The big newsy news of the day is that Casey Mears‘ first child was born yesterday. According to a post by Casey’s mom Carol on the Mears Gang message boards Samantha Mae Mears was born yesterday at at 12:42pm, weighing in at 8lbs. 7oz.
Congratulations to Casey and his girlfriend Trisha!
In other news…
– Do you ever wish that there was one place on the web were you could find all of the top headlines about racing? Well there’s no need to look any further than Alltop. It’s a site the pulls in website and blog feeds (including The Fast and the Fabulous!) from around the web in what they’re calling a “magazine rack” approach. It’s worth checking out.
– Here is a fun quote from Mike Skinner about Scott Speed who will make his Sprint Cup Series debut next year:
“He’s a really funny guy. He acts so goofy on the outside. But when he puts on that helmet and gets in that race car, he does a great job. He gives good feedback, and I think the kid’s got a bright future. Red Bull is really, really high on him. Heck, he’s already won in ARCA few times, he’s won in the truck series, he was second-fastest at the Charlotte test. I hope to be his friend for a long time and help him any way I can.”
– The Third Annual Jamie McMurray Foundation Golf Tournament will take place on Monday, October 13th in Mooresville, North Carolina. The Jamie McMurray Foundation raises money for austism awareness and research:
“It’s hard to believe the golf tournament is really next week,” said McMurray. “We’ve put a lot of work into this year’s tournament to make it nothing short of first class. There are a lot of people that made this event what it will be, but nothing would have been possible without the help of our sponsors. Crown Royal stepped up as the primary sponsor, along with Stanford Group, Coca-Cola, Aflac, Sprint, Motorsports Authentics and a ton of others. The list goes on and on, and it’s really those sponsors who have made this all possible.”
Joining McMurray for an afternoon of golf are his fellow Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and David Ragan, along with Denny Hamlin, Rusty Wallace, Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson and others.
“I really can’t thank those guys enough for taking time out of their schedules to come out and support our foundation and help raise money for such a great cause.”
The JMF was formed in May 2006, and since has provided more than $200,000 to Autism Speaks and other autistic foundations throughout the United States.
Welcome to The Fast and the Fabulous! This is a blog based on one woman's thoughts, opinions and experiences involving NASCAR and IndyCar.
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Here’s a rundown of various bits of information I’ve been meaning to share with you all:
– All of the women out there with their Allstate Safe Driver checks might wanna put them towards bidding on a one-of-a-kind Kasey Kahne Signature Edition Dodge Hemi Truck. After all it is considerably cheaper than sponsorship and all of the proceeds of the auction will go to the Kasey Kahne Foundation. Oh and if getting the truck wasn’t enough, you’ll also get the opportunity to meet Kasey himself at Talladega. The auction is open now and ends on August 18th.
The signature Kasey Kahne Dodge Ram has an estimated value of over $60,000, and bidding will begin at just $25,000 through eBay Giving Works. The custom truck features the legendary 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 motor and many of the best names in the automotive accessory business. The add-on features are just as impressive, with a MOPAR appearance package; drop kit, custom dual exhaust, high performance wheels and tires and a custom-designed audio system.
Visit www.ebay.com/kaseykahnetruck to see photos, learn more details, and to pre-qualify to bid.
As if winning this one-of-a-kind truck wasn’t special enough, the winning bidder will also be rewarded with a complete Dodge Racing experience, which entails four Hot Passes to the October NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and a meet & greet session with Kasey Kahne!!
– So remember when I told you that Carl Edwards used to be a substitute teacher back in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri? Well I guess Carl wanted to keep his teaching skills sharp and headed over to ESPN The Magazine to give the staff a lesson in NASCAR. He takes a fun jab at Clint Bowyer.
– Before Carl visited the folks at ESPN he was in New York on the Fox and Friends show (I’ll try to not hold this against him), where he ran into former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani:
Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford, bumped into former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani on the set of Fox and Friends on August 7th in the Big Apple when both were guests on the national morning show program. Edwards, who was a substitute teacher in Missouri before his NASCAR career took off, spoke about Office Depot’s “Back To School” initiatives and his belief in the importance of education on the show.
– Maybe you’ve noticed the promo widget on this website for the movie is called “The Number 2 Car.” It’s a documentary about Rusty Wallace — a year following him on and off the track. You can watch the whole thing online for free! Go to SnagFilms.com
Here is some very, very cool news: Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 22) I’ll be a guest on the ON PIT ROW radio show. I’ll be a part of their “around the NASCAR net” segment and I’ll be discussing some of the current headlines in NASCAR. Now you’ll all get to hear what I sound like and hopefully that won’t be a bad thing.
You can listen to the live broadcast online tomorrow at OnPitRow.com from 5pm - 7pm EST (or 2pm - 4pm PST).
In other news…
– Did you not get enough of Brendan Fraser at Chicagoland? Well then you have to check out the awesome photos (and video) from the great people at Kodak. Their flickr account has some great shots too.
– So I didn’t watch the ESPYs but I did check out some of the photos from the red carpet. I was hoping for more racing related stuff but all I could find was this one of IndyCar’s Danica Patrick. Cute dress and all but I’m not sure how I feel about her hair.
– This is not at all racing related except that I wish that it was. Former NFL quarterback and The Bachelor bachelor Jesse Palmer is an on-air talent guy for ESPN’s show College Football Live and he’s so freaking hot. I really think ESPN should institute some sort of broadcaster exchange program. Maybe we could swap Rusty Wallace with Jesse for a weekend or two?? I’m just sayin’ it could be fun.
:: This is part four in a series of four posts (to see all of the posts on one page, click here) ::
Me: I know you have that history with Dale Earnhardt, and I know covering his death must have been horrible. I know in the book you wrote that his death changed you in a lot of ways, so how did it change you exactly? And how did it change the way you cover the sport? Did it change the way you cover the sport?
Liz: Oh, that’s hard. Let me first say, I’m certainly I’m not remotely unique. I think I speak for honestly millions of people when I say his death changed me and affected me. I don’t at all pretend to say my loss or my grief was any greater than other fans or certainly his own crew and own family. But, ya know, there was no personality quite like him and the circumstance, just the notion that he could have been killed was impossible to accept. To your question itself, I just was inconsolably sad and it wasn’t just when I went to the race track that I felt the loss. I just felt like the most charismatic, complex, fun, entertaining person had been taken away. Whether I covered a race and he spoke to me or not or he made some joke aside, or if I just saw him from across the garage, I mean, everybody watched that black car, everybody watched him when he got in the car. Ya know and he made you feel differently about yourself, he really did and I think every driver would tell you that. I mean he’d aggravate you or compliment you. I think sometimes when he ran you really hard that was his way of complimenting you.
There was one time they had built the track in Dallas, that awful first year of that race, and I was working for the Dallas Morning News and I was taking one of our metro columnists for a walk around the garage. He had never been to a race and I was trying to explain, ya know here’s the order that they park the cars and here’s what this means, be really careful ‘cause they’ll come in with their engines off and you won’t hear ‘em, ya know a lot of basics when you’re sort of showing somebody around. Earnhardt came around the corner in the car; he was in a practice session so they were in and out and in and out. And he whipped his car, hand to God, about two inches from my foot. Swung it right toward me, the guy next to me almost fainted. And I said, “Oh, he’s just saying hello.” And he was grinning and that was totally him. I’m not sure I talked to Dale that day but that’s the kind of stuff he would do. He’d do stuff like that to Schrader, Mark Martin. It was just his little way. It’s an aside, but the notion that he was gone; it was just a hole of blackness. This profound hole, it was like the sun was gone. It was just something so integral to way you saw the world was gone. I still feel that way, I still feel that way. I know Rusty Wallace feels that way, we’ve talked about it. It’s not something people talk about in racing too much. But I don’t think seven years has lessened it at all.
Me: Why do you think NASCAR was so slow, I guess is the word, to put in those mandatory safety features until after Dale Earnhardt’s death, especially the HANS device, especially after all of those incidents?
Liz: That’s really a shameful chapter in NASCAR’s history, and of course it’s easy to say in hindsight. From the day NASCAR started it was very clear that drivers were independent contractors. And what NASCAR meant by that is if you’re hurt we don’t owe you disability. You don’t work for us; you’re your own boss. And you can come play in our sport but we’re not responsible for you, we have no liability for you and it was a really smart posture to take. And they really, I think for business reasons, wanted to hold on to that as long as they could. Therefore, ya know, with every rule you make about how you stay safe, if something goes wrong with that then you’re technically liable. I mean, on the HANS device I can sort of empathize with NASCAR’s choice to not make that mandatory because there were several drivers who felt very, very strongly that it would keep them from being able to get out of a burning car. And the prospect of being trapped in a burning car understandably is the worst scenario for a race car driver and the fuel cell solved a lot of that. But still drivers would say flat out if it’s a choice of breaking my neck and burning up I want to break my neck. There were drivers who didn’t want to do it and made clear they wouldn’t want to do it. Earnhardt would have been chief among them. He wouldn’t even wear a closed face helmet, again not because he was being a tough guy, but he really thought peripheral vision was his best safety device. And he felt a closed-face helmet limited his peripheral vision. So he had very personal, very strongly felt views about his safety and that that’s what kept him safe. A lot of drivers felt the HANS device was not a deal they wanted.
There’s also a tradition in all forms of racing that every fatal accident is a freak accident. That there’s nothing to be learned from it in terms of the race car or the track or the rules of the sport, whether that’s racing back to the caution. It doesn’t really warrant further study because it was a freak deal; it’s not going to happen again. It was only because this part on the car failed, or the weird convergence of events, it’s just a way of rationalizing it away and therefore no drivers or driver’s family really have to wonder “is this safe?” It’s sort of a way of coping and a way of doing business and those were really entrenched that you don’t make wholesale changes after one guy dies and then another guy dies and then Earnhardt was the fourth in 11 months, I’m pretty sure.
Me: So do you think the whole idea of a drivers association, kind of like the NBA has and the NFL has, could ever happen in NASCAR?
Liz: I don’t think it will ever happen in NASCAR and I regret that. I think there’s a lot of use for the drivers on certain occasions speaking as one, having a representative. And they’ll tell you that that happens now that it’s ad hoc. They go in and speak to Mike Helton and Robin on matters of concern and I know that does happen. But I just like level playing fields and in NASCAR for all the bravery the drivers have, they’re not represented in the decision making, to me, to the extent they should be. I would love to see a drivers association with somebody like Jeff Burton be the head of it for the first couple years. He’s just so well spoken and reasoned and really smart about what’s in NASCAR’s interest, what’s in the driver’s interest, he’s not emotional. And I know there are other guys, I mean, Mark Martin would be perfect for that. It’s really only rarely have drivers sought that. It’s been a long time, it’s been seven years since I’ve even heard it discussed.
My prayers have been answered!
ESPN announced today that they’re moving Rusty Wallace from race commentator to NASCAR Countdown lead analyst. Dale Jarrett will replace Rusty in the booth, to call the races with Dr. Jerry Punch and Andy Petree.
What that really means is that we won’t have to suffer through anymore of Rusty’s inane comments and regurgitations of points made by others. This is such a relief, just the other day I was thinking about how annoying it would be to have to sit through another half season of Rusty and his lame observations.
And to make this so much better Allen Bestwick will take over as the host of NASCAR Countdown from Suzy Kolber. Suhweet. I like Suzy, I really do, but she just wasn’t making it for me in the world of NASCAR. I love Bestwick, he knows his stuff and he sounds like it too.
Due to the Writers Guild strike in Hollywood Rusty Wallace will not be able to continue his NASCAR race coverage duties… Hold on, someone is handing me a note.
You mean he actually writes that stuff himself? Huh? Oh, he just says whatever comes to mind? Damn. Oh well, I must correct myself, it looks like Rusty will still be on air this weekend. Grr… I won’t get to watch new episodes of “House” but I have to watch Rusty Wallace repeat things that other people just said?? What kind of world are we living in? I mean really.
In other news…
– I’m on my way to Las Vegas for the Blog World & New Media Expo. There’s heavy fog in the San Francisco Bay Area so my flight is late, that still can’t dampen my spirit. I’m sooo excited to be spending three nights in Vegas, and hopefully meeting other cool bloggers.
– I was sent an email alerting me to a video about a guy that races cars in his spare time. It was sent to me by the nice folks at IntoTheBox.tv — they cover the wacky real estate market in New York — check it out below or click this link. My first and lasting thought about this video was “Wow, he’s hot… hmm, is he single? I don’t see a ring!” hehe.
