Danica Patrick celebrates with crew chief Tony Gibson after qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17.
Danica Patrick and her team won the pole for the Daytona 500 Saturday. I was frothing right along with her other fans. Here's an overview story from The Sporting News. Here's a great story about Danica and Jeff Gordon's daughter from USA Today.
I fully expected all the crazy trains to pull out of the station the second she won the pole. A few reasons it was NOT a big deal was, according to them: 1) plate racing is all about the car (Danica herself said it was 90% car and 10% driver) 2) winning the pole is not winning the race (that's a given), 3) she had a weight advantage (that old chestnut) 4) NASCAR rigged it (my personal favorite).
I'm not even going to get caught up in all that crazy. Here's the deal: winning the pole is cool. It's earned on the track. It's not winning the race but it is an achievement. I neither overplay or underplay its importance. As Danica said it's mostly about the crew and the car on a track like Daytona. But someone's gotta drive it, and the driver IS part of the team.
And the "first woman" thing ... I respect it a bunch, but that's not what frothed me up Sunday. I was cheering for a driver I like and that driver won the award. It wasn't about being the first woman, it was about Danica being the fastest driver, male or female.
But as the father of two daughters, it is nice to have a woman doing things like this, because it helps other women and girls of all ages say "wait a second, maybe I could ..." As Danica said in her post-race interview:
“It's … nice to hear families talk about the fact that a little girl might say, ‘But, mommy, daddy, that's a girl out there. Then they can have the conversation with their kid about you can do anything you want and being different doesn't by any means not allow you to follow your dreams.
“I love to think that conversation happens in households because of something I'm doing.”
I was very proud to see people I admire like Sarah Fisher, Janet Guthrie, Pippa Mann and many others take to twitter and elsewhere to congratulate Danica. That's showing me and the world a huge amount of class. When Sarah tweeted her congrats, I had to take a moment.
One more thing. I reject this exhortation for everyone to "get on the team" and be Super Happy about Danica winning because it will be good for NASCAR. Yeah, about that .. "Put on a happy face!" is lame when you aren't happy. Don't feel obligated to act happy that being happy about what Danica does or you're somehow pissing on NASCAR. That's wrong and it only backfires. It's not up to fans to ensure NASCAR survives. It's up to fans to like who they like and cheer for who they want to cheer for. If that's Danica, great. If it's not, that's fine too. Period.
Winning the pole doesn't mean much at all for the race. The last four or five pole winners hae not done that awesomely in the race. So I won't overreact, but I will enjoy it, and I urge all Danica fans to do the same without letting the haters harsh your buzz. I'll post the video from her news conference as soon as I find it.
good for Daniker.
Posted by: redcar | February 17, 2013 at 11:12 PM
It's not that the car wasn't great, it was.
It's not that the builders didn't do a super job, they did.
It's not about an engine that didn't produce lots and lots of torgue, it did.
All the above are TRUE, but so is the fact that Danica did what she had to do, and did it better than 44 other drivers!
Well done Danica!!
Posted by: Ted Wolfram | February 18, 2013 at 04:53 AM
Congrads to Danica and all her team and all her fans who are many. Reportedly, servers crashed after the news broke and she was and is trending near the top in worldwide social media. Lots of articles mentioning all the worldwide attention this is bringing to nascar and a comment I saw: "Who else but Patrick could pull that off? Not even Dale Earnhardt Jr."
Jeff Gordon said all his daughter wanted was to touch the trophy and get a pic with Danica as she never knew a girl could be a race car driver before she knew Danica and thats true for many Iam sure. Congrads to Danica and her team but she did hold the fastest line as they showed in the ghost imaging. The driver clearly does deserve some credit as maybe a different driver in her car wouldnt have got the pole-- very cool.
Posted by: Vern | February 18, 2013 at 07:40 AM
The engine crosses the finish line first...
Posted by: billytheskink | February 18, 2013 at 08:39 AM
First of all, congratulations to Danica and the whole team for a great job. I have however received feedback from a bunch of people including some who should know better that NASCAR fixed the outcome. I simply don't understand how anyone who follows the sport could seriously believe that. First of all, if they did somehow fixed the outcome, when it came out, and it inevitably would, the credibility of the sport and ultimately the sport itself would be destroyed and the people who run things are too smart and make too much money to let that happen. Second, if they were fixing the outcome, I don't see Dale, Jr. going five years between wins. And finally, until someone can show me how they could control 33 thousanths of a second (that's what? about 2 feet) at 196 mph I'm believing its all legit. I also noticed that the fastests 40 cars are all within one second of each other. They all know what they're doing.
Posted by: Lynn K | February 18, 2013 at 04:15 PM
Wonderful outcome for Danica, her team and Tony as team owner. But here's where reality rears its ugly head.
How many Daytona pole winners have gone on to win the race? Since 1959 only 9 drivers have gone on to win the race from pole. Can she do it from pole? Absolutely, but the chance to get caught up in "The Big One" is always there, especially after pit stops drop her amongst the mid field crazies looking to gain position.
I wish her well and no doubt will be watching come race day.
Posted by: GeorgeK | February 19, 2013 at 11:54 AM