Danica, Danica, Danica.

With the recent frenzy surrounding Danica Patrick, you might think she was put here by the racing gods themselves, sent from above to save NASCAR.

“

Dick Berggren ... told me I should go down to Danica's trailer and that she needs to thank me for paving the road.

”

-- SHAWNA ROBINSON

Larger than the pothole that almost ate the Daytona 500, Patrick is a topic of conversation everywhere: network television, boardrooms, grocery stores and now, stock-car land. Nonbelievers are eating their words and middle-age men in the media centers can't stop Googling and therefore ogling over her Go Daddy girl images.

And while I'm certainly tuned in -- yes, I watched her on Ellen recently and yes, I thought she was funny, great, cute and everything else a girl looks for in a bestie -- I can't help but wonder if Patrick's predecessors are at home throwing old helmets at the television sets.

Never before has a female driver been handed the keys to the kingdom, so to speak, like the 27-year-old Patrick. She has a multi-year deal with one of the sport's premier Nationwide Series teams, engine support from Hendrick Motorsports and veteran Cup drivers such as Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick willing to help her along her 13-race endeavor this season.

When Janet Guthrie qualified for the Indianapolis 500 in 1977, the male drivers protested. They "feared for their safety" and said women were emotionally unstable. On the NASCAR side, when Guthrie competed in the 1976 World 600, Richard Petty said his wife could have driven better with 14 screaming' kids in the back seat.

Fortunately for Danica, and the rest of us, times have changed. But the ridiculing and the less-than-warm welcomes still went on for female drivers through the 1980s and '90s.

So while I think women should rally behind Patrick in the name of girl power, it should be noted that the red-carpet welcome she is receiving not only is because of her talent and allure, but also because her predecessors worked their fingers to the bone breaking down barriers inside NASCAR's still-to-this-day male-dominated garage.

Pay homage to the ones berated for making a clean pass on a male driver, pay homage to the ones who brought diversity training to the good ol' boys in the South and especially pay homage to the ones who sidelined their racing careers in order to populate the driver pool by raising NASCAR's next future star.

Video:
• NASCAR Minute: Danica mania (Continued)