– I didn’t think it was possible to dislike a driver more than I do Juan Pablo Montoya. He totally beats out Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart in the lack of warm & fuzzies department. He doesn’t give off any kind of vibe that says that he cares about his fans or anything. I’m sure he appreciates them in general, but I have a feeling that any kind of success that he has is purely for his own ego and that’s about it. He doesn’t show you anything that leads you to believe that there’s something more to him. When I think of Juan Pablo I’m reminded of a scene in the classic television sitcom “Seinfeld.” Elaine ponders if there was perhaps more to Jerry’s rival Newman than what they had seen/knew; he simply replies “No, there’s less.”
– Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon must be stopped! I’m not saying this because I’m not one of their biggest fans I’m saying this because it’s incredibly boring watching them win every weekend. And I would think other fans would have to agree with that. It’s just lame. I love close finishes, which we’ve had, but what we desperately need is some serious overall competition. It can’t just be one team or one or two drivers that swap trophies every weekend. It’s getting old.
– In July NASCAR will launch the “NASCAR Cooks! Race Day Recipe Contest,” in which one lucky fan will receive party at their house with a special NASCAR celebrity… which is another way of saying that it won’t be a NASCAR driver… details below:
The contest will consist of fans submitting recipes, which must include at least one “NASCAR Cooks!” family of products, online at NASCAR.com, where online visitors can also download and vote for their favorite recipe. Finalists will be posted online and the winner will receive a party at their house for him or her and their 20 closest friends. The grand prize winner will receive a NASCAR viewing party and backyard tailgate with a NASCAR celebrity during an upcoming NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race.
Fans interested in participating will be able to download contest rules and an application online at NASCAR.com later this summer.
– In honor of Mother’s Day (which is actually on Sunday) the Nextel Cup series drivers’ moms will be the official grand marshal’s of the Saturday night race at Darlington. Casey Mears’ mom Carol will be in attendance and he’d like nothing more than to win one for her, says Casey, “I’ve told my mom before that I wouldn’t be where I am today without her, but it would be pretty special to tell her again this weekend in Victory Lane. She’s an amazing person and a great mom.”
All of the mom’s will gather before the race to give the command “Sons, start your engines!” Awwww.
– And now something for those IndyCar fans out there. There’s a headline that says “Danica feels pressure to win more races,” how about just winning one for a change?
Like I’ve said before the Indy 500 is on May 27th and this entire month will be dedicated to speculation about every angle, every possible outcome and analysis of every single driver in the field. My hope, my deepest sincerest hope is that Michael Andretti can pull out the win this year. It’s so annoying to have come so close to just fail again and again. I would say that even if Michael doesn’t win it, then it’d be great if his son, Marco Andretti did, but even that’s not good enough. Michael has to win it, period.
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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)
I just got off a teleconference call with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It wasn’t just me on the call (I wish), it was for all NASCAR media. Anyway, Dale basically said that there’s nothing for the fans to worry about when it comes to his contract negotiations with DEI.
In regards to the contract issues he said, “I’m pretty excited that things are going to be fine.” I think that his fans should be happy for him in whatever happens; because it’s obviously what he thinks is best for him, the team, and his family.
All I know is that I can’t wait for these negotiations to be over so we can all focus on other important things like… uhm… things that I can think of right now, but I know there’s other things people could be talking about.
Sort of like this…
Should Jeff Gordon surpass Dale Earnhardt in the career victories category this coming weekend at Talladega (they’re currently tied at 6th with 76 wins each), Junior says that people should throw toilet paper instead of beer cans, if they’re upset about Gordon moving ahead of his father in the record books. I should clarify that he’s not encouraging people to be mad about it, he’s just doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.
I must confess that I missed the bulk of Saturday night’s NEXTEL Cup Series race at Phoenix because I was out looking at models of homes that I can only hope to afford at some point in my life (please!).
I managed to catch a smidgen of the race wrap-up long enough to find out that Jeff Gordon won (ew) and that Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished back in 19th, not a lap down.
On Sunday I checked my email and found a press release containing a photo of Jeff Gordon seasoning some food with renowned Bay Area chef Victor Scargle at Infineon Raceway (see below). Gordon attended the luncheon at Infineon to promote the Toyota/Save Mart 350 and his line of wine, the Jeff Gordon Collection. The media event was filled with the usual yuk-yuk jokes and adulation that’s par for the course at events of this nature.
“This is scary. Tony Stewart doesn’t scare me but this scares me,” Gordon said of preparing the meal.
“Jeff is the best at what he does on the racetrack and to come into the kitchen with an open mind like he did was great,” Scargle said. “He has the hand-eye coordination down. There’s a second career waiting for him if he needs it.”
It would have been a nice shindig to attend, only because McDreamy himself was in attendence. Yep, Patrick Dempsey of “Grey’s Anatomy” was there, apparently he was involved in the filming of a documentary about Jeff Gordon’s life that’s set to air before the Pepsi 400 in July.
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon and renowned Bay Area chef Victor Scargle prepare a meal for the media on Sunday at Infineon Raceway. (photo credit: Mike Doran)
It’s funny to me that Jeff Gordon is the current points leader for the Nextel Cup Series and yet nobody is talking about him, well some are but only to say that he’s probably not going to win the race this weekend at Texas.
That’s totally fine with me, I don’t want him to win, there are other people that need to win a race right now.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. needs to win one to keep his charge up the points standings going and to give his contract negotiations with DEI an extra sense of urgency. Not that it really needs it but DEI needs a slap in the face to realize that they need to just end all this damn suspense and just sign him, give him his majority stake and call it a day.
I’m sooo tired of all the media coverage surrounding the contract talks with Dale Jr., I rank it right up there with all the hype about Juan Pablo Montoya joining NASCAR. Big whoop.
In other news…
Because it’s Friday the 13th here’s a video of NASCAR crashes I found on YouTube. (Need something to blog about? YouTube baby! it’s gold!)
I’m posting this because:
1) Who doesn’t love crashes?
2) I dig Chris Daughtry (an American Idol alum, that’s his song “Crashed” playing in the background)
3) Because I have nothing else to talk about (but you still love me)
So the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in Fontana, California was this past weekend and there were many highlights. There’s a lot to cover so lets get to it.
– R&B singer Brian McKnight sang the national anthem and was absolutely wonderful! He wasn’t pitchy at all, unlike Country duo Big and Rich at Daytona.
– Actor Kevin Costner’s announcement of “Gentlemen, start your engines” thoroughly sucked. I think they should have actor/hottie Matthew McConaughey do it every week. He was the Grand Marshal of the Daytona 500 in 2005 and he kicked butt in delivering those most famous words in motor sports. It’s not that big a deal really but it’s so nice to have someone spice it up a little. McConaughey is total character and if you’ve seen his work in the movie “Dazed and Confused” you know what I mean.
– Even though it was completely disheartening to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. leave the race early due to engine problems, it was very funny to watch him take a bow after managing to keep his car from hitting the wall. See Teresa, he can do both — be a race car driver AND a personality!
– On the other hand it wasn’t funny at all to watch David Reutimann after his car crashed into the wall late in the race. It was obvious that he was hurt watching him slumped in his seat and then slow to finally pull his window net down. Apparently the g-force impact from the crash was among the hardest ever recorded. Now there’s one record book I wouldn’t want to be a part of. But most importantly Reutimann was able to walk away from it all and is doing ok now.
– After Jeff Gordon finished 2nd on Sunday he headed over to the Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton’s in West Hollywood with his pregnant wife (and NON-Supermodel) Ingrid Vandebosch.
Jeff Gordon and his wife Ingrid Vandebosch arrive at the annual Vanity Fair Oscar party at Morton’s in West Hollywood, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
Brian McKnight sings the national anthem prior to the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. (Photo Credit: Donal Miralle/Getty Images)
Aren’t his eyes gorgeous? And they perfectly match his sponsor’s colors
J.J. Yeley is ready to practice his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet at California Speedway on Saturday. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)
David Reutimann (00) slides to a stop after a crash in turn 4 at the California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. , Sunday,Feb. 25, 2007. (AP Photo/Dave Waters)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. bows to the crowd after spinning out and missing the wall in Turn 4 at the California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007. (AP Photo/Dave Waters)
A skull design decorates the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s helmet in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Auto Club 500 in Fontana, Calif., Friday, Feb. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Mark Avery)
