Danica to NASCAR?

Rumor has it IRL driver Danica Patrick is exploring a possible move to NASCAR next year after her contract with Rahal Letterman racing is up. Her father/manager had talks with several teams at last week's race at Chicagoland. I watched the Indy 500 for the first time in years last summer only because of Danicamania, and I will admit to being a little gushy and inspired when she became the first woman to lead the Indy 500 (and almost won it if not for fuel management problems.) But since then, Danica's been stuck in the middle of the pack at best, and I'm starting to dislike her. She's a little too Anna Kournikova for my tastes--all flash and beauty, but never a winner in her own sport. She became popular and famous in no small part thanks to posing in very little clothing while sprawled across the hood of a car for FHM magazine, not for her accomplishments on the track. It's a sort of reverse double-standard, where women athletes don't actually have to be all that good at their sport to do well, if they're hot enough. And it bugs me.

Erin Crocker has been slowly working her way up through the lower ranks of NASCAR and there was even talk of her making a full time schedule in the Busch series this season before she was instead scheduled for the Craftsman Truck Series and a handful of Busch races. Unlike Danica, Erin's not particularly flashy or particularly Maxim-worthy. But if she's the better stock car driver, shouldn't she be the first to make it into a NASCAR ride if we're actually concerned about merit? Shouldn't Danica have won an IRL race before we take her seriously as a race car driver with skills that can cross over, and not just a stunt that some team will pull to sell sponsorships and endorsement deals?

It's about time for a full-time woman driver in NASCAR's top series, but I want the first one who breaks into that boys' club to get there because she's an excellent and accomplished driver, not because she's a publicity stunt or because she's hot enough that nobody will care if she crashes out early or hangs back in the upper 30 positions every race. If Danica is in a Nextel Cup car next season, and she's not ready for it, she'll just reinforce the "women are lousy drivers and can't hack it in NASCAR" stereotypes. That would be more detrimental than if no woman made it there at all.