Opinion: Welcome to Danica Beach

DANICA BEACH, Fla. – Danica Patrick walks into the Danica International Speedway Media Center Thursday and the crowd is so thick you’d think there was a complimentary dessert bar.

Patrick looks at the standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 and says, “This is definitely by far the biggest room of media I’ve been in.”

All the room lacks is a guy with a deep voice intoning, “All rise,” a red carpet and a flower girl.

But, hey, there is a flower boy. When Patrick, 27, finally steps down from the stage, an Internet reporter hands her a red rose.

QUESTION: If, say, Jimmy Spencer had stepped off the stage, would the Internet guy have handed him a red rose?

ANSWER: Maybe.

Racing is as much a show as a sport and drivers are as much entertainers as they are athletes.

Here is Patrick’s stock-car resume: One sixth-place finish in one ARCA race. If racing were basketball, ARCA would be a noon pickup game at the YMCA and one-third of the roster would be made up of accountants and dentists.

Yet because of Patrick, the race attracted a TV rating of 2.4, by far the highest in ARCA history. The number of viewers jumped an average of 87 percent from the same race in 2008.

Here is Patrick’s pre-NASCAR resume: Five seasons of Indy Car, 81 starts and one victory.

Here is what matters: It’s not about what you do. It’s about who does it.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was at the track Thursday and Sarah Palin is scheduled to visit Danica Beach on Saturday.

Bring them on. Compared to Patrick, they are ARCA.

Patrick is bigger than Sea World. She’s more marketable even than Dale Earnhardt Jr. And she hasn’t won as many races.

“Danica is great for the hype,” says Felix Sabates, who owns part of the team for which Juan Pablo Montoya drives. Sabates has been part of NASCAR for 25 years.

“She did great in ARCA. There were 21 drivers in that race who had never been on a superspeedway. She could close her eyes and there she is at the front.

“She’ll go against the real boys on Saturday.”

Patrick will compete Saturday against some of NASCAR’s best drivers in the Nationwide Series Camping World 200.

Despite her lack of experience, Patrick has what few drivers do. She has thousands – or is it millions? – of fans pulling for her and thousands pulling against her. To be a star, both are required.

But in Danica Beach this week her supporters rule. The hotel manager sees my credential, hurriedly walks from behind the desk, says he doesn’t know much about racing and yet is thrilled about Patrick. He gestures excitedly as he speaks.

“I think Danica being here … adds to the buzz, adds to the hits, that our sport is getting, the viewership,” annual champion Jimmie Johnson says.

Some of you would like those hits to be delivered to the back of her Chevrolet. Some of you cling to the antiquated North Wilkesboro Speedway-era notion that performance is more important than hype.

Asked about Patrick, Michael Waltrip says, “What is she doing now, you think? It’s been like an hour since anybody said anything about her.”

More like 45 minutes.