Danica is for real. Be patient

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My name is Gary Long. For more than 35 years I wrote about sports for The Miami Herald. Auto racing was a primary beat. I saw every Daytona 500 and Pepsi 400 from 1970 through 2003 plus numerous races from Indianapolis, Homestead, Talladega, Darlington, Atlanta and Charlotte. I'm semi-retired now and exploring this blogging business even though I'm a technical dinosaur. (I've never owned a cell phone.) Perspective is needed on a hot topic: The demands on Danica Patrick that grow from outsized expectations are off the scale. I keep hearing talking heads on ESPN and elsewhere -- most of whom have neither attended an auto race or have any desire to do so -- commenting that Patrick has won only once in major league open-wheel racing (the IRL). Hey, she DID WIN. It's not like a journeyman baseball pitcher who got the best of Johan Santana on a day when Santana was at less than his best. For Danica to win, extending this analogy, she has to beat Santana, Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia, Josh Beckett and every other top-of-the-line pitcher on the same day. In other words, if recent IRL champions Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti happen to have a difficult race, Danica still has to get to the checkered flag ahead of Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Marco Andretti, Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal and all the rest on that day. That's a tall order for any of the above. Is she the best of those drivers. Of course not. But she can compete with the best. And she has no fear. Of more interest at the moment, she's clearly feeling her way while confronting the challenge of a much different venue, stock car racing. She's overmatched for the time being. That's inarguable. But she has demonstrated the wisdom to refrain from trying to do more than she currently can at the wheel. It's a lap-at-a-time process for her, and less relevant there where she finished in the NASCAR Nationwide race at California is the fact she was around to see the checkered flag. Clearly, she was far more comfortable at the end than at the start. Give her time. Incidentally, if you question whether she's strong enought to handle a 3,500-pound stock car (manhandle, if you prefer), shake hands with her one time.