Danica Patrick – “Honey” Badger of NASCAR

Danica Patrick is running with Stewart-Haas racing to run selected Sprint Cup races for 2012. In an interview from Daytona this week, she said she was taking on the 2012 season like a “honey badger”.

“… the honey badger, he doesn’t give a crap, he takes what he wants. And that’s how I’m going to be this year, like a honey badger.”

She made reference to a video she had seen about the animal in which the narrative is quite funny and the honey badger goes about wreaking mayhem on other creatures in a quite bloody fashion. The animal is quite a beastie and has, apparently, an “I don’t give a crap” attitude.

“The video is great!” she said. “He eats a poisonous snake and he falls asleep and wakes right back up. The video is funny, so I encourage you all to watch that.”

“It’s a mindset,” said Patrick. “It takes what it wants.”

Now, how that translates to the track with the new #10 Go Daddy Chevy with Patrick at the wheel is yet to be seen. The full Nationwide season with JR Motorsports (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s ownership venture) will get her more lap time with her full move to NASCAR (#7 Go Daddy Chevy) for the 2012 season.  She did all right in 2011 with a top 5 and three top 10 finishes out of twelve starts while still running the Indy series.

Her IndyCar seat is being filled by James Hinchcliffe (2011 Izod IndyCar Rookie of the Year) at Andretti Autosport. Patrick will be able to place total focus on stock car racing and take the week to week effort to advance her skill and awareness. The cooperative efforts of JRM in Nationwide and Stewart-Haas for Sprint Cup should also prove beneficial. Dale Jr. and Tony Stewart have a good relationship and that also should benefit Patrick. Another plus for her is Stewart’s racing background with open wheel and his own transition to NASCAR. His experience can be somewhat of a roadmap for Patrick.

Now, back to honey badgers. Danica Patrick may need to clarify her statement just a bit. Is it the “doesn’t give a crap” part or the “takes what he wants” part? Getting behind the wheel and running with 40+ other drivers is not something to be taken with a “doesn’t give a crap” mindset. During the race, however, there does have to be a “take what he wants” attitude for so long as it isn’t reckless.

So… why the honey badger? Does it just fall back to the video she saw? It does kind of stick in the brain, after all. Perhaps she could have given it some thought…  Maybe visit a zoo to see what else might be a better fit. There are any number of critters she could have compared herself with that may translate better to stock car racing. The coyote, for example. Here is a cunning animal that is adaptable and fast. The coyote certainly applies to her situation. Another could be the pronghorn antelope which is the fastest animal in the western hemisphere. It adapted this speed to outrun predators and that trait easily translates to racing. Or a wildebeest! Now here is a fast critter that has adapted to reacting to the danger calls of other animals, can be seen mixing with zebras with no friction and has expanded its range while other animals have been confined by habitat loss. Danica Patrick could easily be a “wildebeest of NASCAR”!

Perhaps we’ll just call her a “Fox”, let her call herself a “honey badger”, and wish her a good run with JRM and Stewart-Haas.