Danica Patrick on Thursday said that with Go Daddy “willing to make the financial commitment, she saw no reason to wait on making the move to NASCAR full time,” according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Patrick held a press conference at Go Daddy’s HQs to announce she will race a full Nationwide Series schedule in '12 with JR Motorsports and appear in Sprint Cup Series races with Stewart-Haas Racing. Go Daddy, Patrick's primary sponsor in the Izod IndyCar Series, will back her in NASCAR as well, and Patrick said, “The time is now and [the] opportunity is now and Bob (Parsons, CEO) and GoDaddy have made that possible, and I want to do it. I don’t want to wait years. I want to do it now. And I’m lucky enough to have a sponsor that is going to stand behind me and allow me to go” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/26). Patrick, who wore a Go Daddy jacket during her announcement, said, “Bob was the one that made it possible for me to be able to go race a stock car for the last two years. The experience was something that I really, really enjoyed." SCENEDAILY.com’s Bob Pockrass noted “also going with Patrick likely will be plenty of sponsors.” Forbes estimated that Patrick is the “third-highest paid female athlete" at around $12M annually. Still to be determined is “whether she can get her favorite number," 7, for the Cup Series. Patrick “has it in the Nationwide Series but Robby Gordon has used that number in Cup and NASCAR traditionally allows teams to keep the same number year to year” (SCENEDAILY.com, 8/25). In Phoenix, Michael Knight notes the “higher TV and at-track audiences, larger sponsorships, more media coverage and greater merchandise sales likely will boost Patrick's income.” Patrick said that she “understands why some fans wonder if this is a racing or a marketing decision.” But she said, "The answer is: It's a racing decision” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/26).
A DELICATE BALANCE: SI.com’s Dustin Long named Patrick a “winner” in her decision, as she “goes from a series barely viewed on a national level outside the month of May to a series viewed by millions of fans.” That means “more T-shirts, hats and other memorabilia to sell,” and she will “get more exposure on ESPN.” Long: “All of this will enhance the Danica brand at the beginning. In the end, results will determine if she'll be viewed based on her racing accomplishments or her commercials.” Long also named Patrick a “loser” in moving to NASCAR. Patrick's marketability "should help her overcome early woes, but if the struggles persist, she will be looked upon as only a fad and a marketing tool" (SI.com, 8/25). CBSSPORTS.com’s Pete Pistone wrote while NASCAR is “certainly banking on that near worldwide appeal to bring more attention to the sport, along with it comes a level of expectation that Patrick will have to live up to.” The “hoopla and spotlight that follows Patrick wherever she goes means she’ll have to perform perhaps at an unrealistic pace.” Pistone wrote “most of today’s NASCAR superstars took time to be competitive and become more seasoned before winning regularly,” but that is a “luxury Patrick may not be able to enjoy.” Pistone: “There is no denying Patrick’s ability to promote and her talents as a marketing dream. Even as a part-time NASCAR driver, her souvenir and merchandise sales are among the top tier of the sport. That will only grow as she becomes a regular as will her presence in advertising, television appearances and other sponsorship initiatives on behalf of GoDaddy.com and other corporate partners ties to her star.” At a time when NASCAR “can use a shot in the arm, having one of the world’s most famous personalities come on board in a full-time capacity will no doubt raise the awareness level as well as generate much more exposure for the sport" (CBSSPORTS.com, 8/25). In St. Petersburg, John Roman writes Patrick’s move is “a marketing idea designed to make everyone involved extremely rich.” Roman: “Only when we get years down the road will we know whether it is something more. Perhaps a breakthrough in women's sports. Or a setback to that very cause.” Patrick is “a sellable commodity in a sport that worships sponsorships and ratings." But “eventually, inevitably, Patrick is going to have to deliver on her renown” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 8/26).
POPULARITY CONTEST: ESPN.com’s David Newton wrote by “bringing the IndyCar Series marketing darling into the Nationwide Series full time" in '12, JR Motorsports co-Owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “may be naming his own successor in popularity.” When Patrick started in the Nationwide series in '10, her merchandise sales “initially ranked in the top five behind Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.” But “ranked on single-trailer sales -- the other three had multiple trailers trackside compared to one for Patrick -- she was first.” Patrick has “dropped to 13th this season with another limited schedule, but most believe this is the lull before the storm.” Her consumer likability on the Davie Brown Index “ranked second only to” Richard Petty among race car drivers. In the most recent DBI study, Patrick “ranked ahead of Earnhardt with an overall score of 68.49 to Earnhardt's 66.24,” and she “blew him away in appeal -- 74.65 to 68.59” (ESPN.com. 8/25). Driver Jimmie Johnson said of Patrick's move, "Good for NASCAR racing to have another very marketable driver in the sport and bring in more attention to NASCAR racing” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 8/25). However, not everyone inside NASCAR is convinced Patrick will be successful. Showtime's "Inside NASCAR" threw out the question, "One year from today, what is the storyline for Danica Patrick?” Former driver Kyle Petty said, “Honestly, I don’t care. She’s going to run Nationwide Series. Once again, that’s the Little League." Former driver Michael Waltrip said, “She returns to IndyCar racing” (“Inside NASCAR,” Showtime, 8/24).
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Cope feels NASCAR will benefit from
Patrick's decision to run full-time schedule |
SEX SELLS: FOXSPORTS.com’s Holly Cain wrote Patrick’s “career-long marketing plan of uber-exposure may be the new business model; where good looks and Internet hits are nearly as important in landing a plum job as is racking up top-10 finishes.” NASCAR driver Angela Cope said, “I think sex sells, and NASCAR needs something like that. At this point in the game, you have to use whatever you’ve got to get your name out there. I don’t think you need to be (attractive), but by golly, it helps.” Cain wrote, “It’s an age-old conundrum for male and female drivers alike. But in the media-saturated, blog-heavy, Twitter-happy age we live in, there is plenty of exposure for the taking. So these young women are taking what they can get” (FOXSPORTS.com, 8/25). ESPNW.com’s Viv Bernstein wrote, “Who's to fault Patrick for taking that route to celebrity and parlaying it into one of the best rides in NASCAR?” Bernstein: “You sell a little bit of your soul and a lot of your skin. … Is she a sellout? Only if it goes against her nature. And it appears Patrick is all-in with this marketing strategy that will make her even more rich and famous than she already is today” (ESPNW.com, 8/22). ESPN.com’s Jeff MacGregor wrote Patrick's “arrival, dragging behind her a series of soft-core commercials and unzipped magazine layouts, is in keeping with auto racing's long and widely known history of women as objects, as firecracker beauty queens and Hooter's girls and hood ornaments.” Whether this move to “the NASCAR medicine show represents a sharpening of her on-track ambitions or the utter abandonment of them remains to be seen,” but it is “likely a much bigger paycheck by the time she's done.” MacGregor: “So will Danica Patrick's full-time move into NASCAR be a triumph for gender equity and fairness? Or just another blow struck on behalf of cleavage and wall-to-wall American marketing? … That said, it is terribly unfair of us to ask Ms. Patrick to be or to become a social or cultural crusader. We almost never ask the same of men” (ESPN.com, 8/23).
PLEASE DON'T GO, DADDY: GoDaddy on Friday announced it has signed Mario, Michael and Marco Andretti as spokespersons and will also sponsor one of the Andretti Autosport IndyCar entries, with its driver and car to be revealed later this season. The deal officially begins next year and extends through the ‘13 season. Mario, Michael and Marco will be featured in Go Daddy TV commercials as soon as this winter, and all three will talk this weekend about their new Go Daddy jobs during the IndyCar ORTSBO Internet interactive fan event based in Sonoma (Go Daddy). SPEEDTV.com’s Robin Miller noted it is not known “if Patrick would be the driver of the Go Daddy Indy car if she returns to the team for Indy” (SPEEDTV.com, 8/25). The INDIANAPOLIS STAR’s Curt Cavin notes Go Daddy “has been with Andretti Autosport since Patrick joined the Indianapolis-based organization for the 2007 season.” Go Daddy’s deal with Andretti “at least at the moment … doesn't include Patrick.” Patrick said competing in the Indy 500 is "being considered" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 8/26).
