I usually love the whole green, white, checkered, ending — now dubbed Overdrive — but this weekend it was pretty lame. It was very anti-climactic.
I’m not going to go into the whole Jeff Gordon-breaking-Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s-career-wins-record-fans-go-crazy debacle, except to say that I agree with tallglassofmilk in that if the Talladega fans can’t behave themselves ‘Dega should lose it’s second race. They should hand it over to Infineon, us Northern California NASCAR fans know not to throw things when we’re mad. We’d just make shirts that say things like “Anybody But Gordon” and call it day.
I’m still annoyed/upset about Casey Mears’ crash in the middle of the race. I thought he was going to make it this time and finally win one but alas it was not meant to be. He was so pissed when he jumped out of his car, seeing that emotion reminds you how much this means to these guys. It’s not just another day at the office. They go out there every race with the intention to win.
It was so very cool to see no-name drivers race upfront this weekend. Guys like Sterling Marlin, Kenny Wallace, David Ragan, Regan Smith, and David Stremme all led laps at Talladega. Congrats to them, I want to see more of that. Words cannot express how sick I am of seeing Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon winning these races.
The rest of my Sunday was filled with more racing coverage. After the NASCAR Nexel Cup race I caught the end of the IndyCar race in Kansas. Dan Wheldon was the winner and apparently there was some pit road debacle involving teammates Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan. Tony took a page from the Tony Stewart PR handbook and left the race track without commenting on the events of pit road (Danica hit his car on her way out of the pits which ultimately caused Tony to fall 8 laps down, finishing 15th for the day).
Now everyone’s attention will turn to the Indianapolis 500, the race is on May 27th but the media hype is already beginning. Oh yay, a whole month of talking about the same things over and over and over again.
In other news…
Ashley Force went up against John Force for the first time in her burgeoning Funny Car career. She beat her dad in the first round at Atlanta Dragway.
The marquee match of the day was in round one when Ashley Force beat her famous father, John, by a 4.779 to 5.783 margin in the first father-daughter Pro-level race in NHRA history.
“Today I’m a proud father,” John said. “I’ve dreamed of this day for a long time, and it makes me emotional to think it finally came true. She’s a great young driver and she’s probably gonna whip me a bunch, but I’m okay with it because she’s my baby.”
Ashley went on to win her second round match-up but lost in the semifinals to Mike Ashley. All in all still a great day for women in the NHRA, it won’t be long until she’s a Funny Car winner.
Jeff Gordon is saluted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. after winning the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Fans throw beer cans onto the track as Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Dupont Chevrolet, takes the Sunoco checkered flag to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 2007 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 DuPont Chevrolet, poses for a photo with his wife, model Ingrid Vandebosch, in victory lane after after Gordon won the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 2007 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
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Check out Jay-Z’s new video for “Show Me What You Got”, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick make cameos… The first minute is the best part.
Happy Birthday to Dale Earnhardt Jr.! He turns 32 today.
Speaking of Dale Jr., he and IndyCar racer Danica Patrick are both in the new Jay-Z video “Show Me What You Got.” It’s the first single off of Jay-Z’s new CD that’s set for release in November. The video was shot on location in Monaco and will premiere on MTV on Monday, October 16th.
More details (and photos) from MTV News.
The Nuge is here! Yes folks Ted Nugent is at the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma today. It looks like he got to take a hot lap around the track with IndyCar driver Sam Hornish Jr. I snapped a quick picture through the window of the media center. It’s not the greatest photo but still. 
Danica Patrick was also driving a Honda Safety Car around the track. I have no idea why the Nugent is here, although he did play a show at the Fillmore earlier this week, but he’s not the Grand Marshall. Whatever the circumstances it’s very cool to see a rock legend enjoying the races.
Danica Patrick behind the wheel of a Honda Safety Car (the official pace car)
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.
