NASCAR: Should Danica Patrick be a Hall of Famer?

Did Danica Patrick pave the way for women racers?

The simple answer to that question is “no”. No, it was not Danica Patrick who “paved the way” for women racers. Here is why that answer is “no” despite the common misconception that she did, in fact, do so.

Patrick has just seven top 10 finishes with no top 5 finishes in 180 career Cup Series races. Her career-high Cup Series finish is 6th place. She also made seven Indianapolis 500 starts in her seven-year full-time IndyCar career, finishing as high as 3rd place, the highest ever for a woman.

But it is Sara Christian who has the only career top 5 finish by a woman in Cup Series history to date with her 5th place finish from back in the 1949 season, NASCAR’s inaugural season, and she drove in just seven career races. She added a 6th place finish in one of the other six races she drove in for her only other top 10 finish. Still, two top 10 finishes in seven races is better than Patrick’s top 10 ratio.

Meanwhile, Janet Guthrie drove in just 33 career races, yet she racked up five top 10 finishes and a career-high finish of 6th place. Her top 10 ratio is far better than Patrick’s, and her career-high finish is the same as Patrick’s. Guthrie, like Patrick, also made three starts in IndyCar in the Indianapolis 500, finishing as high as 9th place. She was the first woman to compete in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500.

There is really no argument for Patrick to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame for “paving the way” for women racers. The fact is, she didn’t. And by the way, Christian and Guthrie aren’t in the Hall of Fame, so if the argument is really about “paving the way” for women racers, those two other women should get in, not Patrick.