Rebel Yell: Former cheerleader Danica Patrick becoming quite the good luck charm for Ole Miss football team - MotorSportsTalk

Sometimes life indeed comes full circle.

Danica Patrick has done quite a bit in her 32 years of life, starting as a high school cheerleader back in Roscoe, Illinois.

From there, she moved on to IndyCar driver, GoDaddy.com icon and NASCAR Sprint Cup driver.

Now it appears Patrick is back to channeling her high school cheering roots – and in the process has become a bonafide good luck charm in the sports world, particularly for the Ole Miss Rebels football team.

For the second time this season, Patrick attended a Rebels game, standing on the Ole Miss sidelines with boyfriend and fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. during Saturday’s big game against arch rival Mississippi State.

Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Not only did he invite Patrick and Stenhouse, a huge Ole Miss fan, back for an encore performance to cheer his team on, he even gave Stenhouse the honor to lead the Rebels onto the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

http://instagram.com/p/v_7iUhQfXk/

Patrick even dressed up for the part, sporting Ole Miss face paint. End result No. 13 Ole Miss captured the Egg Bowl, upsetting the No. 10 visiting Bulldogs 31-17.

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A post shared by Danica Patrick (@danicapatrick) on Nov 29, 2014 at 10:40am PST

To add insult to injury for the losing Bulldogs, two Mississippi State buses were involved in a minor accident on the way back home after the game, when the trailing bus ran into the rear of the lead bus.

There were no injuries, although the driver of the second bus was shaken up, according to a report in USA Today.

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MSU bus. Thank goodness everyone was ok.

A post shared by Strange Brew Coffeehouse (@sbcoffeehouse) on Nov 29, 2014 at 9:05pm PST

Patrick and Stenhouse also attended Ole Miss’ season opener against Boise State in late August as Freeze’s guests. Same end result: Ole Miss romped to a 35-13 win.

Very glad @StenhouseJr and @DanicaPatrick joined RebelNation tonight for our victory. Thanks for being there
— Hugh Freeze (@CoachHughFreeze) August 29, 2014

Back in June at a charity golf tournament that they took part in, Freeze told the Oxford (Miss.) Citizen, “Ricky (Stenhouse) is an Ole Miss guy. We’re going to transform Danica into being an Ole Miss fan as well.”

The Rebels obviously have done that, indeed.

On April 30, 2013, Patrick attended a Chicago Blackhawks game and took part in a between-period “Shoot The Puck” goal shooting contest, nailing her first shot right into the net.

She ultimately missed her next three attempts, but still ultimately wound up being a good luck charm for the Hawks as they won their playoff series opener with the Minnesota Wild that night 2-1 in overtime en route to their second Stanley Cup championship in four seasons.

Danica Patrick, good luck charm. Who knew?

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Benny Bloss will race for the factory Beta Motorcycles team in 2024 as that manufacturer joins SuperMotocross as the ninth brand to compete in the series. Beta Motorcycles will make their debut in the Monster Energy Supercross opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California in January.

*Benny Bloss finished among the top 10 twice in Pro Motocross, in 2016 and 2018. – Beta Motorcycles*

“The wait is over and we can finally share everything we have been working towards,” said Carlen Gardner, Race Team Manager in a press release. “It has been a great experience being a part of this development and seeing the progression. The only missing part was finding a rider that would mesh well with our Beta Family.

“After a one phone call with Benny, we knew it would be a good fit for him, and for us. We are happy to have him on board for the next two years and can’t wait to see everyone at Anaheim in January.”

Bloss debuted in the 450 class in 2015 with a 15th-place finish overall at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Bloss has a pair of top-10 rankings in the division with a sixth-place finish in the Pro Motocross Championship in 2016 and a seventh in 2018. His best Supercross season ended 15th in the standings in 2018.

“I’m extremely excited to join the Beta Factory Racing team,” Bloss said. “It’s cool to see a brand with such a rich history in off-road racing to come into the US Supercross and Motocross space. I know this team will be capable of great things as we build and go racing in 2024.”

Bloss is currently 22nd in the SuperMotocross rankings and has not raced in the first two rounds of the Motocross season.

Testing for Beta Motorcycles is scheduled to begin in August and the team expects to announce a second rider at that time.

The family-owned brand adds to the international flare of the sport. The company was founded in Florence, Italy in 1905 as Società Giuseppe Bianchi as they built handmade bicycles, The transition to motorcycle production in the late 1940s.

Beta Motorcycles competed and won in motocross competition in the late 1970s and early 1980s with Jim Pomeroy and other riders.

Beta will join Triumph Motorcycles as a second historic brand to join the sport in 2024. First established in 1902, Triumph has won in nearly every division they have competed in, dating back to their first victory in the 1908 Isle of Man TT. Triumph will debut in the 250 class in 2024 and plans to expand into 450s in 2025.

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