All hail females in racing
DOVER, Del. – Danica Patrick has transcended the auto racing world with her cover model looks and her fourth-place qualifying effort for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, the best starting spot for a female driver.
She quickly has become one of the biggest attractions in sports and all eyes will be on the 23-year-old Indy Racing League rookie during the Indy 500.
Deborah Renshaw, a driver in the Craftsman Truck Series, said Patrick is clearing the path for many other up-and-coming female race-car drivers.
Renshaw, who was testing her Dodge at Dover International Speedway in preparation for the June 3 running of the MBNA RacePoints 200 Truck Series race, said she definitely will watch the Indy 500.
“I follow (Patrick) very well. I know her through the Lynn St. James Driver Development program and she’s setting the world on fire,” Renshaw said. “I hope to see her in victory lane and hope to see her get that Indianapolis 500 win. That would be huge for women in racing.
“Women in racing are going nowhere but up, and I think within the next three to five years you’re going to see a woman get a championship in one of the top levels of racing.”
Patrick has taken a different road than the pioneer women racers of the past – including Janet Guthrie and St. James – by marketing her sex appeal. The Indy Racing League made Patrick a pitchperson earlier this year, putting her in black leather pants with a hint of midriff while she stared seductively into the camera lens. The ads were decidedly racy with the caption, “We Heard You Like to Watch.”
Patrick is aware of her unique place in racing, but she insists there is nothing wrong with what she is doing. The men have been doing it for years.
NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series has Dale Earnhardt Jr. wooing women in his blue jeans and the Young Guns – featuring Jimmie Johnson among others – who show men how to get closer to women by getting a close shave.
“If there’s one great thing I think that’s happened over the years is that women are being accepted into a man’s world in all different areas, whether it’s nursing or flying a plane or driving a race car,” Patrick said during a recent teleconference. “People are actually excited for it, and they like to see something new and something fresh and something they’ve never seen before.”
Renshaw is confident Patrick will have no problems, either. Any attention that can be drawn to women in motorsports is a good thing. Judging from the glamorous photos on her Web site, she is catching on to Patrick’s brainstorm.
The 29-year-old driver from Bowling Green, Ky., said she has been treated well on NASCAR’s racetracks.
“Everybody welcomes me with open arms,” Renshaw said. “I think the problems that you see with women in racing are at the lower ranks of racing, building up to where the top ranks are – and the Truck Series is among the top three of NASCAR. It’s all professional up here.”
Nextel Cup regular Kevin Harvick, who was also testing at Dover International along with Matt Kenseth, took her truck around for a couple of laps in the morning and offered her some driving tips about the high-banked, 1-mile oval.
“I was a little intimidated at first, I have to say,” Renshaw said. “Kevin Harvick actually jumped in my truck and got it going a little bit for me. And then I got in and backed up what he was doing, and it’s a lot of fun here.”
Despite the optimism that a day at Dover gave her, Renshaw has been on the opposite end of the racing spectrum from Patrick this season.
She has not finished among the top 10 in a race this year and is 30th in the Truck Series points standings. She failed to qualify for last weekend’s race at Charlotte.
“We’ve struggled for the past three races and we’ve been involved in some accidents that should have never happened,” Renshaw said. “But I know with my guys behind me, we’re going to go nowhere but up.”