The Danica Patrick 300

Due to over-saturation, I have been trying to take a few days off from reporting anything even remotely related to Danica!, including her recent taping of an episode of The View. That’s the TV program where a bunch of talkative women get together and whine and cry and call each other “girlfriend”…or maybe that’s “Oprah”. I wonder if they’ll ask her to bring treats since she is the Hostess Diva.

Anyhow, we recently had a race in Milwaukee hailed as the “ABC Supply AJ Foyt 225,” which makes sense since Foyt has proven to be both an accomplished driver and owner, and ABC Supply is the current sponsor of his team. (Foyt freaks: I mean no disrespect calling the man “accomplished” since he is arguably the greatest open-wheel driver ever.)

The point is there is a definitive connection between Foyt and the primary sponsor of the car he owns. It makes sense for the folks at ABC Supply to promote that connection since Foyt Racing entry bears the ABC Supply logo for all the laps it drives in 2006.

So next on the docket we have the “Meijer Indy 300 presented by Coca Cola and Secret” from Kentucky Speedway. I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, but all three of those businesses (Meijer Grocery stores, Coca Cola beverages and Secret deodorant) are all driver sponsors as well. In fact, they all sponsor one driver in particular.

So for all intents and purposes, the race from Kentucky may as well be referred to as "The Danica! 300". I’m not saying that is a problem, since this just goes to show the marketing force she possesses. In fact, I don’t think it would be such a bad thing to start naming races after drivers, since if nothing else it would make the drivers larger than life for passive fans.

Come on: The Fujifilm/Dan Wheldon 300 of Japan sounds great, right?

OK, maybe I’m going too far with this, but this is in effect what is happening this weekend. With all the sponsors involved in this race, Danica! will no doubt be glad-handing until she develops calluses on her palms. I wish her the best in bearing all these sponsorships, although I hope the good folks at Argent don't get too upset.