Friday, April 25, 2008
Jack Roush Is Looking at Danica Patrick…and Tony Stewart’s potential ‘free agent’ move opens doors
Jack Roush says Danica Patrick talked with Roush officials two weeks ago at Phoenix, but Roush wouldn’t elaborate
(Photo credit: Autostock)
By Mike Mulhern
TALLADEGA, Ala.
Even Tony Stewart’s possible ‘free agency’ at the end of this season couldn’t keep Danica Patrick off NASCAR’s front-page Friday at Talladega Speedway.
Jack Roush, the top Ford team owner in the NASCAR world, says ‘some of my folks’ talked with Indy-car star Patrick two weeks ago at Phoenix, apparently about a possible NASCAR ride...discussions that came before Patrick’s historic victory in Motegi last weekend.
But Roush wouldn’t say much more about how those talks went or if any further discussions might be coming. “She met with some of our people, and I don’t want to go further than that,” Roush said.
Drafting speeds yesterday topped 195 mph in packs during practice for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499. But there were only drafting packs, no single-car runs in clean air, so figuring out who might have the fastest cars for today’s scheduled pole runs (10:15 am) might be difficult. It might also be academic, since heavy rain is in the forecast. Chevy’s Jimmie Johnson and Toyota’s Michael Waltrip were on the front row at Daytona, and Waltrip was on the pole here last fall.
Patrick was the center of NASCAR talk a year ago when her family talked with NASCAR people, including Roush men, about a possible NASCAR ride. “In fact there was some thought when Kurt Busch had his problem, that she might be the one who got in the car,” Roush said.
“Now that was just a joke in passing. But she was there that day (at Phoenix) when we were trying to figure out how to fill that void.
“Danica, from what I understand, has an interest in stock car racing, and any car owner or sponsor who felt the need to have more diversity in their lineup would look at Danica very favorably.
Danica Patrick would be an interesting addition to the NASCAR world...but is she tough enough?
(Photo credit: Autostock)
“But any driver who presumes to sit in one of these NASCAR cars needs to think long and hard about whether they’ve really prepared themselves for the experience. I find it hard to believe that unless you’ve spent time in some of the other NASCAR vehicles that you could really be ready for a Cup car.
“I haven’t talked with Danica and don’t know her interests, but I could lay out a program for her, to let her have a look at what she might do and see if there were a match there.
“But it’s not clear that because she won an open-wheel race that it would be straightforward for her to step into a stock car. Quite the contrary – I think she would have to get comfortable with it, and the people around her would have to get comfortable.”
Jeff Burton, the Sprint Cup series leader coming into Sunday’s 500-miler, says Patrick has impressed him: “There’s no reason in the world a woman driver cannot be successful in all forms of motorsports. Not one reason. A woman can be successful, I believe that in my heart.
“But it’s going to take a high talent level. Listen, when you race against Tony Stewart, you’ve got to be good. When you race against Jeff Gordon, you’ve got to be good. When you race against Juan Pablo Montoya, you’ve got to be good.
“You can’t be average. You’ve got to be really good.
“So we’ve got to find the right person who has that talent and put her in the right position.
Jeff Burton, the NASCAR tour leader, and one of the sport’s top spokesmen, says a woman can win in NASCAR—but it’s not going to be easy
(Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR)
“It’s a harder transition from an open-wheel car to this than people think. I don’t know if Danica could do it or not. Ask Montoya how hard this is.
“I’m not saying we’re the best drivers; what I’m saying is it takes different stuff, a different driving style to run well in these cars than it does in a high-downforce, high-grip race car.
“I don’t know if she could do it; I don’t have a clue. I do believe it would be a hard transition.
“What really matters in this sport is how long have you been doing it, and what success have you had.
“In this garage today, who in here didn’t start at five, six, seven, eight, nine years old? When we talk about our diversity program, when we talk about women drivers, what we’ve got to do is find a way to attract kids. We’ve got to find a way to get children, instead of playing baseball or soccer or basketball, to race.
“The problem is this is expensive. My son played basketball this year at the Y, and it cost me $29. You can’t think about a race car for a kid for $29.”
Which is precisely why Detroit car makers and NASCAR are pushing for diversity ‘tryouts’ for a year or two, to see who might have that edge.
And Ford Motor Company has had a long-standing tradition of promoting and marketing of female racers. That car maker has been in forefront.
Three women of NASCAR: Janet Guthrie (left), Erin Crocker, and Sarah Fisher
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Now this Patrick-NASCAR-Roush-Ford intrigue may not go anywhere, but it is certainly food for thought, to revive interest in women racers in NASCAR.
However a big question here this week is ‘Can a woman really be successful as a NASCAR racer, or is all this talk just talk?’
“I think so,” Roush said, of a woman’s potential success here.
But this is a mean sport at times, as last weekend’s Mexico City race showed again. Can a woman really be mean enough, and tough enough, to deal with these guys on this turf?
Roush laughed: “Some of the meanest human beings I’ve known in my life……and I’ve got a hit list.”
Danica Patrick celebrates her Motegi victory with her parents. Patrick’s father has been trying to interest Patrick in NASCAR for two years.
(Photo credit: Indy Racing League)
However at the moment Roush has more pressing issues on his plate: first off, re-signing Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle to new contracts.
And the Tony Stewart twist makes things even more interesting.
Roush also said he would be willing to help Ford make a pitch to Stewart if Stewart were in fact a free agent at the end of this season.
“I know Ford had an interest in Tony, and I would line up behind Ford if Ford and Tony wanted to get together and I would do what I could to support that,” Roush said.
“However I’m given to understand that that conversation hasn’t gone any place.”
Nevertheless, the sudden twists in the debate about Tony Stewart’s future has opened the door to a number of possible situations.
If Stewart becomes a free agent, as he says he may well try, for 2009, then what might car owners Joe and J. D. Gibbs do to replace him?
Tony Stewart (left) and crew chief Greg Zipadelli: pondering their futures?
(Photo credit: Toyota Motorsports)
And whom will car owner Richard Childress hire for his planned fourth Sprint Cup team? Childress lost the battle for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Rick Hendrick, Childress lost the battle for Kyle Busch to the Gibbs, so Childress would probably not want to lose a shot at Stewart to Hendrick too.
The top current drivers whose contract are up at the end of this season include Ryan Newman, Biffle and Edwards. (And Newman could be the bettor’s choice for the new Childress ride.)
Newman won the Daytona 500 for Roger Penske, his car owner since joining the tour full-time in 2000, and he’s won 13 races with Penske. But Newman’s Daytona victory broke a 2-1/2-year winless streak, and the Penske operation has not been a consistent threat to win for several years.
Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman: Richard Childress’ new driver in 2009?
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Biffle and Edwards both drive for Roush, and Edwards, at just 28, is one of the hottest drivers on the tour this sprint with three wins already. Biffle, 38, came within just 35 points of winning the 2005 championship, in a six-win season; but since then Biffle’s performances have been somewhat erratic. Biffle’s last win was at Kansas City last fall.
“We are in negotiations with both,” Roush said, “and we have every expectation there will be a successful resolution to the discussions. I’m not involved in the minutiae of the negotiations, but everything is going along fine.”
However Roush says he does anticipate that rival car owners, perhaps Richard Childress, would make offers to Biffle and Edwards.
Roush called the NASCAR garage “a bazaar….as well as bizarre”
“In today’s world….there is a period of time when there is a ‘free agent’ atmosphere about things, and we’re into that now with Greg and with Carl,” Roush says. “But my indications are that everything is on track, and we expect to put things together and move forward.
“We have championship prospects for both men this year, and everyone is anxious not to have those teams upset to where we can’t make the best effort – which is to qualify for the chase and then challenge for the championship in the fall.”
Carl Edwards is negotiating a new contract with car owner Jack Roush
(Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Edwards, of his contract, says “It’s always my mission to get that stuff out of the way and done as early as I can.” So how are the talks going? “I don’t want to say anything,” Edwards replied. “Once I get it done, I’ll let everyone know what I’ve done. It’s wise to listen and look at your options.”
Biffle says of his contract negotiations with Roush “We’re not in a big hurry to get it done. Sort of in a holding pattern.
“I’m pretty confident we’re going to get to common ground on what I want and what they want.”
Biffle’s take on Stewart? “Obviously he’s let the world know he was unhappy about something at Gibbs…and he’s made it known he wants to get out of his current contract at the end of the season, I guess. It may open up a ride there I guess.”
If Ford and Roush are interested in making another NASCAR pitch to Patrick, what about Toyota, General Motors and Dodge, the other car makers in stock car racing?
Chevrolet’s NASCAR field director Pat Suhy deferred to his company’s NASCAR teams: “I think it’s great she won her first race. But as far as any interest from GM, we don’t have any seats, per se; we rely on our teams. But we would always be open to a woman racer. The first winning woman in Sprint Cup would be great to have.
“But from what we’ve seen from other successful racers coming into NASCAR (like Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr.), it’s not that one win would make you a contender in a stock car.
“But we wouldn’t rule out interest in a woman who could get it done.
“I think that Jack and (Ford racing boss) Dan Davis are talking is an indication of how the business goes.”
Ford racing boss Dan Davis (right) and team owner Jack Roush may have NASCAR plans for Danica Patrick.
(Photo credit: Autostock)
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