Happy Birthday, Danica Patrick!!

[JW1]

So, here's a question for you- while Danica is blowing out the candles on her cake today. (Oh yes, she can drive and eat it too!!)

My opinion? I think that she should have stayed in Indycar. I think by now she would have had several Indycar wins under her belt and she would have been considered to be a great driver. But she made the jump to NASCAR and now comes in near the back of the pack every race.

I know. I know. She did it for the money. But I always wondered- how much money does she really need? And wouldn't she have made a fortune on endorsements if she would have stayed in Indycar and been a winner? Maybe as much as she gets now?

Anyway. I know a lot of people dislike her. But I always liked her. I liked her aggressiveness, her self promotion and I think she could have been considered a great driver. But now, I pretty much think of her as a waste. It's a shame that she enjoys/puts up with losing so much just to make money.

So, what do you think? Like her? Hate her? Let's hear yer opinion.

 

[Zerkfitting]

I watched her in Indycar and I thought she was a 2nd tier driver. She wasn't running up front as much as the 1st tier drivers. I thought she did well, she finished 5th one season and was the best of the Andretti drivers that year. But Indycar has half the drivers as NASCAR and very few Indycar drivers make it in NASCAR. I like Danica and I think she contributes a new fan base to NASCAR. I hope she does better this year than her current NASCAR record.

 

[Yogisd1]

I don't like her any more, or any less, than any other driver out there. I'd like to see her do better, but unless she can find something more, I think she will stay at the level she is at. Would she have been more successful if she stayed in Indycar? We will never know, but I think she would have done a little better.

 

[FLRacingFan]

I think it's possible she could've grabbed an oval win, maybe even a small handful, if she had stayed. In general I think she wouldn't be as successful as the field's talent pool has gotten stronger and deeper since she left. Road courses and street circuits were never her strong suit and with those taking up a slight majority of the schedule now it would have hurt her, in my opinion. But if she wanted to succeed staying in IndyCar would've been the way to go. When you spend your entire career developing in karting and open wheel series it's so difficult to jump into stock cars against guys who have been racing those kinds of cars for ages. The money and allure of a different discipline had to be enticing though.