Read Bleacher Fan’s argument that she should stay in IRL and Sports Geek’s argument that she should move to Formula 1.
Do you know who Danica Patrick is? Of course you do! If not, you are missing out, so here’s a picture of her!
Ok, we got that out of the way!
She has become a worldwide racecar driving phenomenon ever since she started driving in the Indy Racing League in 2005 for Rahal-Letterman Racing. After racing for two years, she switched teams in 2007 and began to drive for Andretti-Green Racing. Her contract is up at the end of the 2009 season.
If you were in Danica’s shoes, what would you do? We’ll discuss it here at The Sports Debates. I’ll argue that she should jump to NASCAR, Bleacher Fan will argue for her to remain in the IRL, and Sports Geek will argue she is best served by making a move over to Formula 1.
Speculation is rampant that she will leave IRL and move to NASCAR in either the Sprint Cup Series or the Nationwide Series.
Imagine all the endorsements you could do with that much more exposure in NASCAR. Honestly, can you tell me who sponsors Patrick? This is one of the premiere drivers in her series. I can’t tell you who sponsors her. But I can tell you who sponsors Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jimmie Johnson. I can even tell you who sponsors Joey Logano, the 19-year-old kid who won the most recent NASCAR race (at press time) in Loudon, New Hampshire. By going to NASCAR, she would have many more opportunities to broaden her appeal and thus make a little extra money. Granted, she has some endorsements, including that Go-Daddy commercial that we all love. And yes, she has a really cool website! But, she is just scratching the surface of what she could do.
Let’s examine race winnings between IRL racers and Sprint Cup Series racers. In the Sprint Cup series, with earnings not yet being tabulated for the race in New Hampshire, the 30th place driver in points, David Ragan, earned just over $1.8 million in race earnings. Wow! This is not for first place. This is not for fifth place. This isn’t even for 20th place. It’s 30th!!
In IRL, Patrick currently sits 5th in points. How much do you think she has earned? What would you guess?
How about less than $1 million? Right now, she has earned $788,305. The driver that is fifth in points in NASCAR, Carl Edwards, has won over $2.7 million.
It’s that simple. Now you tell me. What would you do?
Guys–Danica Patrick can jump to the back of a garbage truck and we’d still be fans!!!
Maybe we should be asking why women have faired so poorly in NASCAR, when they have waded in, but shown better in open-wheel…
Truth be known, I think Indy Car is a sham…and David Letterman’s political proclivities turn me off so much, I’d love to see her up and skip shop.
I agree that Letterman isn’t quite as easy on the eyes as Danica.
I think it’s interesting (and you’ll see when my post goes live) that not everyone can be successful in NASCAR. I think it has less to do with gender, however, and much more to do with style. Then there’s people like AJ Foyt and David Hobbs that can drive ANYthing and be fast.
I, for one, would love to be in that garbage truck with Danica!