Is Danica a Dud?

I am no huge racing fan. I watch Nascar now and again, but much less now than I did when I was younger. At the start of this racing season, Danica Patrick came to the forefront.



Talking heads were talking her up at the beginning, saying how great it would be for women in sports if she could beat the men in racing, something traditionally dominated by them. Danica began racing and racing well. The regular casual observer would think that top 10 finishes were pretty good, but without a victory for Danica, the talking heads started saying that any progress Danica was making meant nothing unless she won. It's funny how quickly things changed. Now she's hardly in the news and probably won't be until she wins.

Here's the question(s): Is Danica Patrick really as big a deal as they said at the beginning? I'm all for the progression of women in sports (I play on coed soccer teams for crying out loud) but is one woman in indy racing - a sport not traditionally paid much attention to by most - going to do that much in the way of progress? What say you, readers? Do you truly care?