By Benjamin Miraski, Chicago Tribune –
The excitement drained out of the PR representative’s voice on the other end of the phone almost immediately.
“Danica Patrick?” she said. “We have been answering a lot of questions about Danica lately. We are trying to build our brand too.”
The driver she represents is ahead of Patrick in the Nationwide Series standings. Yet despite no wins and only one top-10 finish this year, Patrick continues to garner what some perceive as more than her fair share of headlines, including this one.
No stranger to the spotlight since she first qualified for the Indianapolis 500 in 2005, Patrick has walked the fine line between overexposure and just enough, at times swaying to either side.
According to her crew chief and part-owner of her car, Tony Eury Jr., it is better to have too much attention than none at all.
“It’s just like Dale (Earnhardt) Jr.,” Eury said. “When he first came into the sport, he had a lot of people looking at him. But to that point, he had to wrap his arms around it and be content with it. It’s just something you have to accept and be glad that you have it.”
But is it enough to have fame without the wins to back it up? For now, the answer continues to be yes.
Earnhardt, who ended a three-year winless drought in May, didn’t lose any popularity despite winning only three races from 2005 to 2011. He took home NASCAR’s most popular driver award as voted by the fans each year during that stretch.
Patrick, who grew up in Roscoe, Ill., is one of a select number of drivers being used to promote this weekend’s races at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Scott Howard, vice president of marketing and strategic alliances for the track, said Patrick’s Illinois connection was just part of the decision to use her.
“We obviously elevate the stars in the race,” Howard said. “We like her and gravitate toward her because she is local. She is always in the top five in merchandise sales from a NASCAR perspective. And the fans obviously gravitate toward her.”
Think of it as the Tim Tebow effect for racing. Just adding Patrick’s name to the marquee instantly sells product, whether tickets, T-shirts or tissue paper. Except Tebow won two national championships and a Heisman Trophy in college.
Patrick has only one IndyCar win to her credit, a 2008 race in Japan. Her career more resembles Anna Kournikova’s than Tebow’s.
The lack of wins hasn’t deterred national sports magazines from putting her on their covers. Since June 2005, the only driver with more Sports Illustrated covers is five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (four to Patrick’s two). She is the only driver to grace the cover of ESPN the Magazine since 2008.
For comparison, it took Sam Hornish Jr., currently fourth in the Nationwide standings and with three IndyCar championships to his credit, five years of consistent racing in stock cars — and a second chance he wasn’t sure would come — before he logged his first win.
“You get thrown in the deep end right off the bat,” Hornish said. “You came from the top level of open-wheel racing in America. The cars are so different.
“The guys you are racing against learn their lessons on a much lower level. Where I was at, it was hard to keep my head above water, versus swim. My only advice is to take your time with it … and give yourself the opportunity to get better.”
Patrick’s team is confident the wins will come to back the attention she receives.
“We have definitely highlighted a couple of races; Daytona was one of them where we had a legitimate shot of winning,” Eury said. “We have the road-course races highlighted for next month. If we can consistently run inside the top five, the wins will come.”
Consistency would have to be more than one. In 29 starts in the past two years, Patrick has just one top-five finish and four top-10s.
She enters Sunday’s STP 300 ranked ninth in the standings and is a 30-1 shot to win, yet there’s little doubt who’s the main draw.
Forget that defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is third in the standings with three wins. Forget that 15-year veteran Elliott Sadler and his rookie teammate Austin Dillon are separated by only three points at the top of the table.
The longest line at the autograph session Saturday will be in front of Patrick.
