finish for a female racer.

During the 2010 season, Patrick set the Indycar Series record for consecutive races finished running, having finished every race of the season as well as all but the first race of the 2009 season, for a total of 33 races.

At the end of the 2011 season Patrick announced that she would no longer be driving  Indy Cars  and would focus her full attention to driving in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

For the 2013 season, Danica drives the number #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, and a limited Nationwide Series schedule for Turner Motorsports.  Danica became the fastest pole qualifier to qualify since 1990 for the Daytona 500 and the first female NASCAR driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, which was also done at Daytona.

But is she good enough to race with the big boys?

Bernie Ecclestone has famously stated, aimed at Danica Patrick, “that women shouldn’t be racing with men and should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances". He then went on to say, earlier this year, that he would love for Danica to join Formula One.

I know I’ll get a lot of stick for this, but I believe that, if Danica wished, she’d be a very good Formula One driver; she has showed in the past that she knows how to drive and has great skills. She is a great driver, but gets a lot of stick for being female. Always being told that she shouldn’t be racing or she’ll never be good enough because she’s female. She’s an inspiration to all young girls who are following their dreams of becoming racers!

People need to get into their head that female drivers are just as good as male! And some of these girl racers have more balls than the men!!