GoDaddy sponsors Patrick in ‘Danica Double’
The original “GoDaddy Girl” is back with sponsorship intact to push forward with her “Danica Double.” Danica Patrick has secured the money needed to race in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. Now she just needs to find the rides to get her back on racing's two biggest stages. GoDaddy reunited with Patrick on Thursday for the final two races of her career, even though she still has to close deals with teams to make it happen.
She's not worried about pulling it off, either. “Power of positive thinking,” she told Associated Press from Scottsdale, Ariz.
Patrick announced in November she would end her driving career at Daytona and Indy but still doesn't have rides. Yet Patrick always figures a way to get what she wants. When talks ended with Chip Ganassi Racing about seats for both races, Patrick said, she called former GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons late last month and asked about a reunion. Parsons led her back to GoDaddy, the company that helped make her one of the world's most recognizable athletes. With “the band back together,” as Patrick said, finding rides are just the next to land.
“I am fitting back into spaces where I am more familiar with people and I think that is a critical element,” Patrick said of reuniting with GoDaddy. “We'll have more to announce on the team side soon, but with GoDaddy being the sponsor, knowing how they work, having that level of a familiarity from a working and friendship standpoint helps.
“I think that feeling good and being in a good mood, I do think that translates to performance and good things all around. I can look at these [GoDaddy] people and smile and be excited that we are doing it like this, it’s a good-vibe thing. And you know me: it’s all about the good vibes.”
GoDaddy left motorsports after the 2015 season but jumped at the chance for a reunion because the rebranded Patrick now symbolizes the new core mission of the company. Patrick has methodically reshaped her image, first into an Instagram model and is now a full-blown healthy lifestyle guru. She realized — at the age of 35 — she was on her own.
“Our goals are so wellaligned,” said Barb Rechterman, the chief marketing officer of GoDaddy. “She's passionate, tenacious and creative.”
It took four times on the ballot for Robert Yates to be elected to NASCAR's Hall of Fame. When he finally received enough votes, the championship-winning car owner and engine builder burst into tears.
Yates was in a grueling fight with liver cancer when he was elected last May following a vote at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.
When his name was announced, he was mobbed by supporters thrilled for another tribute for one of NASCAR's stalwarts.
Yates died five months later at the age of 74, and his family will represent him tonight as he's posthumously inducted along with Red Byron, Ray Evernham, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ken Squier.