A.J. Foyt doesn't think Danica Patrick can make a successful switch to NASCAR (damned lion)

A.J. Foyt, arguably the greatest, indisputably the luckiest man to cast his body out onto a speedway (or run a bulldozer, or boat in the Gulf of Mexico or pose with a lion), has opinions. He's earned the right to share them and doesn't mind doing so, whether they buck convention or not. (And they often do.) So he offered a refreshing and as-yet-unspoken analysis of Danica Patrick's likelihood of success in a possible NASCAR dalliance next season on Sirius' 'Tradin' Paint.' Not caustic stuff for Foyt, but to the point.

FOYT: “Well, you know, to be truthful with you, I think she does a very good job in Indy cars but that’s a different type of car altogether. I hope she can cross over. Deep down I really don’t think she can. And I could be completely wrong. Because stock car racing is completely different than IndyCar racing. You take Dario Franchitti. Look, he’s come back from stock cars, been very competitive this year over in the Indy Series, right? And he couldn’t cut the mustard and he had some good equipment. It wasn’t like he was short equipment or people. Sam Hornish [Jr.] was very successful in Indy cars. He’s come around a little bit but not like he was in Indy cars and, let’s face it, Roger Penske’s got probably as good equipment as money can buy. And he’s struggling and he was a damn good IndyCar racer.”