Danica Patrick’s Reaction To Hecklers Will Only Inspire More Hecklers

By Asher Fair | Jun 12, 2017

May 7, 2017; Talladega, AL, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Danica Patrick (10) is introduced before the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports /

While Danica Patrick may think that she made a point to her hecklers at Pocono, all she did is inspire more people to heckle drivers. Just wait and see.

Aside or perhaps even ahead of the story of Ryan Blaney winning his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono is the story of how Danica Patrick responded to hecklers on Friday at the track when exiting pit road. When she refused to sign an autograph, nearby fans did not approve of her refusal and let her know it by booing her, albeit playfully, and that, quite simply, set her off.

She went out of her way to walk back to the hecklers and spoke the following words. A video of the incident is also provided below.

"“I do the best I can. I mean, if you’re a real fan, you know that I’m not just — my job is not to sign autographs, right? My job is to drive a car and to tell the crew chief what’s going on. I don’t appreciate the booing. It hurts my feelings. I’m a f****** person, you know what I mean? I’m a person too. I have feelings.”"

Consider this question. Why do fans heckle and boo not just drivers, but athletes in all sports? Is it really to make an impression on them?

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Newsflash: the athletes generally don’t care. Danica Patrick should be no exception to that seeing as how she is making $12.2 million, which is more than two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry. And as long as the fans keep coming, whether they like her or not, she’ll keep getting that huge amount of money.

Fans know that athletes typically don’t care about being booed. Yet they still boo. The real reason as to why they still boo is the reason why they boo in the front row and in the nosebleed section alike. That reason? Attention. For hecklers, nothing beats getting attention, be it from friends, family or even other fans at the sporting event who they have never even met.

Related Story: Could this be Danica Patrick's Final Season in NASCAR?

And certainly nothing beats getting attention from the person whom the hecklers are heckling. And guess what Danica Patrick gave to the hecklers at Pocono? Attention. They got exactly what they wanted, and they forced her to care and show she cared.

Not only was her profanity-laced response to the fans immature and an illustration of her sinking to their level, but it gave the hecklers exactly what they wanted, and literally nothing less. While she may think she got her point across to them and to the rest of the world, all she did was the exact opposite.

At the end of the day, the money in those fans’ pockets is still going to end up in her paycheck. Ignoring them would’ve been a win-win for her because (a) she is still getting millions of dollars whether they like and respect her or not and (b) she would have refused to give them exactly what they were looking for.

Now for other attention-seeking hecklers, this will unfortunately end up being an inspiration. They’ll see that these fans got exactly what they wanted and more from Danica Patrick, and thus will have no reason to back down in the future knowing that they have the potential to get loads of attention from people across the world as well as attention from the athlete whom they are heckling.

Next: Danica Patrick Wrong To Curse Out Fans

Do you think that Danica Patrick’s response to the hecklers will inspire more people to heckle drivers and other athletes? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow me on Instagram as well as Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Finally, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.

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