Danica Patrick’s Brand Post Racing

Ronn Torossian, CEO, 5WPR

When Danica Patrick moved from Indy Racing to NASCAR, a lot of people saw her as breaking the glass ceiling of the all boy’s club at the highest levels of . Others saw her as “a pretty face” or a “public relations gimmick.”

Regardless of the reasons for her racing career, Patrick has certainly been a marketable brand for many years. Despite her objectively mediocre racing career, Patrick has been a force in and of herself. And now, as she finishes what is widely expected to be her final year behind the wheel, a lot of people are wondering “what’s next” for the racing superstar.

First, though, Patrick had to complete her final run in the race that made her a household name, the 500. Prior to the race, Patrick waxed nostalgic with reporters, talking about her father, how he got her into racing and other ways she was influenced in her formative years.

And she talked about a conversation she had with her father prior to her final race. Could she pull out one more win? “I was like, ‘Dad, what do you think the chances are? Do you think I got a shot? I obviously know I have a shot, but let’s talk real, like father-daughter. What have you seen out there? I’m asking him because I know there’s a chance. I’ve been saying the last few days there’s a difference between the beginning, when I signed up for it — I was hopeful it would go well — there’s a difference between where it is now. Now it’s not just a hope, it’s more of a reality that I’ve really got a shot at it.”

Not a lot of people gave her a real chance to win that final race, either in that moment, or when she announced she would be coming out of retirement for one final season. Critics say she had lost a step, that she wouldn’t be competitive… that she was never really ‘good enough.’

It’s a narrative Patrick has been hearing for her entire professional career. But there is a kernel of truth in the professional doubt. Patrick has never finished better than third in the 500, and that was nine years ago, back in 2009. Before that, she took fourth as a rookie in 2005, rocketing her name and her brand to international racing fame and making her, almost overnight, one of the most famous female athletes on the planet.

Patrick has finished tenth or better in all but one race in Indianapolis, commendable record, for certain, but nothing, really, that makes most people believe she can finally win the 500. But she will run, she will compete and… after all… many believed she couldn’t really do that either. She certainly proved them wrong.