The Official Danica Patrick Fan Site
Danica won’t say anything about 2010 because she can’t
from the thestar.blogs.com website
about Danica Patrick.
A month or so ago, the news was that she’d re-upped with Michael Andretti’s Indy car team for the next three years and there was a rider in her new contract that would allow her to run some NASCAR races.
Although there was no official announcement, it was pretty much accepted as gospel that this was true. The guys who reported it initially know their stuff. The information might have come from "sources," but often the "sources" are the people involved.
In any event, there soon followed a flurry of stories that, as a result of her new Indy car deal, she’d reached agreement with NASCAR’s Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive some Nationwide Series races for Earnhardt’s team. In fact, Hendrick said as much on several occasions.
But then, over the weekend when the Cup series was in Phoenix, both Earnhardt and Hendrick went to great lengths to throw cold water on the story. No deal, they both said. Probably not going to be a deal either, they added.
Now, the one person who hasn't been doing any talking about any of this is Danica Patrick herself. Which has got some people perplexed. Newspaper columnists and bloggers have all wondered: What’s with Danica? Why won’t she say something? Why won’t she say anything?
The reason is simple: she can’t. To understand why, let me tell you a little story about Paul Tracy.
In 2002, while under contract to Barry Green and partners in Team Green (also known as Team KOOL Green), Tracy reached agreement with Imperial Tobacco to continue in the CART Series and to drive for Forsythe Racing in 2003.
At the time, Michael Andretti and Barry Green’s partners were in the process of purchasing Team Green from Barry Green and they planned to move it to the Indy Racing League. They thought Tracy would make the move with them and were unhappy (to put it mildly) to learn he was going elsewhere.
As a result, he was ordered to keep his mouth shut about any plans he might have for 2003. It’s my understanding he was told that he was under contract until the end of the year and if he said one word about not driving for what would be called Andretti-Green Racing in the IRL in 2003 that the resulting lawsuit would break him financially.
So Paul Tracy kept quiet. Very quiet.
Something similar is happening with Danica, you can bet.
She’s under contract to Andretti-Green Racing until at least the end of the year. But that team is breaking up, in that Michael Andretti is reportedly in the process of becoming sole owner of the Indy racing team and his partners are reportedly in the process of becoming sole owners of the Andretti-Green promotions business (the races in Toronto and St. Petersburg).
The people who are knee-deep in these complicated transactions are not keen to have racing drivers in their employ shooting off their mouths about this and that and this and that. So Danica Patrick has undoubtedly been told (just like Paul Tracy before her) to button up.
So until everything is signed, sealed and delivered, or her current contract runs out, whichever comes first, you can bet you won’t hear one peep from Danica Patrick.
(By the way, she lives in Phoenix and you’d have expected that she’d have shown up at that NASCAR race on Sunday, wouldn’t you? But no, she wasn’t anywhere around, which was the smart thing.)
And those NASCAR guys? Saying one thing one week and another thing the next? Ah, they’re just havin’ fun, stirring the pot and driving certain people crazy. They know what the deal is. They’re just sticking in the needle.
about Danica Patrick.
A month or so ago, the news was that she’d re-upped with Michael Andretti’s Indy car team for the next three years and there was a rider in her new contract that would allow her to run some NASCAR races.
Although there was no official announcement, it was pretty much accepted as gospel that this was true. The guys who reported it initially know their stuff. The information might have come from "sources," but often the "sources" are the people involved.
In any event, there soon followed a flurry of stories that, as a result of her new Indy car deal, she’d reached agreement with NASCAR’s Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to drive some Nationwide Series races for Earnhardt’s team. In fact, Hendrick said as much on several occasions.
But then, over the weekend when the Cup series was in Phoenix, both Earnhardt and Hendrick went to great lengths to throw cold water on the story. No deal, they both said. Probably not going to be a deal either, they added.
Now, the one person who hasn't been doing any talking about any of this is Danica Patrick herself. Which has got some people perplexed. Newspaper columnists and bloggers have all wondered: What’s with Danica? Why won’t she say something? Why won’t she say anything?
The reason is simple: she can’t. To understand why, let me tell you a little story about Paul Tracy.
In 2002, while under contract to Barry Green and partners in Team Green (also known as Team KOOL Green), Tracy reached agreement with Imperial Tobacco to continue in the CART Series and to drive for Forsythe Racing in 2003.
At the time, Michael Andretti and Barry Green’s partners were in the process of purchasing Team Green from Barry Green and they planned to move it to the Indy Racing League. They thought Tracy would make the move with them and were unhappy (to put it mildly) to learn he was going elsewhere.
As a result, he was ordered to keep his mouth shut about any plans he might have for 2003. It’s my understanding he was told that he was under contract until the end of the year and if he said one word about not driving for what would be called Andretti-Green Racing in the IRL in 2003 that the resulting lawsuit would break him financially.
So Paul Tracy kept quiet. Very quiet.
Something similar is happening with Danica, you can bet.
She’s under contract to Andretti-Green Racing until at least the end of the year. But that team is breaking up, in that Michael Andretti is reportedly in the process of becoming sole owner of the Indy racing team and his partners are reportedly in the process of becoming sole owners of the Andretti-Green promotions business (the races in Toronto and St. Petersburg).
The people who are knee-deep in these complicated transactions are not keen to have racing drivers in their employ shooting off their mouths about this and that and this and that. So Danica Patrick has undoubtedly been told (just like Paul Tracy before her) to button up.
So until everything is signed, sealed and delivered, or her current contract runs out, whichever comes first, you can bet you won’t hear one peep from Danica Patrick.
(By the way, she lives in Phoenix and you’d have expected that she’d have shown up at that NASCAR race on Sunday, wouldn’t you? But no, she wasn’t anywhere around, which was the smart thing.)
And those NASCAR guys? Saying one thing one week and another thing the next? Ah, they’re just havin’ fun, stirring the pot and driving certain people crazy. They know what the deal is. They’re just sticking in the needle.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
Yep, there you have it, the reason there is no date given for her announcements. As I have said many times, there is a very good reason everyone is keeping quiet about the situation. There are a plethora of legal issues involved, I know it's nerve racking, but everyone just needs to have patience and let the situation play out. Of course you want to know the answer about 2010, as do millions of other fans across both the IRL and NASCAR, and tht answer will come in time. Remember, announcing something at the wrong time could potentially impact running anywhere in 2010. Danica is doing the smart thing by not saying a word, while some may not like it, it is 100% the right thing to do, there is too much on the line to throw it all away by talking too soon.
On a related noted, I've received a ton of email on the subject, so I know some of the anger that many of you have on the lack of an announcement, or for that matter any confirmed information in regards to Danica's 2010 plans. Some have even expressed displeasure with the fact that I am not giving a bunch of updates, or that I am not commenting on the rumors. It really isn't my place to comment on any of the negotiations, all of that is between Danica, IMG and the team(s). I do my best to avoid being in the middle of the rumors, and try my best to keep in line with confirmed reports, one to protect myself and this site, and also to make sure you all are getting the most reliable information. When I get solid information, that I am authorized to release, be it from Danica's people or Danica herself, I will notify everyone right away.
I hope everything has a bit more clairty now. Thanks for hanging in there while we all wait for an announcement.
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Permalink Reply by Jim Huntington on -
Reggie, I'd like to congratulate you on your principled stance regarding this whole escapade. It's Danica's professional life and livelihood at stake and fans need to chill.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on
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Thanks Jim. I was thinking, if I had commented on, or posted, every rumor that's come along, at this point she'd be on 6 different NASCAR teams (Stewart, Harvick, Childress Gibbs, Waltrip, Hendrick/JRM, am I missing anyone?), 3 IRL teams (Andretti, Ganassi, Penske), testing at least two F1 rides, I think I saw an NHRA rumor at one point, but that may have been a poor attempt at humor by the author, but you never know the way the media will pick up on any little mention. I know a lot of folks don't visit this site, or other sites that report Danica related news, on a daily basis. If I posted these little bits and pieces, and they got a bit here and a bit there, it'd be impossible for them to know the full, truthful, story.
The time will soon come for an announcement to be made, for now we just have to wait, and let Danica and her management handle things on the business end.
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