The Danica Effect

[rescue8]

A lot of folks are writing off Danica's drive on Sunday and saying it will have no effect on Champcar. They may be right but consider the following. The media hype leading up to the 500 probably got a lot of folks to tune in out of curiosity, to see her fail, or to make history. Yes, she got a lot of hype but she also delivered. Someone posted that no one remembers who finished third or fourth at Indy. I think at least for this year, no one will remember who won the thing.
Danica is the new IRL media darling. From coast to coast, she has become the latest "America's Sweetheart flavor of the moment." Before I could finish this post, I got two notices from Speedgear, hawking Danica items. Like it or not, she has captured the attention of the racing world. Will she have the same effect on the IRL and the national consciousness that the Allison / Yarborough fight on national TV had on NASCAR? Who knows? I truly think what Danica has accomplished may bring a lot more interest and focus to the IRL. When she wins her first event, which I belive will happen before the season is over, she is just liable to become the IRL's Dale Earnhardt.
Champcar has got to do a better job of not only marketing itself, but truly making sure Atlantics are the feeder series for Champcar and not the IRL, Grand-Am, etc. Better than half of the field at Indy this year earned their Chops in CART/ Champcar. Yeah, Danica was under contract to Rahal, but the way it's worked lately, even if she had won the Atlantic championship, she would probably still have been in the IRL or Grand-Am.
Champcar has got to start marketing itself not only to the knowledgable race fan, but to those who are now curious about open wheel racing. I know that Bejing may be important to the Champcar coffers, but outside of the hardcore Champcar fans, who cares that they race there? Most casual race fans can now know Danica Patrick races Indycars. However, I doubt they could name anyone from this year's Champcar grid (PLN)?
Really, I don't know where this will go; I'm just throwing it out there for comment and consideration. But think what it could be like at the 2007 Indy 500 with 5 laps to go and a shootout between RHR, A.J. Almendinger, Andrew Ranger, Catherine Legge, Danica Patrick, Michael Valiante, and Ryan Dalziel...

[coolhand]

You are forgetting that the IRL product sucks, people might tune in and realize how lame the IRL is. That is bad for CC becuase then they will think it is the same thing.

I dont know how the IRL can hide all its skeletons for that long.

[Hard Driver]

Highest TV rating in years

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/indy2005/news/story?id=2072004


Patrick helped ABC generate the best TV ratings for Indy in nearly a decade.

The overnight rating from the nation's top 55 markets was 6.6 with a 17 share -- meaning 17 percent of the people watching TV tuned in to the 500 at some point during the three-hour race.

[nrc]

Interesting point. Danica belongs to Rahal who belongs to Honda who says there needs to be one series. Will Danica's performance change their mind? Does Tony want to find out where Honda will take his new star if they get tired of his intransigence?

[Brickman]

A lot of folks are writing off Danica's drive on Sunday and saying it will have no effect on Champcar. They may be right but consider the following. The media hype leading up to the 500 probably got a lot of folks to tune in out of curiosity, to see her fail, or to make history. Yes, she got a lot of hype but she also delivered. Someone posted that no one remembers who finished third or fourth at Indy. I think at least for this year, no one will remember who won the thing.
Danica is the new IRL media darling. From coast to coast, she has become the latest "America's Sweetheart flavor of the moment." Before I could finish this post, I got two notices from Speedgear, hawking Danica items. Like it or not, she has captured the attention of the racing world. Will she have the same effect on the IRL and the national consciousness that the Allison / Yarborough fight on national TV had on NASCAR? Who knows? I truly think what Danica has accomplished may bring a lot more interest and focus to the IRL. When she wins her first event, which I belive will happen before the season is over, she is just liable to become the IRL's Dale Earnhardt.
Champcar has got to do a better job of not only marketing itself, but truly making sure Atlantics are the feeder series for Champcar and not the IRL, Grand-Am, etc. Better than half of the field at Indy this year earned their Chops in CART/ Champcar. Yeah, Danica was under contract to Rahal, but the way it's worked lately, even if she had won the Atlantic championship, she would probably still have been in the IRL or Grand-Am.
Champcar has got to start marketing itself not only to the knowledgable race fan, but to those who are now curious about open wheel racing. I know that Bejing may be important to the Champcar coffers, but outside of the hardcore Champcar fans, who cares that they race there? Most casual race fans can now know Danica Patrick races Indycars. However, I doubt they could name anyone from this year's Champcar grid (PLN)?
Really, I don't know where this will go; I'm just throwing it out there for comment and consideration. But think what it could be like at the 2007 Indy 500 with 5 laps to go and a shootout between RHR, A.J. Almendinger, Andrew Ranger, Catherine Legge, Danica Patrick, Michael Valiante, and Ryan Dalziel...

They are working on it...

"TOYOTA ATLANTIC GRADUATES DAN WHELDON AND DANICA PATRICK LEAD WAY AT INDY 500

INDIANAPOLIS (May 31, 2005) - Two of the most talented recent graduates of the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama shined brightly at the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as Englishman Dan Wheldon captured the checkered flag at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while American racer Danica Patrick etched her name into the record books with a fourth-place finish in the grueling 500-mile event.

Wheldon and Patrick were two of the nine Toyota Atlantic Championship series graduates that competed in the 33-car field at Indianapolis on Sunday. Wheldon's victory for Andretti Green Racing marked the seventh time that an Atlantic driver has won the Indy 500, joining the impressive list of series grads that includes Danny Sullivan, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Jacques Villeneuve and last year's champion - Buddy Rice. Starting from 16th place, Wheldon roared back to lead the race four times for 30 laps en route to the win.

"We want to congratulate Dan Wheldon on a tremendous victory and we're certainly pleased that the Toyota Atlantic graduates in the field once again had a good showing at Indy," said Vicki O'Connor, Managing Director of the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama. "This weekend's results continue to prove that our series is the best training ground for aspiring open-wheel stars and competitors at all levels of racing."

The 26-year-old Wheldon, a native of Emberton, England, competed in the Toyota Atlantic Championship in 2000. He recorded two victories and led the circuit with four pole positions that season while finishing as series runner-up to Buddy Rice.

Patrick established several landmarks with her performance on Sunday. The 23-year-old Beloit, Wisconsin native became the top woman to qualify at Indy, earning a fourth-place starting spot. She then turned in an impressive run in her first Indy 500 leading the race three times for 19 laps, including late in the race, before recording in the best-ever finish for a woman at the event in fourth place.

Competing for Rahal-Letterman Racing in the Atlantic series in both 2003 and 2004, Patrick proved to be one of the most consistent and reliable racers in her 24 career Atlantic starts. She posted five podium finishes and earned one pole position over her two seasons and she was the only competitor to complete every lap of competition last season, while finishing third in the series championship chase.

Former Atlantic competitor and American driver Bryan Herta also had a strong showing at Indy, finishing on the podium in third place. Another American driver, Alex Barron - the 1997 Toyota Atlantic Champion - earned a 13th-place finish on Sunday while Brazilian Atlantic grad Felipe Giaffone finished 15th.

Roger Yasukawa, a 2002 Atlantic competitor, was 18th in the final rundown while 1996 Toyota Atlantic titlewinner Patrick Carpentier finished 21st. Sam Hornish Jr., who raced in Atlantics in 1999, led a race-high 77 laps but was forced to retire after 146 laps following an accident and wound up 23rd overall. The 1995 Atlantic champ, Richie Hearn, completed the series representatives with a 25th-place finish at Indy."

[Chief]

I'm curious how much more of this the ex-cart traitor turncoats (and their humongous egos) can take being second fiddle to the "great" Danica Patrick? Unless she can win (consistantly if at all) she'll just be a skinny shorter version of Sarah Fisher when it's done.

The 40% gains in TV viewership are mere curiosity seekers that love over-hyped media events, because it's "trendy". I know because I haven't had an autoracing conversation with some of my family members in 45 years....but NOW they're all interested. Of course they love reality TV shows too, so go figure.

[racer2c]

I wonder what Fogerty, Daziel and Valiante think about Danickle's popularity. Especially now that rumor has it that she's heading to F1.

[Don Quixote]

I think Chief is on to something. Since Danicles has now passed Brittany Spears as the most over-hyped personality in the universe, can a reality TV show be too far behind?

[rescue8]

But think what it could be like at the 2007 Indy 500 with 5 laps to go and a shootout between RHR, A.J. Almendinger, Andrew Ranger, Catherine Legge, Danica Patrick, Michael Valiante, and Ryan Dalziel...

...in Champcars of course :)

[KLang]

It seems obvious that the pre-race press coverage of Danica increased interest in the earl 500 this year. Will that mean increased interest in the earl as well? I find that hard to believe. I guess we will know after a few more races. I think the press will move along to whatever the next big story is and Danica will be forgotten by the people that only watch one earl race a year.

[Brickman]

I'm curious how much more of this the ex-cart traitor turncoats (and their humongous egos) can take being second fiddle to the "great" Danica Patrick? Unless she can win (consistantly if at all) she'll just be a skinny shorter version of Sarah Fisher when it's done.

The 40% gains in TV viewership are mere curiosity seekers that love over-hyped media events, because it's "trendy". I know because I haven't had an autoracing conversation with some of my family members in 45 years....but NOW they're all interested. Of course they love reality TV shows too, so go figure.

Which is the whole point...

Long Beach was an "event", did it help Laguna? No. Indy is an event, did it help Phoenix? No.

Danicamania may get the average fan who doesn't watch, read, or listen to something to tune in. Yes it's NASCARish gimmicky. At least they won't be voting on who's sexiest.... at least not right now.

As far as the "traitor turncoats", they'll find a way to work it. Their paycheck depends on the overall success of the series, maybe people will discover Dario is married to Ashley.

[RacinM3]

If ANYONE at the IRL has at least half a brain they'll "ensure" she wins at least one race to build the momentum.

Sad, but tell me it's not true.

Edit: Having not watched the race, someone tell me if the IRL bothered to pre-package a commercial for the end of the race, saying "See Danica at the next IRL race, the Whatever 300 at Wherever Speedway, on June Whatever!!!", just in case she did well. Well, did they, and did they run it? If not, baaad (but typical) move.

[pferrf1]

They already tried, but even their attempts couldn't be helped by her spinning and stalling.

NASCAR did better when Jr. won the very next race at Daytona after Sr. died.

[racer2c]

Which is the whole point...

Long Beach was an "event", did it help Laguna? No. Indy is an event, did it help Phoenix? No.

Danicamania may get the average fan who doesn't watch, read, or listen to something to tune in. Yes it's NASCARish gimmicky. At least they won't be voting on who's sexiest.... at least not right now.

As far as the "traitor turncoats", they'll find a way to work it. Their paycheck depends on the overall success of the series, maybe people will discover Dario is married to Ashley.

The bigger question is; will it help their next race. Answer; probably.

[Brickman]

If ANYONE at the IRL has at least half a brain they'll "ensure" she wins at least one race to build the momentum.

Sad, but tell me it's not true.

If she won Indy it would have been over. What they want is her close enough to win, but only winning later. California or Michigan.

The bad news is she has to survive Texas, finally a single visit track.

[cameraman]

They screwed up by having a week off before they go to Texas, then they skip another week before going to Richmond (now there is a winner of a race :rolleyes: ). Given the rampant ADD that afflicts this country no one is going to remember her in two weeks. If she is out early at Texas the Richmond ratings will be back to their usual 0.4.

[gjc2]

They need to be the IAGRL (Indy All Girl Racing League)