If you haven’t picked up your tickets for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma weekend, set for Aug. 25-27, yet then I think you should mark your calendars for Thursday, August 17th. That’s the day that IndyCar

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With this blog I wanted to talk about things that you’re not going to hear Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach or Darrell Waltrip mention during the races on Sunday. Ya know like who’s that new blonde chick standing next to Kasey Kahne during the national anthem??? Or didn’t Jeff Gordon’s fiancee Ingrid Vandebosch look like she might be preggers last weekend at the Brickyard?? (For the record she’s not as far as I know, but that shirt she was wearing made me do a double take, note to Ingrid: don’t wear that top again it makes you look a little pudgy in the stomach region)

Anywhoo… I couldn’t possibly get to all the gossip and insider info that’s out there and why should I when there are others who do it so well already. Like, for instance, this blog called Answer This… has a great section just about NASCAR wives and girlfriends. It’s a must read to get caught up on your favorite drivers love life.

Towards the end of August the IRL series makes its way to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, August 25 through the 27th to be exact. Yours truly will be there blogging from the race track. It’ll be great to get an up close look at the big names of the IRL, like Danica Patrick, Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti. But honestly, I’m really hoping that Ashley Judd is there to support her husband, Dario Franchitti. I love her family and you just never know what she’s going to say.

I’ve never been to an IRL race before but I hear that the atmosphere is different than that of a NASCAR race. For the IRL fans it’s more about seeing and being seen. I guess I will have to see for myself, and of course I’ll report it all back to you.

So my heart softened just a little bit for Jimmie Johnson this weekend. Normally he’s on my crap list, especially with that suspect crew chief of his Chad Knaus, but this week I could really sense genuine feelings and emotions from him, like winning this race really meant something to him.

And so it should, it was the Brickyard 400 after all, oops I mean the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. This is one of the few times I’ll ever take issue with sponsors but when the race is at Indy it should be called Indy or Brickyard. They’re never going to change the Daytona 500 to the McDonalds 500 at Daytona. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is steeped in history for Indy cars, but not so much for stock cars. But if you watched the pre-race show on NBC you’d think Jesus walked on those bricks. I kid, I kid…

The thing I hated about the race was that the finish wasn’t a nail biter. It didn’t come close to this year

More from my ongoing e-interview with romance novelist Pamela Britton:

ME: NASCAR is definitely a fan friendly, no doubt about it. Which sort of leads me to my next question, in “In the Groove” you make mention of “helmet lickers,” a nickname for NASCAR groupies. Is this really the case? I don�t know if there�s really a question here but I�m dying to know what “helmet lickers” are like and how they gain access to the drivers, and how the drivers regard them. Do you have any first-hand stories to share about things that you�ve seen in the garage?

PAMELA: “Helmet lickers” — a phrase ( rumor has it) coined by the guys on Dale Jr.’s team. They were tired of the term “pit lizard” and so they came up with a new moniker.

Yes, there are “pit lizards” around. I’ve heard stories of gals that have followed the team haulers to parking lots and, um, made themselves friendly with the big rig driver (not the driver/driver). I’ve seen these women work the garage with my own eyes, traveling from hauler to hauler, hoping to catch someone’s eye — not just a driver, but crew members as well.

Yes, I have an interesting story about this. When we were at a race awhile back, there was a woman sitting on one of the director’s chairs near the back of the #16 hauler. That’s where I hang out and so when I saw her, I just assumed she was with someone — you know — one of the crew members or sponsors or something. But then she trucked on over to someone else’s hauler — another “single” driver. Then, about a half-hour later, she moved to another hauler. I was totally baffled. Normally, most people hang with one team. I wondered if she was a reporter. Or maybe with Goodyear or something. When she trotted back in our direction, I finally asked someone who the heck she was. Nobody knew. Everyone on the team had assumed she was with someone else, LOL. We were all floored because nobody had said anything to her the whole day, and there she was hanging out and being friendly like she was part of the gang. Un. Real. Needless to say, something was said to her then and I never saw her again that weekend.

I hear this is the MO for this type of woman, but I’ve also heard that if a “helmet licker” is spotted and/or ID’d, they’re banished from the garage. This type of behavior is truly frowned upon, especially by certain team owners.

First let me apologize for being so slow on the draw with these entries. Work is work and there’s been a lot of it lately. Mix that in with a couple days off and you’ve got a recipe for a backlog of work to be done.

Anywhoo… There’s been something burning in my brain ever since last weekend’s NASCAR race at New Hampshire. In a previous post I mentioned the fact that I have a healthy distaste for the Busch brothers. The annoyance I feel for Kyle in particular has only grown since his lame comments after winning the race on Sunday.

Ok. Here’s the thing, Kyle wins the race and you’d think the freak would be so happy that he wouldn’t have anything on the planet to complain about considering the fact that winning races is supposedly the only thing that matters (aside from winning the championship of course).

But no, people, no, Kyle managed to find something to whine about. Apparently he’s not getting enough attention from the media. When he was talking to Allen Bestwick in the winners circle at the very end of the interview he says something to effect of “I guess I have to win in order to get any time on TV.” Bestwick had a great comeback that unfortunately I can’t remember right now.

The point is Kyle is a total tool! Why does he always have to get some little jab in there? I’m sure that really makes the networks want to talk to his conceited, big head. Wasn’t he on Oprah? Isn’t that enough? Jeez.

Here’s more from my email interview with book author Pamela Britton:

ME: Why do you think it took so long for a publisher to hook on to the idea of a romance set within the racing world? NASCAR is, after all, the fastest growing spectator sport in the country.

PAMELA: When I was pitching the idea to New York, I remember hearing, “NASCAR? What’s NASCAR?” from my many editors. It’s only been since the turn of the century that NASCAR suddenly became a household name. I remember back in the early 90s I’d come back from a NASCAR race and people would go, “What were you doing? A what-kind-of race?” So I think the answer to your question is simply that the tide turned. Suddenly, NASCAR was everywhere. In the streets of downtown NY. Drivers appearing on night-time television. Talk show hosts chatting the sport up. NY sat up and took notice…finally.

ME: Do you think that maybe people were underestimating racings female fans?

PAMELA: Well, I certainly don’t think NASCAR’s ever underestimated it’s female race fans. They were so excited when I originally approached them about my books. They’d been LOOKING for something to do for their female fans. I do believe, however, that men have a tendency to underestimate the female race fan. Whenever you read a snide comment about my books, it usually comes from a man. I have to shake my head because they just don’t get it. Women love the sport as much as them, and women like to read romance novels — ‘nough said.