LAS VEGAS -- Richard Petty had signed about his 300th autograph at the SEMA Show on Wednesday when I informed him that Danica Patrick was close to a deal with JR Motorsports.
"To do what?" NASCAR's seven-time champion said.
I smiled and said, "To drive in the Nationwide Series."
Petty smiled back and replied, "Just being politically correct."
Another first for the King: being politically correct on the subject of women in NASCAR.
About 40 years ago Petty told a group of women from Queens College in Charlotte, N.C., that the pits at a NASCAR event "was no place for these girls."
In 2006, his opinion hadn't changed.
"I just don't think it's a sport for women," Petty told me at the time. "And so far, it's proven out. It's really not. It's good for them to come in. It gives us a lot of publicity, it gives them publicity.
"But as far as being a real true racer, making a living out of it, it's kind of tough."
Petty wasn't trying to be harsh then any more than he was trying to be harsh about IndyCar Series darling Patrick being close to finalizing a deal to drive in the Nationwide Series for JRM. He was just noting the obvious: that women have tried to make it in NASCAR's premier series many times before and failed.
His reasons are the same now that they have always been. Stock cars are heavy machines that are tough enough for 200-pound men to handle, much less for a 100-pound woman, even with power steering and all the other advanced technology.
"The deal is, this is not as easy as it looks," the Hall of Fame driver said. "And if you've had championship drivers come from that league that are struggling, then where does it leave her?"
Let's get this straight. Petty doesn't wish Patrick ill will because she is a woman. He understands more than most what Patrick would mean to the sport from a public-relations standpoint, particularly in tough economic times.
He simply doesn't believe, like many I've talked to, that Patrick can succeed in NASCAR.
But apparently she's going to try. Sources say the deal with JRM is close to done and that the goal is to put her in the ARCA event at Daytona International Speedway in February. If that goes well and officials approve, she'll make her Nationwide Series debut, then compete in another 11 or so races.
She'll have the best money can buy with Hendrick Motorsports equipment. She'll have a top sponsor with GoDaddy.com. She likely will have her IndyCar number (7).
Will that be enough for her to successfully compete, to make her a candidate for the Sprint Cup Series when her three-year deal with Andretti Green Racing in the IndyCar series ends?
"I'm going to tell her good luck," said Petty, peering under the rim of his signature cowboy hat and again flashing his famous smile.
CONCORD, N.C. -- Marcus Smith was finishing a chicken quesadilla at the Speedway Club atop Lowe's Motor Speedway on Tuesday afternoon when the conversation turned to Danica Patrick.
The president of LMS was asked what it would mean to NASCAR if the IndyCar Series darling began running a partial Nationwide Series schedule, along with a few Truck Series and perhaps ARCA events, in 2010.
Smith gave an indirect answer, saying he would love to see her do a variation of the double -- the Saturday Nationwide race and Sunday Indianapolis 500 instead of the Sprint Cup race and 500 all on Sunday -- in May at LMS.
He admitted he'd put out feelers to see if there was interest, knowing all eyes in the motorsports world would be on his track that weekend if he pulled it off.
No, Smith hasn't reached the level of the man who sat in his chair for more than 30 years before departing. H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was considered the king of track promoters, once called a combination of P.T. Barnum, Don King and Walt Disney.
Wheeler blew more things up and pulled off more crazy stunts to put fannies in seats than anybody in the history of the sport, maybe all of sports. His motto was simple: "Keep 'em entertained and they'll keep coming back."
Smith so far has been more practical, focusing on lowering the prices of tickets, hotels and food to ease the strain on fans during tough economic times. But if he can get Patrick to do the weekend double that could be the first step in starting his own legacy.
Everybody in NASCAR wants a piece of Patrick these days. JR Motorsports has offered her the opportunity to drive a limited number of Nationwide and ARCA races around her IndyCar schedule. Michael Waltrip has offered her the opportunity to do the same, throwing in the Truck Series as an enticement.
The sport needs Patrick more than she needs it because there is no female face here and because she attracts sponsors in a world where sponsors are becoming scarce.
The promoter side of Smith understands that, which is why he's already planted seeds for the May weekend when he has a Chase race less than two weeks away.
He also understands the transition won't be easy and hopes Patrick is brought along slowly, not "set up to fail" three years down the road if she makes the jump full time to NASCAR. He knows if she can succeed it will benefit not only him but every track promoter.
Give him credit, though, for getting ahead of the game.
Team Force gets a win, while drivers try going four wide in NHRA
CONCORD, N.C. -- Top Fuel driver Antron Brown took a few joking jabs at John Force's outrageous personality and then exchanged high fives with the 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion.
"You won't see that in NASCAR," Brown said with a laugh.
You won't see a lot of things in NASCAR that you see in the NHRA. The stage on which Brown sat was a perfect example. There was an
African-American in Brown and a woman in Ashley Force Hood.
And they weren't there just for show. Brown entered this past weekend's playoffs at zMax Dragway as the top seed in Top Fuel. Force Hood was ranked in the top five in Funny Car and made it all the way to the final before losing to teammate Robert Hight.
There isn't an African-American or a woman in NASCAR's top series, Sprint Cup. There isn't anyone close to that level, which is why many in the sport are pushing hard to get IRL darling Danica Patrick to make the jump.
The closest NASCAR comes to diversity in Cup is Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished third in Sunday's Chase opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The NHRA garage is much more diverse as well. You'll see more races and nationalities in one trip through the paddock than you'll see in a dozen trips through a Cup garage.
That the NHRA is ahead of NASCAR in diversity shouldn't come as a surprise. It is much cheaper to get into the sport as a competitor and a fan. It's also easier for more diverse groups to relate to drag racing. Who didn't have an old Chevelle or Nova -- or the 2000 version of that -- they raced as a teenager?
"Drag racing is not about being a diverse sport; it's about being available," Brown said. "Anybody can go out and do it. It cost thousands and thousands of dollars to have a modified car. If anybody drives a midget car around a paved oval or dirt track, you've got to have $45,000 for an engine.
"Now you tell me what middle-class family in this economy can afford to do that."
It's an unfortunate reality for NASCAR. The sport could use somebody like Brown. If Brown weren't having so much fun and success in NHRA, he would love to give stock cars a shot.
He recalled driving a truck in a NASCAR-type test event several years ago.
"They said, 'Let's see how you do against guys that run NASCAR all the time," Brown said. "I started off in a group of about 15, seventh or eighth quickest. By the end of the day, I was the quickest. I was two-tenths off the track record."
Force Hood, by the way, has no interest in NASCAR. She likes going 300 mph too much and doesn't need the attention that would be put on her for being a woman.
Here, she's just a driver.
"The focus is not on [diversity here]," she said. "We can really focus on the drivers and skills and not that other stuff we don't have any control over. We have control of our team and how we run our car. That's how the pat on the back should be, and that's where it stays here."
And there are lots of pats on the backs, more so than you typically see in NASCAR. That was Brown's original point -- that despite intense competitions, the drivers seem to enjoy each other more.
"Like in NASCAR, they're serious over there," he said. "Full blown. I've been around them. They want to eat each other's chicken dinner all the time, man.
"Like I love Jimmie Johnson. He's always quiet and gives a great interview, but sometimes you want to see him let his hair down. Come out of the shower and have some fun. ... Sometimes when you look at them over there, they don't look like they're having a lot of fun."
Yes, unfortunately, there's a lot of things you'll see in the NHRA that you won't see in NASCAR.
