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Danica Patrick has been a lightning rod for both praise and criticism throughout her objectively successful, decade-long career as a racing driver. Putting to the side for a moment that it is still very rare for a woman to get a drive in a top-tier series, something that Patrick first managed back in the 2005 IRL season, her successes are still impressive. Patrick is the only woman to ever win an IndyCar race, hold the best finish ever by a woman at the Indy 500 (third) as well as being the only woman to lead the storied race in Indianapolis.

It's all of that background that has Slate writer (and racing aficionado) Laura Helmuth up in arms. Helmuth's basic claim is that Patrick's questionable sponsorship deals, and resultant lowest-common-denominator commercials, have not only undermined her credibility as a role model for woman and girls, but have even served to set back woman's rights and the place of woman in the sport of racing.

The argument is nuanced and interesting, and we encourage you to click through and read it in full on Slate. When you're done, come back and tell us what you think about the Patrick/Go Daddy relationship in our poll below.

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Slate argues Danica Patrick is putting the women's movement back [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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