Yahoo Pundits Blast Danica Patrick: She’s Just ‘Flesh and Flash’

By Mark Hoerrner

It was a scalding vote of no confidence from the sports commentary world: Danica Patrick will never win a race, they said.

Margolis was first to take pot shots at the darling of Indy racing, admitting that she had a better chance at winning with Andretti, but then following up with a negative endorsement.

"It’s going to improve her chances," Margolis said, "Andretti Green has put Bryan Herta in victory lane several times, they have put Dario Franchitti in victory lane. Not to put anything against those two drivers, but moving to Andretti Green is just trading one headache for another. I still don’t think Danica Patrick will ever win a race in the Indy car series."

"She’s just not a good enough driver."

The put down comes on the heels of an announcement by Danica Patrick’s father/agent who said Patrick will be moving from her current Rahal-Letterman team to the Andretti Green franchise at the end of the season. Currently, Patrick is the highest-placing driver at Rahal.

"The two words that I think of when I think of Danica Patrick are ‘flesh’ and ‘flash,’" Bonkowski added. "She’s a great model, she’s obviously on the covers of magazines but what has she done? She hasn’t won a championship. She hasn’t won a race. I agree with Bob…I don’t think she’s ever going to win an Indy car race from this point on."

"She’s all hype and there’s not a lot of substance there."

Patrick finished 6th at the last Indianapolis 500, but has yet to win a lesser race. Andretti picked her up quick and will give her a more promising car and equipment team, but she will have to win some races if she will break out of the pack. She’s ranked 10th overall in Indy racing, but that’s out of a field of about 22 full-time drivers.

"She’s the Anna Kournikova of Indy racing," Margolis said.

Speculation continued between the two on an eventual move to NASCAR for Patrick. While she’s an adept driver in Indy, the schedule is much harder in NASCAR with 36 races during the season. It’s grueling for any competitor; especially so for a driver who has not grown up in the NASCAR circuits.

"She’s going to wind up an at best 25th place finisher in a NASCAR race and I think she realizes that," Bonkowski said. "The only motivation she had to come to NASCAR was money. All I heard from her was money this, money that."

The two went on to say that Patrick would likely be overlooked if she moved into NASCAR in the next two years as Formula One driver Juan Pablo is likely to be the sensation of the time.