Even though the first race of the NASCAR season is still 37 days away — the prestigious Daytona 500 — racing has begun. Sort of.
Officially titled NASCAR Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder at Daytona, teams began testing their cars for the upcoming season. Teams that were in odd-number positions in the car owner standings as of July 12, 2006 tested this week. The even-numbered teams will test next week.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest car in practice on Tuesday but of course that was overshadowed by the so-called drama between him and his step-mother Teresa Earnhardt.
Teresa was originally quoted as saying this to the Wall Street Journal. Junior then said this at a press conference on Monday. To which Ricky Rudd gave his two cents on Tuesday (he was asked for his opinion, so it’s not like he just busted out with it).
I just hope that this all blows over, Junior renews his deal with DEI and we can all get back to racing and trying to win!
In other news…
– Greg Biffle got engaged over the holidays to his kick-ass girlfriend 
Nicole Lunders. She’s the woman who got so pissed with Kurt Busch, after he put Biffle’s car into the wall at Texas last year, that she stormed over to Busch’s pit box and chewed out his fiancée Eva Bryan. That was the coolest thing I had seen at a race in a very long time.
– This year’s NASCAR Day has been set for May 18th.
Fans interested in participating in NASCAR Day can purchase a pin, sign up his or her company and even purchase NASCAR Day apparel by going to www.nascar.com/foundation. NASCAR fans, corporations, schools and organizations across the country are encouraged to donate $5 and all participants receive a collectible 2007 NASCAR Day lapel pin for their donation.
Kasey Kahne signs autographs for fans during NASCAR Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway. (All Photos Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
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Merry Christmas Eve!
I had intended on posting an entry about great Christmas gifts for those racing fans on your list this year, but of course I was sidetracked by other things (work). I’m in La La Land (aka Los Angeles) and finally have some time to sit down and knock out at least half of the list.
1.) “Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby” DVD — This movie is an instant classic. Will Ferrell is hilarious as Ricky Bobby, a cocky NASCAR driver who gets knocked down a few pegs by newcomer, French race-car driver Jean Girard (played brilliantly by Sacha Baron Cohen of “Borat” fame). It’s a fun movie, full of jokes that poke fun at NASCAR. There are 
tons of memorable quotes, but my personal fave comes from Ricky Bobby himself “Hi. I’m Ricky Bobby. If you don’t chew Big Red, then f%&! you.” The movie also includes cameos from Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, and Darrell Waltrip amongst many others.
2.) “Cars” DVD — I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t actually seen this movie yet. I know, I know, where have I been? I know this movie is good, I mean duh it’s from Pixar. Has there been a bad Pixar movie yet? Plus I’ve heard from very good sources (my three nephews) that this movie is a winner and that’s good enough for me.
3.) Calendars — I have to have calendars, and in different sizes. I have a small one for work and then a big one at home. Since Dale Earnhardt Jr. is my driver of choice, his calendars are the only way to go. But you can find them for pretty much any driver you happen to love. Some new things I’ve found this year is a calendar that honors women in motor sports. It’s called the 2007 Women in the Winner’s Circle and proceeds will go to charity. For those Dale Jr. lovers out there, there is a cool new calendar that shows his life “Off the Track.”
4.) “Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Inside the Rise of a NASCAR Superstar” Book — Love photos? Love photos of Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Well then look no further, this is the book for you! I have personally checked this book out for myself and it’s great. There are awesome photos of Junior in and out of his #8 Chevrolet.
That’s all for now, I’ll post more great racing related items you should own later.
It’s not fair to say that NASCAR isn’t a sport. It’s a game, it’s a competition. It takes more than just physical strength to win a race. It takes strategy, planning, engineering and stamina. It’s not just the one guy in the car turning the wheel that makes someone a winner either, it’s an entire team.
A writer from Michigan wrote a column about NASCAR and how he thought that it wasn’t a sport, after only watching ONE race. There are a million ridiculous points to his argument but I thought I’d point out this little nugget of insanity:
According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of “athlete” is: a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.
If that definition still doesn’t clear things up for you, I offer you this rule of thumb - if taking performance enhancing drugs (i.e. steroids) won’t make you better at your sport, exercise or game, than you are NOT an athlete!
Seriously? If that’s the case then I’m glad that my favorite drivers don’t need to take drugs to compete. And really, performance enhancing drugs don’t help everybody (if you don’t know how to hit, catch or run with a ball a drug isn’t going to teach you).
The problem is that people tend to put sports like basketball, football and baseball up on pedestals they don’t deserve. I hate to break this to you but professional athletes aren’t curing Cancer. They run around with balls trying to put them in baskets or in end zones. They’re playing the same game that my 5-year-old nephew plays with his friends. It’s not rocket science. Making it seem like athletes are some amazing super human beings is stupid. They’re just people, like you and me, who get to spend everyday practicing their craft.
Let’s all take a step back and stop taking sports, and ourselves, so seriously.
I squealed with delight when I checked my email the other day. There was an email from Harlequin, the publisher of romance novels, touting a special Speed Dating event at Daytona International Speedway in Florida during next year’s Speed Week.
Here are the details from the Harlequin site: (link to it here)
On Friday, February 16, at the Daytona International Speedway®, we invite you to heat up your Speed Week with Harlequin and NASCAR. Get your heart racing with Speed Dating — NASCAR style!
What is Speed Dating? How can I get involved?
Speed dating is a fun way of meeting people with similar interests — did someone say NASCAR?!! If you will be at the Daytona International Speedway® and are interested in connecting with new people who share the love of NASCAR then this is a do-not-miss event. Spend an hour on our SPEED DATING track, racing through 5-minute mini-dates with other singles!
Just sign up at the e-mail address below — you will be contacted with more information in the coming weeks.
Click speeddating@harlequin.ca to register for this exciting event. Please be sure to include your name, daytime and evening phone numbers and your email address. We will be contacting you shortly with details of the Speed Dating event.
I’m more than interested in this event. Being a single woman that’s into racing it’d be nice to meet a guy who shares my love for NASCAR. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to meet someone and have their face scrunch up when I mention Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The likelihood of me getting the chance — the most amazing, glorious and wonderful opportunity — to trek down to Daytona for Speed Week and the Daytona 500, is pretty low.
But nevertheless I urge all of you single ladies in the Daytona area to attend this event and then tell me all about it.
I finally watched the NASCAR Awards Ceremony last night. I Tivo’d it on Friday, when it originally aired.
All of my worst fears came to life. Jay Mohr, part-time comedian/part-time actor, was the host and Bill Weber, NASCAR on NBC host, was the announcer. Yea I don’t get that either. Why they needed two people to do the job of one I will never know.
Jay Mohr. Jay, why do you do it? Why do you host the Awards Ceremony when you know that all of your jokes, no matter how funny they are, will always bomb? I don’t know what it is but those people do not want to laugh. Maybe it’s just because there aren’t a lot of people in the audience that it just seems like his jokes are falling flat. For Jay’s sake I hope that’s it but really I’m thinking it’s because NASCAR peeps aren’t really used to being roasted at their own shindig.
The funniest moment of the night was courtesy of Kyle Busch. Because he finished tenth in the standings he was the first from the top ten drivers to give their speech. When he went to thank his girlfriend Erica for her support over the year, he used his brother’s wife’s name, Eva, instead. Needless to say every driver after that ribbed Kyle by making it a point to use the correct name of their significant others.
The awkward moment of the night was brought to us by Jewel. Like I predicted she didn’t sing any songs that had to do with racing or winning or feelings about winning. No, instead she sang “Stephenville, TX” and “Foolish Games.”
Here are some sample lyrics from “Stephenville, TX:”
Housewives told to recapture their youth
By wearing floral print and suede
Fixing their hairdos with PC, chemical-free hairspray
Martha Stewart taught ‘em to make on TV
I was raised a farm girl
Now, I’m too far from home, all alone on the road
Trying to figure out who I am now that the stardust has turned to sand
And the sand has turned to stone — I’m the star making machine
So I think you can understand why I was cringing all the way through the song (and then through “Foolish Games”, where she sings about a love gone awry). I love the song and Jewel in general but not so much at a stock car racing awards ceremony. I mean this is like Mariah Carey singing “Vision of Love” before a NHL hockey match. It just doesn’t work for me.
In terms of the fashions on display I was very disappointed. There wasn’t much to look at, all of the ladies seemed to opt for black, except for Kevin Harvick’s wife, Delana who wore a green Vera Wang gown. You can’t go wrong with Vera.
You’ve gotta check out the video of the “yellow” carpet at the event. The correspondent asks the women who they’re wearing and you get some interesting answers. I recognized two designers Vera Wang and Ungaro, the other ones I have no idea. You have to remember these women don’t have stylists like Hollywood A-listers do. Yes they have a ton of money but they’re not spending all their time shopping on Rodeo Drive.
Jewel performs at the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship Cup Series Awards Ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Friday, Dec. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)
Mark Martin, left, jokes with host Jay Mohr after accepting his award for finishing ninth in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship Cup Series at the awards ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Friday, Dec. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)
A note to the ladies: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is growing a goatee again. Yes, say it with me, “hotness.” hehe. Apparently he hasn’t renewed his deal with the Gillette Young Guns campaign so he is free to not shave again. (photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
In other Junior news he told reporters this week that he wrote his own speech for the Championship Awards Ceremony this Friday.
“[The banquet is] such a high-pressure deal,” Earnhardt said. “You’re trying to represent your own team and company. I chose to write my own speech and found out that I’m only one of a few. I thought everybody wrote their own speeches.
“So I’m a little nervous now that I’m going to represent everybody well with my speech and that everybody’s acknowledged. It’ll be fun to get up there; it’ll be nice when it’s over. Nobody really likes to get up on stage to talk to that many people, but we’ll get through it.”
The thing that I find odd is that the other drivers are having people write their speeches for them. It boggles my mind. How hard is it to write something that basically just says thank you to your team, your team owner, your wife and/or mom, your family and the fans? You’re not the President, jeez.
And now for some photos from the day’s festivities in New York:
The top 10 drivers in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series pose for a photo in Times Square. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
