In this age of instant information, not to mention an ever growing number of prying eyes on the look out, it's really difficult to keep an important forthcoming announcement in the stealth like secret mode. That's why Tuesday morning's announcement regarding Indy Racing League superstar Danica Patrick's NASCAR plans was generally met with a rather lethargic "oh yeah, that's good."
For the record Danica Patrick will be dividing her on track time between a three year contract extension recently signed with her Indy Racing League team owner Michael Andretti and a two year contract to drive in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports. Her long time sponsor, "Go Daddy Dot Com," is the driving force behind both racing operations.
JR Motorsports just recently went through their own new alignment procedures. The official owners of the Nationwide Series teams are now listed as Dale Earnhardt Jr, Rick Hendrick, Junior's sister Kelley Earnhardt along with his cousin, and former Sprint Cup Crew Chief, Tony Eury Jr. It's been widely reported that Kelley Earnhardt, the organization's Vice President and General Manager, was the glue that sealed the deal which brought Patrick to NASCAR.
This new deal also merges two of the most popular racing drivers in the world. Between Dale Earnhardt Jr and Danica Patrick it's going to be interesting to see which one of these drivers sells the most racing souvenirs next year.
Tuesday morning's announcement also confirmed that Tony Eury Jr will be the crew chief for the #7 Go Daddy Dot Com Chevrolet. It's well known that Danica Patrick is very passionate about her racing and can get very candid at the race track especially following a bad day. It's equally well known that, when Eury was Dale Jr's crew chief, the passion and candor over the in car radio transmissions alone hit legendary proportions. One would have to assume that by now Eury is well versed on how to deal with the passion and candor of a race driver. But a gut feeling is telling me that the veteran crew chief will soon be experiencing a new level of driver candor.
That officially completes Danica Mania phase one. Those of us who have been following this story, for what now seems like forever, are blessed with the fact that we have ten whole days to catch our breath, recharge our batteries and get ready for Danica Mania phase two.
Phase two of this operation calls for Patrick to actually climb into the driver's seat of a stock car. That begins December 18th through the 20th at the Daytona International Speedway where Patrick will participate in an ARCA Series test session. By participating in this test she will get the super speedway experience needed and will meet the requirement to enter ARCA's February 6th season opening race at Daytona. The experience garnered from this race will get her NASCAR's approval to enter their Nationwide Series debut event the following weekend.
Actually this is a very intelligent plan for bringing Danica Patrick into NASCAR racing. We've all seen over the past few racing seasons how difficult it is to make the transition from open wheel racing to stock cars.
Juan Pablo Montoya has certainly set the standards with his highly impressive 2009 season. But, bear in mind, that success was a work in progress that took nearly three years to complete. IRL, open wheel champion, Sam Hornish Jr has been making this transition for three years also and many believe that he's still languishing. IRL champion Dario Franchitti didn't complete his first season in NASCAR before he returned to his open wheel roots.
Adding to the complexity of this transition will be the media and public scrutiny Danica Patrick will have to endure. It's very likely that the ARCA Series test dates will receive unprecedented coverage. Don't be too surprised if you see the same television media faces that were recently observed standing in front of Tiger Woods' house over the past several days. In fact, Danica's first public stock car ride could actually receive as much media attention as the day Paris Hilton was transported to the Los Angeles County Jail.
It must be true. I was supposed to go Christmas shopping today but instead spent this Tuesday afternoon covering Danica Mania.
