Danica first woman to win 500 pole

[Reg]

AP

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick has made history before -- as a woman and a racer, in Indianapolis and Japan.

The spotlight is nothing new. But never has it been this bright before.

Patrick won the Daytona 500 pole Sunday, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any race in NASCAR's premier circuit. It's by far the biggest achievement of her stock-car career.

"I was brought up to be the fastest driver, not the fastest girl," she said. "That was instilled in me from very young, from the beginning. Then I feel like thriving in those moments, where the pressure's on, has also been a help for me. I also feel like I've been lucky in my career to be with good teams and have good people around me. I don't think any of it would have been possible without that.

"For those reasons, I've been lucky enough to make history, be the first woman to do many things. I really just hope that I don't stop doing that. We have a lot more history to make. We are excited to do it."

Her latest stamp in the history books came with a lap at 196.434 mph around Daytona International Speedway. Patrick went out eighth in the qualifying session, then had to wait about two hours as 37 fellow drivers tried to take her spot.

Only four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon even came close to knocking her off. Gordon was the only other driver who topped 196 mph in qualifying. He locked up the other guaranteed spot in next week's season-opening Daytona 500.

"It's great to be a part of history with Danica being on the pole," said Gordon, who joked that at least he was the fastest guy. "I think we all know how popular she is, what this will do for our sport. Congratulations to her. Proud to be on there with her."

The rest of the field will be set in duel qualifying races Thursday.

[Jerry]

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Go Danica.

[Reg]

I don't know diddly squat about NASCAR, but I've always rooted for Danica. I know she has her detractors, for both good & bad reasons. I was raised by a strong woman & have always been about equal opportunity. Listening to Danica yesterday, I know even she doesn't give herself an "overwhelming chance" (her words) to win the 500. She admits that she knows there is much more to winning the race than just having the pole. She said that while she will try her best to win, she's looking forward to the learning experience.

Winning is great, but sometimes the more significant impact is being a paradigm breaker. Somewhere, some time, some little girl (or boy) is gonna see or read about Danica starting on the pole and think..."I can do that too" or "I can accomplish that which people tell me I can't...or am not supposed to" or "I deserve to have equal opportunities to succeed OR fail, based on my skills, effort & competitive fire".

So...DANICA...You GO girl!

[Dalton]

She'll find some way to fuck it up. idk why but Im just not a fan of her in a race car.

Her in a bikini tho is a whole different story.

[Reveryroadie]

while it is impressive that she won the pole, now i gotta spend the whole week before the 500, listening to it be repeated over and over. its just a pole. doesn't mean squat in the long run.

[Robert]

Pole.... Squat....

[pooh555]

Was there another one that was going to be the first that I haven't heard about, or was Danica never going to win a pole in her life or what?

This doesn't seem remotely surprising on any level

[Reg]

Originally Posted by Reveryroadie

while it is impressive that she won the pole, now i gotta spend the whole week before the 500, listening to it be repeated over and over. its just a pole. doesn't mean squat in the long run.

Originally Posted by pooh555

Was there another one that was going to be the first that I haven't heard about, or was Danica never going to win a pole in her life or what?

This doesn't seem remotely surprising on any level

Perhaps because I'm not a serious NASCAR fan and due to my background, I see a bigger picture. No woman has ever won a pole for ANY Sprint Cup race. The Daytona 500 is not just ANY Sprint Cup race. ESPN-NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven calls Danica breaking this barrier as "monumental". The reason Danica is the first is not because having a penis or muscles or size or body speed matters in racing, but because few women have had the opportunity to compete. Danica is highly hyped in part because she's a woman fueled by a slick marketing team. The Dallas Cowboys get a lot of hype without winning anything in 16 years cuz Jerruh Jones is a marketing genius. This is America...where capitalism with creative marketing rules. Hate the game if you must, but don't hate the player....I hate neither cuz my education & career has been in marketing. But remember, she's just a rookie in Sprint Cup. Any rookie who won the pole at the premier event of NASCAR would be getting some good press this week, at least within NASCAR hype.

Danica on this pole means more than "squat in the long run" because it is one more step towards breaking a paradigm in a male-dominated sport. It is GREAT...nee...as Jeff Gordon says, "HISTORIC"...as Mark Martin calls it ..."MONUMENTAL" for NASCAR....a sport that has aspirations of greater popularity. A shitpile of Non-NASCAR fans like me will tune in on Sunday just to see the moment. And some will stick around & come back because they suddenly see a fascinating sport that is unrelated to Danica.

The day will come when a woman doing anything in NASCAR will not mean squat. Violet Palmer along with Dee Kantner were the 1st women NBA refs. Violet has even worked the playoffs for 6 years. No one even notices her any more...which is a good thing as she's now "just another ref", doing a good job...well...all NBA refs suck LOL. No one cares much about Black QBs any more. We mainly only care if the QB is good or bad. But there had to be a 1st in order for the door to open to the good (& bad) ones just like good & bad White QBs. And the NFL is greater now in part because, for most fans, skin color at QB no longer "means squat".