The Danica Patrick train wreck

Yep, she's struck again. This time another driver had to be air-lifted to a hospital. Prognosis unknown.

Danica Patrick has been quite the piece of work over the years in automobile racing. Though official numbers are unknown, it's very probable she's caused more carnage on the racetracks than any other driver in history.

Hey, I'm all for equal rights. always have been. There was never a good reason -- none -- why certain people should have been denied opportunity just because of their gender, race, skin color, religion, or whatever. That would likely explain why I've always been against such things as "affirmative action". It has never been more than a discriminatory policy which gives bonus points on the basis of skin color, while unfairly punishing those who have earned opportunities for advancement on their own merit. It's wrong, and always has been as well.

Once upon a time, Danica Patrick was an Indy car racer. She was provided top-notch gear. But she never won anything, save for an obscure race in Japan which many of the top teams didn't even bother to show up for.

True to form, the ever politically correct announcers would pounce on every opportunity to hype the good Ms. Patrick. OMG, she's leading the Indianapolis 500. What they never bothered to explain was that her pit crew would have her stay out on the track for another lap of two while the competitive cars were pitting. Once the field got sorted out and reset, Danica would predictably fall well back.

As a very young man, yours truly was an Indy fanatic. I was at the track in 1977, in the craziness of the infield, when Janet Guthrie became the first woman to pilot a car in the fabled race. That was back in the days of Foyt, the elder Unsers, Mario Andretti, Tom Sneva, Wally Dallenbach, Danny Ongais, and that bunch. Janet didn't fare well that day, though she didn't have top-notch equipment either. And it's probably fair to say the "boys" back then weren't exactly fond of her presence on the track. But I thought it was pretty cool. History had been made.

So no, Danica hardly broke new ground when she appeared on the circuit.

It became obvious Patrick was never going to be competitive in Indy cars, so what did she do?

Grab a NASCAR ride, of course. Let the endorsements and hype roll in. And oh my, did they ever. Sure, NASCAR benefited from her presence and marketed it up the wazoo. But, like her Indy car days, she would never be any good.

Though he was slammed for it, Kyle Petty once publicly said Danica knew how to go fast, but she'd never be a true racer. In hindsight, it's difficult to dispute the younger Petty's prediction. Danica hasn't won squat on the NASCAR circuit either in all the years she's been there. Yes, she indeed qualified for the pole position for the prestigious Daytona 500 once. And was competitive throughout the race -- until it mattered. Towards the end the "big boys" went blowing by her. Kyle Petty was right. She wasn't ever going to win anything. Typically, Danica will finish somewhere between 15th and 30th. Not really competitive, but not quite a bottom feeder either. Yet remember, like in her Indy days, she always had first-class equipment in her NASCAR rides as well. The "bottom feeders" we see every week -- do not. A difference. A big one.

The apologists want us to believe that dear Danica should think long and hard about continuing her NASCAR career. After all, so many high speed crashes are bound to take their toll on her eventually, right? Even though she's pretty much remained unscathed throughout all of them over the years.

Sure, she's stomped her feet, flapped her gums, and otherwise thrown hissy fits here and there when things don't work out for her, but a lot of it, perhaps most, has been her fault all along.

Yep, she's been in, and caused, a lot of wrecks. But let's not forget the "other guys". Those cars cost a few hundred thousand to build and replace too when they get trashed. It is highly likely many veteran NASCAR drivers consider Danica Patrick to be a menace on the track. An accident waiting to happen. But they can't say that, for fear of the politically correct backlash they would surely face.

It's just not cool these days to criticize a woman in a predominantly male sport, even if she has it coming for her own ineptitude and the mayhem that results from it.

Would that be considered true equal rights? Somehow, call me skeptical. It is what it is, and Danica ain't no good.

All the photo shoots and other endorsements aren't going to change that.

I mean, good grief, how many $400,000 race cars has this lady got to wreck before somebody gets tired of replacing them? Remember her sponsor Go Daddy? Daddy be gone. He most likely couldn't afford it any more.

That's not even counting all the equally valued cars she's trashed over the years that were driven by others. Her total tab to date in wreckage is unknown, but it's certainly well up in the millions of dollars.

God bless her and may she live long and prosper, but dang, somebody has to sit up and acknowledge Danica Patrick has been a train wreck throughout her racing career. The carnage she's caused is incalculable.

Despite all the politically correct fodder, apologists, and so-called "equal rights" blather, folks can't change the obvious.

It just it what it is, and has long since been.

Slice it and dice it however one wishes, but Danica just wasn't cut out to be a successful race car driver at the highest levels.

And what has ever been the point of a NASCAR owner putting Patrick in a car, when they already know she won't finish in the top ten, and will likely wreck either herself or somebody else during the race?

At a recent race in Kansas City, Danica Patrick had the utter gall to get up in Joey Logano's face because something broke on his car at high speeds which led to a wreck, Dear Danica got caught up in it. Logano is a highly successful racer by any standards.

But Danica threw yet another hissy fit because, OMG, this was one wreck she didn't cause. Let's all cry huge crocodile tears for poor, poor Danica.

Please.

This woman is a menace in more ways than one......