Gentlemen,
I haven't written in a while so I had a lot bottled up. Please feel free to edit as you see fit. After my last letter, many people may be wondering how crow tastes. I can assure you I have no idea, as my opinion of Danica has not changed at all. Motegi was not an epiphany of speed or skill. If anything, Motegi just proved that racing is a team sport, and she did her part. The strategy was brilliant. The execution was flawless, the driver weight perfect. Yes, that’s right the driver weight. The new weight rules are an improvement but hardly create an identical playing field. Given that it would be easier to establish a fixed car and driver weight than create some convoluted rule using averages and max weight shifts, it makes you wonder why they didn’t. Bottom line: whether you view it as a real life ‘tortoise and the hare’ story, or an apocalyptic moment of biblical proportions where “the first shall be last and the last shall be first,” she has won. I wonder which trophy will lose the spot on the mantel, the 12 year old Karting trophy or the 2002 Long Beach Pro/Celebrity trophy.
The media has discussed how she has changed since the burden has been lifted from her shoulders. The way I see it, in one short week, Danica transformed herself from “gas miser” to “gas bag.” After she sheared the studs off her right rear, she gave an interview that lasted so long she must have thought she was at a Champ Car race. It was so bad, I swear the pit reporter reached for a Snickers bar. “Not going anywhere for awhile.” What did we learn after listening to 2 minutes and 4 seconds of her wisdom replete with 17 “ya know’s”? That she is inarticulate, arrogant and will never be more than an average driver. Or nothing because she has already demonstrated that. I think saying “ya know” 17 times “ya know” supports my statement that “ya know” she is inarticulate, “ya know.” I am sure that “ya know” Motorola and “ya know” XM Radio, “ya know” would appreciate hearing “ya know” “Thank you,” “ya know” once. The single line, “I don’t even know who EJ Viso is?” supports both of my latter statements. The arrogance of not bothering to know who a rookie is, is apparent enough. But it also shows that she is not serious enough about her craft to ever be truly successful. She is not playing golf or running SCCA solo events, there are competitors out there on the track. A good driver will know their competitors and their tendencies, their strengths and their weaknesses. Princess Danica can’t even be bothered to know their names.
By the way, Danica, EJ Viso is the Venezuelan driver who finished 4th to your 10th at St. Petersburg and 14th to your 19th at Kansas. Maybe if he wasn’t so far ahead of you, you would, “ya know,” know who he was. She is not entirely to blame for the monster she has become. I blame her fabricators, Tony George and the media. If you were to go by them, there are no other drivers. Instead of promoting the new drivers in the series and doing something original by sending Danica, Marco and Graham out on a Media Blitz promoting the series, it is nothing but Danica-Mania.
The ESPNnews headline was “Danica Patrick First Woman to Win Open Wheel Race.” Let me help with that. No, that’s Katherine Legge. With a little re-arranging the headline can be fixed. It should read “Danica Patrick Wins Her First Open Wheel Race.” While it is a milestone of sorts, it is not the Rosa Parks moment that it has been made out to be. What hardship did she exactly overcome while driving one of the best cars on one of the best teams? Having her car set up by an Indy Car Champion? And Jack Arrute is intolerable. Thank God they are not in Toronto this year or he might accidentally break out into “Oh, Danica!” during the playing of their national anthem. I was hugely disappointed by the sudden departure of Frank Perrera from the series due to funding. But no number of Danica fluff pieces or even wins is going to suddenly bring him back.
I didn’t open the newspaper and read “Danica Wins, Sarah Fisher to Run Full Season,” Or “Danica Triumphant, Walker to Run in IRL. Tagliani and Tracy to be Announced as Drivers.” Like it or not, the IRL stands for Indy Racing LEAGUE and the word LEAGUE implies more than one. Until Tony George turns on the marketing machine and starts promoting the full product, the league will have a revolving door of drivers and be incapable of building a fan base. The IRL need only look at Champ Car for an example of that. Perrera’s leaving is the canary in the mine. Quit putting lipstick on this pig and make some real changes. The way things are going now, there will be no one left to compete against Danica because the IRL doesn’t promote anyone but her.
Danica will have to start buying teams and putting second rate drivers in so she can consistently win and maintain an income for her empire. Everyone thinks Tony George buying Champ car out was some magnanimous gesture. In reality he bought the league 8 rides for 15 million bucks. You can't do that even in Atlantics. The question is can he turn that initial investment into a solid foundation or did he just put all the open-wheel eggs into one basket. Time will tell. In the mean time, I will be watching more NHRA and cheering on a winner in every sense of the word, Ashley Force, just in case someone steps on the basket.
Cheers,
Doug
No comments:
Post a Comment