Actor/Comedian/TV Host Drew Carey has been named the Grand Marshal for the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway next week and Chris Cornell, former lead singer of the bands Audioslave and Soundgarden, is going to perform before the race.
Now, let me think, who am I more excited about seeing? Hmm… Drew Carey or Chris Cornell?? Ha! Chris Cornell? Yes, please! Don’t get me wrong, Drew is funny but Chris is… Have you seen the photo below?? I’ve had a crush on that guy since his Temple of the Dog days. *sigh*
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I’m sure you’ve all seen that Shell Pennzoil commercial featuring Kevin Harvick, ya know, the one where he picks up the Shell engineers from their homes to take them to work but refuses to turn right. I have to say he’s pretty adorable when he says “I hate engine gunk.”
So did you notice Kevin sporting a new hat at Watkins Glen a couple weeks ago? His hat (as seen in the photo at left) promotes Shell’s new Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation (AGFN) program. The purpose is to protect the nation’s engines from gunk.
I’m not mechanically inclined, so I just make sure to choose gasoline that is made with high level cleaning agents, the kind of stuff you can find at Shell.
Ok, so now the good part: The great folks at Shell have given me five (5) Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation hats autographed by Kevin Harvick to give away! So don’t think, just enter the contest today. The contest ends on September 30, 2008.
To learn more about living gunk-free check out the Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation website.
But first a word about Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol.
So the consensus amongst the drivers is that since Bristol was repaved in 2007 there are now multiple places to run on the track and therefore you can truly race on it.
Well that’s all fine and well, really it is, but I’m always a fan of people getting frustrated and getting into fist fights after the race. Hehe.
In other news…
– This is kind of random but it hit me that at some point this season or next, we’re going to see The Jonas Brothers at a NASCAR race. I’m just sayin’ think about it, ESPN is owned by ABC which is a subsidiary of Disney who are responsible for putting their faces everywhere, including the The Little League World Series the other day, which is where this whole thought process came from. Thank you.
– IndyCar comes to the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend and I’m excited! I’m picking up my credentials on Friday and then I’ll be there all weekend. Check in for updates!
The 2009 NASCAR schedules were released today (check out the full 2009 Sprint Cup Series schedule here). When this happens it makes me examine my life and what my plans are for the year ahead. I wasn’t intending for that statement to sound so… ominous? serious? Anyway, when I get to the Auto Club Speedway later this month I will have attended 5 NASCAR race weekends this year, which is a new personal best, but it leaves me well short of my goal of attending at least one race a month.
I really want to do something awesome next year but I’m not quite sure how to frame it and where to start. About a million ideas run through my head everyday. Most of which involve an Airstream trailer, my own show and a driver to take me everywhere so that I only have to worry about how I could possibly interview the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr. without sounding like a nut job. Whether the show is a podcast, vodcast or reality show is still up in the air.
Of course the real problem with all of this is that pesky little thing called money. I think you might have heard of it. I truly think a major oil company should sponsor me (and all of my exploits) next year. It just makes sense. I’d feel a lot better about paying $4 a gallon if Shell, Sunoco, Exxon or Chevron was footing the bill for me to live the dream next year. Wouldn’t you? Okay, maybe you wouldn’t but you’d get the benefit of it by reading all of my funny stories about life on the road as a crazy California girl NASCAR fan.
In other news…
– Bristol Motor Speedway is Eva Busch’s favorite race track and she had this to say about it:
“It was the very first track I ever visited and that trip to Bristol will always stand out as being so special,” Eva explained. “Kurt and I hadn’t been dating that long back in 2003 when he invited me to come to Bristol for the night race (on Aug. 23, 2003). I took him up on the offer, but really didn’t know what to expect. Having the Bristol night race as a first-race experience was impressive enough, but to be there and see Kurt win in my first time to the track was extra-special. There’s always something special about coming to Bristol and I think there will always be. The night race there is just unbelievable. You have to experience it to believe it. As exciting and impressive as it is on TV, there’s just no way to do it justice. You really have to be there to witness it live. I guess you could say that I got spoiled pretty fast at Bristol. Kurt won the night race in 2003 and we came back for the spring race of 2004 and he won that one, too. I know just how much Kurt loves the track and that affection for Bristol has certainly rubbed off on me through the years, that’s for sure.”
– Travis Kvapil will be driving KITT this weekend at Bristol. Suhweet! Okay, not exactly but his car will promote the NBC show “Knight Rider,” which is still really cool:
Yates Racing and NBC announced today that in a unique partnership between Ford Motor Company and NBC, Travis Kvapil will pilot the No. 28 “Knight Rider” Ford for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 23rd. The sponsorship by NBC of the No. 28 Ford comes in anticipation of the television series premiere of NBC’s “Knight Rider” on Wednesday, September 24th at 8:00 p.m. EST.
On the heels of NBC’s hit movie, the iconic 1980’s television classics comes roaring back to life as a reinvented, updated and super-charged action series showcasing the new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand). As absolutely the coolest car ever created, KITT is equipped with “AI” (artificial intelligence) that is capable of hacking into almost any system. The vehicle’s weapon system matches that of a jet fighter, its body is capable of transforming into other vehicles, and the car uses sophisticated holographic imagery to elude villains.
“This is such an awesome sponsor for our team at Bristol,” commented Kvapil. “The television series ‘Knight Rider’ is a show that everyone can get hooked on. I think it’s really cool that NBC has chosen to reinvent the series for the Fall line-up. The best part about the show was always the car, KITT, and this is amazing that I get to drive a version of KITT for the night race at Bristol. It’s every guy’s dream to feel like they are an action hero and I get to have that chance under the lights of Bristol with our No. 28 ‘Knight Rider’ Ford.”
Today’s race sucked. I’m happy for Carl Edwards and his team for beating Kyle Busch, of course. I think that goes without saying, but it was still kinda lame. Maybe I’m being too picky and hard to please but I just want someone to win who hasn’t won this year, or if that’s not possible then someone who’s only won once so far.
Has anyone started printing up “Anybody but Busch” shirts yet?? ‘Cause I can’t believe that I’m actually sad Jeff Gordon hasn’t won a race this year. I find that fact seriously disturbing and I’ve already started wondering when the four horsemen are going to show up. Watching him in his post-race interview I was happy to see that he was going to use his drop in points as a reason to take things up a notch. That team has got to get it together.
I’m not even going to talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ugh.
I’m sure next week’s race at Bristol will be far more interesting.
On the bright side, don’t think I didn’t notice that ESPN’s cameras paid attention to the adorable Gilliland family during pre-race festivities for both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series events. That was great.
Pole sitter for the 3M Performance 400 Presented by Bondo and driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Brian Vickers stands next to his car during pre-race activities Sunday. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Former driver and now TV commentator Dale Jarrett chats with driver of the No. 19 Stanley Dodge Elliott Sadler during Friday’s Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Fans crowd around Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, during qualifying Friday at Michigan International Speedway (Photo Credit: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 60 Planters Ford, celebrates a win in his typical manner — a backflip — but this time kept his helmet on. Edwards, who also was the polesitter, won the NASCAR Nationwide CARFAX 250 on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Marc Serota/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Normally a ticket promotion wouldn’t get my attention, but this latest one from Texas Motor Speedway made me do a double take:
Beginning at 9:03 a.m. CT Saturday (August 16), Texas Motor Speedway will kick off a special promotion for the upcoming Dickies 500 in which fans purchasing four prime front stretch tickets for the Nov. 2 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will receive a free “Dale & The Duke” collectible diecast stock car featuring American icons Dale Earnhardt and John Wayne.
Okay, so the diecast isn’t the thing that grabbed my attention it was the photos from the announcement of the promotion. The youngest daughter of Dale Earnhardt, and the only child of Teresa Earnhardt, was on hand for the unveiling of the “Dale & The Duke” car. Seeing Taylor Earnhardt’s name made me stop dead in my tracks. I can’t remember seeing a photo or hearing anything about her at all since last year when Dale Earnhardt Jr. asked for people to stop badmouthing his step-mother to protect his half-sister from having to hear those things about her mom.
I have to admit, I am intrigued and I’d like to know more about her, especially since you never hear boo about what she’s been up to since her father’s death. Not that we should know what’s going on in her life, I’m just curious like that. Actually to be totally honest I don’t want to know who she’s dating and all of that. I’m more curious about how she’s handled her father’s death and what her relationship is like with her siblings.
Yes, I’m nosey, deal with it. 
(Left to right) President and CEO of Motorsports Authentics Mark Dyer, Hollywood star Buck Taylor, John Wayne’s daughter Marisa Wayne Ditteaux, Dale Earnhardt’s daughter Taylor Earnhardt and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage took part in the unveiling of the “Dale and the Duke” program. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Meant to continue the legacies of both men, the “Dale and The Duke” program paired these legends together for the first time ever as part of the Legends Series that recently saw country music great Johnny Cash grace the hood of Earnhardt’s famous No. 3 Chevrolet. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
