More from my ongoing e-interview with romance novelist Pamela Britton:

ME: NASCAR is definitely a fan friendly, no doubt about it. Which sort of leads me to my next question, in “In the Groove” you make mention of “helmet lickers,” a nickname for NASCAR groupies. Is this really the case? I don�t know if there�s really a question here but I�m dying to know what “helmet lickers” are like and how they gain access to the drivers, and how the drivers regard them. Do you have any first-hand stories to share about things that you�ve seen in the garage?

PAMELA: “Helmet lickers” — a phrase ( rumor has it) coined by the guys on Dale Jr.’s team. They were tired of the term “pit lizard” and so they came up with a new moniker.

Yes, there are “pit lizards” around. I’ve heard stories of gals that have followed the team haulers to parking lots and, um, made themselves friendly with the big rig driver (not the driver/driver). I’ve seen these women work the garage with my own eyes, traveling from hauler to hauler, hoping to catch someone’s eye — not just a driver, but crew members as well.

Yes, I have an interesting story about this. When we were at a race awhile back, there was a woman sitting on one of the director’s chairs near the back of the #16 hauler. That’s where I hang out and so when I saw her, I just assumed she was with someone — you know — one of the crew members or sponsors or something. But then she trucked on over to someone else’s hauler — another “single” driver. Then, about a half-hour later, she moved to another hauler. I was totally baffled. Normally, most people hang with one team. I wondered if she was a reporter. Or maybe with Goodyear or something. When she trotted back in our direction, I finally asked someone who the heck she was. Nobody knew. Everyone on the team had assumed she was with someone else, LOL. We were all floored because nobody had said anything to her the whole day, and there she was hanging out and being friendly like she was part of the gang. Un. Real. Needless to say, something was said to her then and I never saw her again that weekend.

I hear this is the MO for this type of woman, but I’ve also heard that if a “helmet licker” is spotted and/or ID’d, they’re banished from the garage. This type of behavior is truly frowned upon, especially by certain team owners.

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First let me apologize for being so slow on the draw with these entries. Work is work and there’s been a lot of it lately. Mix that in with a couple days off and you’ve got a recipe for a backlog of work to be done.

Anywhoo… There’s been something burning in my brain ever since last weekend’s NASCAR race at New Hampshire. In a previous post I mentioned the fact that I have a healthy distaste for the Busch brothers. The annoyance I feel for Kyle in particular has only grown since his lame comments after winning the race on Sunday.

Ok. Here’s the thing, Kyle wins the race and you’d think the freak would be so happy that he wouldn’t have anything on the planet to complain about considering the fact that winning races is supposedly the only thing that matters (aside from winning the championship of course).

But no, people, no, Kyle managed to find something to whine about. Apparently he’s not getting enough attention from the media. When he was talking to Allen Bestwick in the winners circle at the very end of the interview he says something to effect of “I guess I have to win in order to get any time on TV.” Bestwick had a great comeback that unfortunately I can’t remember right now.

The point is Kyle is a total tool! Why does he always have to get some little jab in there? I’m sure that really makes the networks want to talk to his conceited, big head. Wasn’t he on Oprah? Isn’t that enough? Jeez.

Here’s more from my email interview with book author Pamela Britton:

ME: Why do you think it took so long for a publisher to hook on to the idea of a romance set within the racing world? NASCAR is, after all, the fastest growing spectator sport in the country.

PAMELA: When I was pitching the idea to New York, I remember hearing, “NASCAR? What’s NASCAR?” from my many editors. It’s only been since the turn of the century that NASCAR suddenly became a household name. I remember back in the early 90s I’d come back from a NASCAR race and people would go, “What were you doing? A what-kind-of race?” So I think the answer to your question is simply that the tide turned. Suddenly, NASCAR was everywhere. In the streets of downtown NY. Drivers appearing on night-time television. Talk show hosts chatting the sport up. NY sat up and took notice…finally.

ME: Do you think that maybe people were underestimating racings female fans?

PAMELA: Well, I certainly don’t think NASCAR’s ever underestimated it’s female race fans. They were so excited when I originally approached them about my books. They’d been LOOKING for something to do for their female fans. I do believe, however, that men have a tendency to underestimate the female race fan. Whenever you read a snide comment about my books, it usually comes from a man. I have to shake my head because they just don’t get it. Women love the sport as much as them, and women like to read romance novels — ‘nough said.

Recently I read a book, “In the Groove” by Pamela Britton, (that’s her on the left) a romance novel set within the racing world. It’s the first in the new NASCAR/Harlequin series and I loved it! It’s also the first romance novel that I’ve ever read and the only reason I picked it up in the first place was because it had to do with NASCAR.

When I tell people at work about the book they look at me like I’m crazy, but that’s really nothing new. If you’re a true blue fan of anything you’re going to want to get your hands on anything relating to your favorite subject.

I’m a sucker for romance and I loved the plot of the book, which is about an average-looking woman who, knowing nothing about racing, falls for a charming and gorgeous big-name driver. Of course it’s no easy task for the two of them to get together, which is great because I found myself devouring each chapter wanting to know what would happen next, will they or won’t they, etc.

So I thought it would be fun to conduct an email interview with Pamela Britton to talk about the book and NASCAR in general. Periodically I’ll be posting our exchanges, so keep checking back for more.

ME: �In the Groove� is your second racing-related romance novel but the first in the new Harlequin/NASCAR series. Why did you want to write about romance in the �fast lane�? Was there any one thing that inspired you?

PAMELA: In the mid-nineties I spent a lot of time inside the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup garages (then it was Winston Cup). My husband at the time manufactured parts for the teams. So when I started writing right about the same time, it seemed a natural choice. The popularity of the sport was obvious and so I figured people might want to read about the sport as well as watch it on T.V.. Little did I know it would take me nearly six years to sell the story.

Everyone on the circuit has inspired me. They’re all so nice and “real”. All I have to do is look around me when I’m in the garage and I’ll see people like the Petty’s who started VICTORY JUNCTION GANG in honor of the deceased son. They’re helping critically ill children. How can you not be touched by that?

There’s a rumor running around that, on the heels of the announcement of Juan-Pablo Montoya coming to NASCAR from Formula 1, Danica Patrick might be pondering a jump from IRL to NASCAR.

I have very mixed emotions about this. First off I have no idea why she’d want to make the move. I don’t understand why she’d think about coming to NASCAR just because her contract with Rahal-Letterman Racing is up at the end of this season. It’s not like she’s made such a huge impact on IRL yet. Yes, she’s a woman and yes she’s the first woman to ever lead laps in the Indy 500, but she didn’t win the race. She should actually wait and do something before moving on to something else. Win the championship, win more races. Make a name for yourself outside of just being a woman. I’m not saying that she isn’t trying but I just want a real reason outside of her dad (he’s also her business manager) wanting her to go to NASCAR.
I’m a total feminist, I’m all for women excelling in male dominated arenas. I just want us to push past all of the excitement that we’re running with the big boys, I want us to pass/beat the big boys too!

The only thing that’s bugged me about Danica is a comment she made in an interview a while back. The writer asked Danica if she kind of thought of herself as the Gloria Steinem of racing, to which Danica said something like “Is that bad? Who is that?” You could have knocked me over with a feather. How can you not know who Gloria Steinem is and be a woman at the same time?? Ugh! While I don’t expect her to know everything about Steinem’s career, you should at least have a general understanding of what she’s about.

If Danica is to come to NASCAR she should work her way up, start out in the Busch series at least. Oh and don’t get me started about the Busch series. Why can’t they keep the Nextel Cup full-time drivers out of Busch racing? I think Busch would be better if it was full of unknown, up & coming drivers leaving the Nextel Cup series as something even bigger to aspire to than it already is for them.

About this past race weekend at Chicagoland; how cool was it to see Jeff Gordon spin out Matt Kenseth? And then how awesome was it to see Matt Kenseth super pissed off after the race?? I love that stuff. I know NASCAR frowns upon that kind of thing but there’s nothing you can do about it. The drivers are human and I would hate it if they acted like weren’t. The best thing about competition in general is the human spirit and passion behind it. Plus you know we’re all going to be tuning in next weekend to see if Kenseth retaliates! We can only hope.

I’ll be honest; I missed the Pepsi 400 this past Saturday night because I went to an Il Divo concert. I missed out on my favorite sport to watch four men in shiny suits sing in languages I don’t understand to a bunch of middle-aged married women. They sounded great, and I did get the tickets for free, so I really can’t complain. (Side note: if you’re single and looking for a man, don’t go to an Il Divo concert, it’ll do you no good unless you’re into gay men)

I Tivo’d the race to watch on Sunday morning, but it’s not the same. Some leftovers are good the next day, not so much when it comes to racing. I tried to start from the beginning and just watch it as it happened, but it was just so easy to skip to the end. Racing must be watched live. It’s too easy to speed through the green flag runs and get to the crashes. It’s too easy to fast forward through Chris Myers‘ inane banter with Jeff Hammond; you have to suffer through it in order to enjoy the entire show. It feels like cheating if you don’t.

This weekend the race at Chicagoland Speedway begins the NBC/TNT, ending FOX/FX, coverage of NASCAR. I’m sad that I won’t hear Darrell Waltrip (aka DW) yell “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!, Let’s go racin’!” at the beginning of each race and Larry McReynolds was really growing on me this year. I used to enjoy NBC’s telecast because of Allen Bestwick as the play-by-play announcer, but then something really weird and annoying happened. They moved Bestwick down to the pits as a reporter and moved Bill Weber into the booth with ex-drivers turned analysts Wally Dallenbach and Benny Parsons. I don’t like Weber, he doesn’t strike me as being very confident. I think Bestwick held his own against Benny Parsons in terms of knowledge of the sport, and he’s got a great voice. Speaking of Benny, he kind of irks me too. I tend to not agree with his opinions of NASCAR’s latest rulings, whereas with DW I’m usually in agreement. But on the bright side I always enjoy Dallenbach, he’s much more relaxed.