Friday, May 27, 2005

Bob Wolfley: Too Much Hope on Danica Patrick's Shoulders

Bob Wolfley brings up a good point in regards to Danica Patrick and the Indy Racing League-putting the resurrection of the Indy Racing League on her shoulders is asking a little too much of her:
If you check her résumé, you won't find an entry that reads: "Can raise great American sports tradition from the dead."

And in case you've been away on an extended vacation to a galaxy far, far away, the Indianapolis 500 has long since stopped being the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Even though I jumped on the "Danica as IRL marketing juggernaut" band wagon, he is exactly right. IRL needs more than just Danica Patrick. And he's right in saying that she will not single handedly bring the Indy 500 back to its former heights this year. But he's wrong in declaring it dead, and I think he is underestimating her potential long term affect on making open wheeled racing competitive again.

Open wheeled racing has been on life support for some time now. Open wheeled racing can blame that partially on Dale Earnhardt and ESPN, but it has to place some of the blame on itself as well. The CART-IRL break was the ultimate self inflicted bullet wound. Now, with teams migrating from CART and back to Indy, the IRL itself starting to resemble the old CART a little with the addition of road courses, and a rising star who, if she is as talented as her hype leads us to believe, has a chance to transcend the sport. These could be the beginnings of open wheeled racing as a Phoenix. The skyrocketing cost of involvement in NASCAR just may give IRL the opening it needs. I guess it is only appropriate that IRL's future star resides in the city of Phoenix.

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