Danica wins race for media buzz Danica wins race for media buzz Danica Patrick is giving Indy 500 what it's been lacking in recent years: star power and attention. May 27, 2005: 11:44 AM EDT A weekly column by Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Danica Patrick is restoring to the Indianapolis 500 something it once took for granted: the status and attention that comes with being a major sporting event. Patrick is the fourth woman to run at Indy, but the first to be considered competitive with her male counterparts. Money is a big part of the reason. Drivers needs both talent and resources behind them, as the top teams dominate the top 10 finishers year after year. Patrick has a much better financed team behind her -- and a much better car -- than previous women drivers have had at Indy. She's driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, the group that won the race last year. Patrick, who is in her rookie season on the Indy Racing League, led the last race on the circuit in Japan for 30 of 200 laps. If she leads for even one lap on Sunday, she'll be the first woman to do so at the Brickyard. Before taking her first lap, though, Patrick has brought the race badly needed attention. Her picture covered the top of USA Today on Friday, and her name is one of the top searches on Google. The media is flooding to Indianapolis -- and not just the normal racing or sports press. Glamour magazine, along with People and Us have been there to write about her. So has "Good Morning American" and two of the network evening news program. "The sporting public is certainly well aware of her and it will grab a lot of attention," said Bob Toms, senior producer at ABC Sports, when talking to reporters this week. "It has captured an amazing amount of attention over the course of the last couple weeks, more than any of us would have anticipated." Only 4.1 percent of U.S. households tuned into last year's rain-soaked race. That's fewer people than watched the lowest-rated network broadcast of a Nascar race last year. Women won't drive rating surge If viewers tune in to see feminist history in the making, Indy's organizers will be thrilled, of course. But don't expect Patrick to lead to a huge growth in female race fans or viewers. The fact is, women still make up a relatively small percentage of sports viewership (even in this Title IX age, when more women are interested than ever before). Two years ago when women golfing star Annika Sorenstam became the first women to play in a PGA event, women made up only 35 percent of the audience on those broadcasts on USA Network, or exactly the same percentage of women who watch typical PGA tournaments on the broadcast networks. Women's sports like the LPGA, women's tennis and the Women's National Basketball Association also draw a predominantly male viewership, said Neal Pilson, a television sports consultant who has worked with women's leagues in the past. "When women's sports appear on television, they appear on channels watched by men or at times during the day when the television set is normally controlled by men, such as weekend afternoons," he said. So if Patrick makes the Indy 500 a ratings winner, it will be because she drew male sports fans back to the broadcasts. The Tiger of racing? Pilson said that if Patrick were to win the Indy 500, it would be one of the top sports stories of the year. David Stark, senior vice president of marketing at Argent Mortgage, her primary sponsor, said a win would make her an instant global celebrity. Both are probably right. Stark said the mortgage lender's own research has shown she's already as popular as any of its other athletes, including Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer who won eight medals last summer in Athens. "She has great appeal across every segment, women, men, Generation X, Y," said Stark. "Men respect her. Women respect her." Even if Patrick doesn't take the lead on Sunday or isn't still driving at the race's finish, Stark thinks she'll remain popular. "I think her appeal is set in stone," he said. Former Indy driver and ABC racing analyst Scott Goodyear says it will be difficult for Patrick to win on Sunday, even if he does expect that she'll hold the lead at some point. No driver with her level of experience on a top racing circuit has won the race since 1927. "There are so many opportunities to make mistakes," he said. "To win the race, you have to run an almost perfect race." So she can continue to be a superstar in the sport, even without taking the checkered flag Sunday. But to continue at this level of media attention and frenzy, she'll have to be one of the sport's top drivers. Without some level of success, she'll likely fall back into the relative anonymity of the three women who have raced at Indy before her, as well as the relatively low level of general public recognition achieved by the other 32 male drivers in the race. For more on the business of sports, click here.   Quelle "Danica wins race for media buzz" : Cnn.com Main page for "Danica wins race for media buzz"