Indianapolis 500 Race: is Danica Patrick, the marketer, ready?

Danica Patrick

The Indianapolis 500 Race has started and there's no question that its most famous current star (other than Kim Kardashian, who's a spectator and Jack Nicholson, who's the honorary race flag waver) is Danica Patrick.

The difference is Danica Patrick's in the race, but you'd never know Patrick, the driver of the #7 GoDaddy.com car, was ready for the Indianapolis 500 Race with all of the marketing tie-ins, parties, and events Patrick attends.

All of this, once a standard part of Danicamainia, now comes into question after Patrick threw her race crew under the bus when she said "it's not my fault" in the wake of an awful qualifying car run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Later, Danica revealed her frustration:



Danica the Marketer

Danica Patrick has become more marketer than race car driver. Just today, her Twitter page @DanicaPatrick has a Saturday tweeted push for screening for chronic bronchitis and emphysema..

Drive4copd.com banner in the sky! Take the 5 question screener!
about 23 hours ago via web

And before that Danica Patrick was in New York City at about the same time as this blogger and at an event with Indianapolis 500 Race legend Mario Andretti, where Danika reports her phone failed to send a copy of this photo:



Fortunately for the phone maker, she didn't tweet what brand it was.

Danica's Twitter tweets are a happy trip from events to product mentions like the iPad or this lovely watch by another sponsor Tissot, which Patrick said was designed in 1913 (ish):



Then, Danica Patrick's part of a group of celebs interviewed by Honda as part of its "Dream The Impossible" documentary series.

With all of this, and sponsors are a necessary part of the business of road racing, how much time does Danica have to think about and do racing? It's one thing to practice, but another to hone and refine her driving. There's a break-even point between the number of sponsors needed to build a race business, the time it takes to deal with them which includes events and parties, and the time needed to become a better driver.

There's no question Patrick's in great physical shape; it's the mental part of racing that's at issue. Is Danica doing too much away from racing? Should she increase her sponsor and appearance fee and cut back on engagements?

If Danica Patrick wins or even performs well at today's Indianapolis 500 Race, these questions will not matter.

If.