NASCAR Off Week Ramblings
Memphis Motorsports Park officials say the “Mistress of the Dark” will serve as grand marshal of the Oct. 28 Busch Series Sam’s Town 250 race.
“The race this year is just too close to Halloween not to have a little fun with it,” said Jason Rittenberry, vice president and general manager of the track. “And while October is her busy season, we’re thrilled that Elvira is carving out some time in her schedule to be here with us and our fans.”
Hint, hint, chuckle, chuckle, She’s “craving” out some time. Ha Ha I get it. An alternative view would be to believe Rittenberry is a fan of silicone, but I could be wrong. It’s a shame FoxSports host Chris Myers won’t be on hand to reprise his comment made to Pamela Anderson: “You’ve started a lot of engines.”
Robbie Gordon is using the off week to do what he knows best, off-roading. Starting Thursday he’s competing in the SCORE International Desert Series Off-Road Race at the LVMS dirt track. Gordon is competing in the No. 83 Red Bull/Toyo Tires-sponsored Chevy CK1500 Trophy Truck at LVMS’s 1.5-mile track. He’s stepping in for the team’s regular driver, Andy McMillin.
Another “off week warrior” is Kenny Schrader who has, and will be, a busy little boy this week. He was scheduled to compete at Highland (Ill.) Speedway on Monday; at I-44 Speedway in Lebanon, Mo., on Thursday; at Clarksville (Tenn.) Speedway on Wednesday; at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill., on Friday; at his own track in Pevely, Mo., on Saturday and at Tri-City Speedway in Granite, Ill., on Sunday. And forget taking a day off: On Thursday, Schrader will sign autographs from 3-6 p.m., at his dealership, Ken Schrader Linton Motors, in Linton, Ind.
Good news for the Aussies. Melbourne gets back what it lost to this years hosting of the Commonwealth Games last March. The FIA, F1’s sanctioning body, gave Melbourne organizers the provisional date of March 18 to host the opening round of the 2007 F1 championship season.
Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker said the “relationship with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone were telling factors in the decision.” (Do I smell a little mutual back rubbing?)
Rusty Wallace’s project out in corn country gets its first taste of open wheel action next week when Scott Dixon and Wade Cunningham will test their respective IRL and IPS cars at the new track.
The Kiwi duo will turn the first open-wheel laps of the seven-eighths of a mile long circuit as part of a standard IRL compatibility test that all potential venues go through.
Who’d a thunk it, there’s a commercial side to Formula One. Guess that’s why my local Philippine shell stations quickly put up “fill up with Schumie Fuel” signage after his last win. And I ignored the tease and stopped at the Total station. (It has a female pump jockey. Hey priorities are everything!)
And the final “ramble,” for now. The chances of a New Zealand round of the A1GP Series happening in January 2007 are looking more likely.
It is understood David Clare, the Chief Operating Officer for A1 Holdings, will arrive in New Zealand on August 8 to discuss the Taupo NZ event with officials from Motorsport New Zealand, representatives from the government and the New Zealand A1 franchisee, Colin Giltrap.
Untiil now the A1GP date assigned was in question because of a conflicting date with a national championship round at the Timaru track.
A1GP, F1, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Robbie Gordon, Michael Schumacher, Formula One, Iowa Speedway, Rusty Wallace, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
Do you smell a little mutual back rubbing?….oh yes you do. Ron & Bernie go way back & are as thick as thieves.
Walker is the Chairman of Corporate Events for Melbourne, highly successful in business & very well politically connected, President of the Australian Liberal (Conservative) Party & not a person to be messed with, at least within the state of Victoria. Notwithstanding my own conservative views, he is a prize dickhead who should keep well away from anything F1 related outside of his brief of managing the event.To his credit the event always runs flawlessly.
A few years back in 1996/97? Schumacher was asked in general terms what was his opinion of Albert Park was in comparison to other F1 tracks. Quite innocently he replied “nothing special” which was a fair appraisal of the track in contrast to Spa or Suzuka. Ron Walker went through the roof to the local & international media that a F1 driver, let alone a double world champion who actually knows what he is talking about, would say anything negative about “his” track. The wanker went so far as to say that he wanted real men on the track utilizing its EIGHT overtaking spots & how dare Schui say something like that.
By the Sunday morning of the race, having had the Oz media quote him that F1 drivers were not real men & his attack on Schui, he felt it necessary to hijack a Ferrari press conference & clarify his expectations of F1 drivers & shake hands publicly with Michael in a photo op. Schumacher who clearly could not have cleared less went along with the charade with a “whatever” attitude, unbeknownst to Walker, Eddie Irvine who was behind both of them, in full view of the TV media, sniggering with open contempt at what a F***WIT Walker was: yeah right, eight overtaking spots!
Personally I hate Australia being the first round, the race is poor & tends to have a high level of mechanical attrition as the teams are still sorting out the new cars & there is none of the end of season excitement that was present when Adelaide hosted the final round.Oh & in case I didn’t mention it, …….Walker is a dickhead.
That was a rhetorical remark Peter, but thanks for the history lesson just the same, I enjoyed reading it.