As you've no-doubt heard, a major war of words has sprung up in Nascar these past few weeks. But enough about the big Parker Kligerman-Paul Menard battle--let's focus on Richard Petty and Danica Patrick. The whole thing started when The King made the unfortunate mistake of speaking his mind, saying that she's only win a race if the other 42 drivers stayed home. He then compounded that by committing the unforgivable sin of telling the truth, explaining that she is a great driver, but not a great racer. Tony Stewart (Danica's team-owner/beneficiary) then challenged Petty to race Danica one-on-one in identically prepared cars, a challenge which Petty accepted. Unfortunately for those who care only about drama (…and Brant James), the "war of words" has somewhat died down as legitimately great racing has reached the forefront. So before everybody forgets and moves on to the big Danica-Justin Allgaier brouhaha, here's the definitive
Tale O' The Tape:
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| The ONLY way to replace a King |
Achievements in Racing
Richard Petty: 7 Cup championships, 200 Cup wins, first-ballot Hall of Famer
Danica Patrick: Won an IndyCar race against half-a-field on fuel mileage
Longtime Sponsor
Richard Petty: STP, which scams people into thinking it will help them improve gas mileage
Danica Patrick: GoDaddy, which scams people into thinking "exclusive online footage" means "boobs"
Trademark attire
Richard Petty: Charlie One Horse cowboy hat, wraparound sunglasses, huge belt-buckle, cowboy boots
Danica Patrick: Scowl
Rivalries
Richard Petty: Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip
Danica Patrick: David Ragan, David Gilliland, Jay Mohr
ESPN's View
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| Two female superstars |
Richard Petty: Voted one of the top-100 athletes of the 20th century
Danica Patrick: "Let's cram her down the viewer's throat"
Crimes Against The Sport
Richard Petty: Is the reason we have a Past Champion's Provisional
Danica Patrick: Is the reason we have the Cope twins
Crimes Against Fans
Richard Petty: That one guy said that his cousin met him back in '82 and he only signed five of his autograph books
Danica Patrick: Refuses to do post-race interviews at a rate not seen since, well, Kurt Busch
Relationship to Kyle Petty
Richard Petty: Father, and one-half of the most-awkward, complicated relationship in sports
Danica Patrick: Adversary, and one-half of the most-strained comedy duo in sports
References by Brad Daugherty
Richard Petty: Brad wore #43 in his NBA career to honor The King
Danica Patrick: Brad said if she was actually trying to succeed in Cup, she'd have run in the K&N East Series first
Cup Wins In The Past 25 Years (as a driver)
Richard Petty: 0
Danica Patrick: 0