Second thoughts

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Pettys united: Danica good, Danica bad

Danica Patrick’s chances of winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup race are slim, according to Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty.

Patrick can only win a Sprint Cup race “if everybody else stayed home,” said Petty, 76, a seven-time champion.

Petty made the comment during an appearance Sunday at the Canadian Motorsports Expo in Toronto.

Petty added that Patrick only gets attention because she’s a woman, but added that publicity is good for NASCAR.

”If she’d have been a male, nobody would ever know if she’d showed up at a racetrack,” Petty said, according to the website wheels.ca. ”This is a female deal that’s driving her. There’s nothing wrong with that, because that’s good PR for me. More fans come out, people are more interested in it. She has helped to draw attention to the sport, which helps everybody in the sport.”

Patrick is entering her second full season in NASCAR Sprint Cup. She became the first woman a year ago to earn the pole at the Daytona 500, in which she finished eighth. It was Patrick’s best finish of 2013 as she ended up 27th in the final Sprint Cup standings.

Petty’s son, Kyle, called Patrick a “marketing machine” during various media appearances in 2013.

‘That’s where I have a problem - where fans have bought into the hype of the marketing, to think she’s a race-car driver,” Kyle Petty said. ”She can go fast, and I’ve seen her go fast. She drives the wheels off it when she goes fast. She’s not a race-car driver.

There’s a difference. The King [Richard Petty] always had that stupid saying, but it’s true, ‘Lots of drivers can drive fast, but very few drivers can race.’ Danica has been the perfect example of somebody who can qualify better than what she runs.”

Patrick, who recently starred in her celebrity-leading 13th Super Bowl commercial for sponsor GoDaddy, dismissed Kyle Petty’s comments at the time.

”It’s true that there are plenty of people who say bad things about me; I read them,” she said at the time. ”At the end of the day, you get over that stuff and trust that you are doing a good job.”

Going to Sea World!

The Miami Dolphins are offering their fans free tickets to Sea World in Orlando if they purchase season tickets for the 2014 season.

The Dolphins are offering Sea World tickets as well as other perks, including discounts at restaurants and local businesses, a free on-field movie night, a food truck and photo booth party at Sun Life Stadium, a kickoff yacht party and the opportunity to stage a fantasy football draft in a stadium suite with food and beer provided,plus Dolphins alumni available to give advice on your draft picks.

“Hey, it is hard to blame Miami’s sales department,” wrote Anwar S Richardson of Yahoo!

Sports. “Miami’s last playoff appearance occurred during the 2008 season. The team has not finished over .500 since that year.

Last season, Miami finished 8-8, but the season was overshadowed by the Jonathan Martin-Richie Incognito fiasco. It is not like the sales department has anything else to offer right now.

“If the Miami Dolphins are not entertaining in 2014, at least the dolphins at Sea World will make their fans smile.”He said it

From Miami Herald columnist Greg Cote:

“Morgan Shepherd, 72, is attempting to become the oldest NASCAR driver to race in the Daytona 500. Shepherd stood out in early qualifying. His was the only car that constantly had its turn signal on.”

“Peyton Manning was offended someone dared ask if he was “embarrassed” by last week’s Super Bowl. Peyton, you lost, 43-8. You were just too embarrassed to admit you were embarrassed.”

Quote of the day

“You’ll probably see that he is not going to be as active on Twitter and everything else as well.” Arkansas football Coach Bret Bielema on running back Alex Collins, who was suspended for a week Monday

Sports, Pages 14 on 02/11/2014