The Fast and the Fabulous

how do you pack for race day?

Valli — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:54:38 +0000

In the months and weeks leading up to the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway I spoke to my co-worker/friend Dawn about the big event. This was the third year in a row that she’d attended the NASCAR race weekend in Sonoma with a super large group of people, about 20-30 (although this year the group dwindled to 10 because of the race falling on Father’s Day). They start tailgating at 6am and don’t stop until well after the race is over, usually around 8pm.

Now, I bring up Dawn because in one of our many “We’re so excited the race is coming up!” conversations we started to talk about how we pack for race day. Women think of this stuff. It’s important to be prepared for any and every eventuality so that you’re not left looking like a crusty, sunburned nut job at the end of the day, basically you don’t want to look like I did at the end of the weekend, but I’ll get to that later.

This was Dawn’s second year bringing her “kit” with her. The first year she did it the guys in her group made fun of her, but of course when they cut their finger and needed a Band-Aid who did they come crawling to? Exactly.

Dawn graciously photographed (above, left) and listed her essential, and seriously smart, items, in her own words:

Nike duffle backpack
Deodorant
SPF 50 sport sunscreen, applied many, many times through out the day, don’t forget your ears
SPF 50 just for face sunscreen, applied many, many times through out the day
Lip balm with highest number of sunscreen you can find, Banana Boat has an SPF 45
Daily facial wipes, the already wet ones
Baby wipes (for blue house trips and cleaning hands)
Hand sanitizer
Gum
Listerine strips
Brush ups… those travel toothbrush finger things (dirt in the teeth is not hot)
Floss picks (left over lunch in your teeth isn’t hot either)
Change of clothes, for after the race
Two pairs of socks, one for walking around during the race then to change into after the race, if need be.
Thin jacket
Hooded sweatshirt
Tennis shoes for walking around
Baseball hat
Extra hair ties and hair clips
Flip flops for tailgating. Sensible shoes, people! You’re walking at a race track not a runway at fashion week!!!

So I had every intention of diligently following Dawn’s list, but I didn’t and I totally paid for it in the end.

These are the things that I brought:

Digital camera
Cell phone
Digital voice recorder
Notepad
Orbit gum
Pens
Tissues
Burt’s Bees lip balm
Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte (absolutely necessary!)

Notice any glaring omissions from my list? Ya know, like sunscreen and a hat. I didn’t wear a hat and I didn’t wear sunscreen, which are two huge no brainers. I ended up with the most amazing sunburn ever, that is still with me. When my forehead started peeling I miraculously remembered where my fashionable, non-NASCAR driver associated, hats were located. I wore a hat for a complete week to cover up my icky, peeling forehead.

If you were to look at me right now, you can see where the strap from my credentials lanyard laid against my neck and chest. I got my hair done a week ago and my hairdresser said she found stark blonde strands of hair, mixed in amongst my very brown hair. So that’s one way to can get natural highlights.

My first thought was about the blog and making sure I got content for it, (look what I do for you people!) and I completely spaced on bringing things that would protect me from the weather.

So I thought this was a great question to pose to you race fans out there: How do you pack for race day? What are your must-haves for spending the day at the track? Leave your lists and thoughts in the comments section below. (Remember you have to fill out the Captcha box before hitting “Submit Your Comment”!)

jimmie gets the funny or die treatment

Valli — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:55:46 +0000

So I think I now understand why Jimmie Johnson grew his beard. He wanted to look sufficiently tough for his new self help DVD.

Nascar Champ Jimmie Johnson’s Self Help DVD from Jimmie Johnson

i like the denny

Valli — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:24:02 +0000

Since I never wrote up my thoughts on the Coke Zero 400 last week I’m doing a double-double this weekend and including them with my write up of last night’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland.

First the Coke Zero 400, I felt that Tony Stewart did nothing wrong to Kyle Busch in the last lap. Apparently when Kyle ends up wrecked it’s whiney time, but when he does it to someone else he’s just racing. Whatever, dude. I do not understand Kyle’s logic, seriously.

With Tony’s win, Burger King definitely got their money’s worth for their sponsorship of his No. 14 right out of the gate. If they don’t do more next year, I think that would be a mistake. But I still think the BK King is creepy.

Now, I should say that I wasn’t all that thrilled that Tony won. I really wanted Denny Hamlin to win, and this weekend too. I’ve never been a Denny fan but he’s really growing on me. I’m not sure why. Well, maybe it had to do with seeing his episode of Cribs on CMT awhile back. He had this piece of paper in his bathroom that read: “I Can, I Will.” I guess it struck a cord with me that he even thought enough to post an affirmation like that, and then to let it be filmed. So I want the guy to win something, that and I want to hang out on the little beach he has in his backyard. It just seemed so relaxing.

The LifeLock.com 400 was boringville until Denny made that move on Jimmie Johnson towards the end. It was awesomeness, and caused a lot of stuff to happen and frankly that made the race for me.

It was bad enough being sad that I couldn’t make the trip out to Chicagoland for the race like I did last year, but to add insult to injury Jimmy Fallon was the Grand Marshal. Uhm, hello? He’s hilarious and I love him and I would just want him to do his Barry Gibbs impression so I could crack up. *sigh* I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for me and Jimmy. Maybe the powers that be can get Justin Timberlake out to the Pepsi 500 in October so that I could meet him and have him do his Robin Gibbs impression???

I think that the TNT coverage has been outstanding. They made pre-race segments that I actually wanted to watch, and their animated character, RaceBuddy, stayed silent. I loved the stories about the legends of NASCAR’s past and the general off-track interviews with the drivers of today. Seeing Denny play basketball was highly entertaining.

I’m really going to miss Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach doing commentary. I love those guys. They’re funny and very honest. I love that Kyle has embraced Twitter. I think NASCAR really needs to figure out their TV programming situation, switching from network to network is annoying. If it has to be broken up can you at least get it down to just two different networks and two channels? It’s confusing.

Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the No. 77 Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy Dodge, shares a smile with daughter Addison while standing on pit road waiting to qualify for the Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Why so serious??

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota, stands with his girlfriend Samantha Sarcinella during pre-race activities Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway before the start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 in Joliet, Ill. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

I loved it when he fell down, that was funny. Great job Jimmy!

One of the season’s most animated command for drivers to start their engines came from actor and NBC “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon who fell onto the Chicagoland Speedway’s start/finish line and screamed the famous words during his night as Grand Marshal of Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Singer Jessie James performs the National Anthem before Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Hotness! And I think they know it too.

Teammates David Ragan (left), driver of the No. 6 UPS Ford, and Carl Edwards (right), driver of the No. 99 Aflac Ford, chat during Thursday’s qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday in Joliet, Ill. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Patrick Dempsey, driver for Dempsey Racing, poses for a picture with Tony Stewart fans prior to the start of the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday in Daytona Beach, Fla. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

ADORABLE! I love this photo.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger meets a fan as his mother takes a picture at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Merchandise Hauler on Friday at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

kaylin nicola kenseth has arrived

Valli — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:04:43 +0000

Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth and his wife, Katie, welcomed their daughter Kaylin Nicola Kenseth into the world on Monday, July 6th. Mom and baby are doing fine.

That’s all I know, but it’s very cool news. Congratulations to Katie and Matt!

where in the world is teresa earnhardt?

Valli — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:08:58 +0000

If you guessed England you’re correct! I know, how random right? Well it was all a part of a yearly event called Festival of Speed held this weekend at Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, England.

The three day event, hosted by none other than an actual Earl, the Earl of March to be exact, celebrates all forms of racing. This year the festival featured a 1.16-mile hill-climbing competition for all classes and types of race cars and motorcycles, plus a 2.5-kilometer course for historic rally cars.

Four NASCAR teams made the trip across the pond to show their stuff — Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Team Red Bull and Rusty Wallace Inc.

20-year-old Taylor Earnhardt drove her father’s No. 3 Richard Childress Racing chassis, the car that he drove to his last career win in October 2000. Teresa Earnhardt was on hand as well.

I completely understand why a mother would be there for her daughter at an event like this, but I don’t quite understand why you never see her at an actual NASCAR race when she owns a NASCAR race team. I’m just sayin’.

The other NASCAR drivers included Landon Cassill for Hendrick Motorsports, Rusty Wallace for Rusty Wallace Inc and Mike Skinner for Team Red Bull.

(Left to right) Taylor Earnhardt and Teresa Earnhardt share a moment before Taylor drives the famed No. 3 GM Goodwrench The Goodwood Festival of Speed at The Goodwood Estate on Friday in Chichester, England. (Photo Credit: Peter Fox/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(Left to right) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace, Hendrick Motorsports driver Landon Cassill and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Mike Skinner talk during The Goodwood Festival of Speed at The Goodwood Estate on Friday in Chichester, England. (Photo Credit: Peter Fox/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Driving the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports T-Rex car, Landon Cassill takes on the hill climb Saturday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Chichester, England. (Photo Credit: Ed Heuvink)

Taylor Earnhardt, daughter of seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, drives her father’s famous No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet at The Goodwood Festival of Speed at The Goodwood Estate on Friday in Chichester, England. (Photo Credit: Peter Fox/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Mike Skinner, driving the No. 83 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Red Bull Toyota Camry, steals the show with a 400-yard, smoking burnout that thrills the crowd. (Photo Credit: Peter Fox/Getty Images for NASCAR)

antinucci’s indycar debut has me twitterpated

Valli — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:56:27 +0000

I try to watch IndyCar races when I can, er, when I remember to, but I’ve made it a point to watch the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen tomorrow for one reason, and one reason only.

His name is Richard Antinucci and he’s a serious hottie.

I mentioned him in one of my posts about the Firestone Indy Lights drivers at Infineon last year. I know that liking a guy just because he’s ridiculously good looking is not what you’re supposed to do but you can’t deny that it catches your attention.

Besides, tomorrow is Richard’s debut in the IndyCar series with Team 3G and I really like the idea of getting to know a driver as he’s starting out in a new league. Get in on the ground floor, I say.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s 28 (same age as me, at least for next couple of months), was born in Italy, lives in San Diego and takes pictures like the one above.

Richard won the Watkins Glen race last year in the Indy Lights series, and finished the year second in the Championship. I’d say he has a good chance of posting a great finish tomorrow, even if he’s starting at the back of the field.

In regards to his qualifying attempt, Richard had this to say: “We definitely enjoyed this morning to be right there next to some of IndyCar marquee names, but sadly we were not able to confirm that kind of performance in qualifying. We’ve thought we could improve our free practice pace and therefore we went in a direction that, obviously, proved flat wrong as we wound up among those who barely improved their performance. Now we’re set to move a step back to what we know was working, possibly tomorrow we’ll dial in the car a little bit in the warm up session, and we’ll try our best to be ready for the race. I waited a lot of time for this opportunity to join the league and now I feel I have to start giving back something to the people who have put me in this position.”

So I’m jazzed about tomorrow’s IndyCar race, airing on ABC. Go Richard! hehe.

(photo credit: RichardAntinucci.net)

coke zero ad does it again

Valli — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:30:43 +0000

Just in time for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona tomorrow the Coke Zero people are launching a new ad. It’s another hilarious commercial showing the Coca-Cola brand managers attempting to persuade the Coca-Cola drivers to do something really not well thought out, like, at all.

I love it.

The first part of this video is a behind-the-scenes, making of the commercial feature and then the actual finished commercial is shown at the end.

And for your viewing pleasure I give you the old Coke Zero ad that I love just as much. It never gets old! Enjoy the track for longer than the other drivers. Ha!

nationwide is on the fan’s side

Valli — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:03:23 +0000

Ever since Nationwide became a series title sponsor they’ve been working on giving fans more information and access to drivers.

They’ve been posting some great candid photos of drivers and crew members on their Flickr account as a part of their behind the scenes Twitter coverage of races. A couple of my faves are below. Make sure you follow the Nationwide Series on Twitter (@nationwide).

Brad and Brian Keselowski at New Hampshire. (photo credit: Nationwide)

Kyle Busch smashes the guitar trophy at Nashville. (photo credit: Nationwide)

Stephen Leicht and Erik Darnell hanging out with Rosie Red prior to the game as a part of Kentucky Speedway Media Day in Cincinnati. (photo credit: Nationwide)

Interested in being in the know about all things Nationwide? Subscribe to their RSS feed and you’ll get NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) headlines, exclusive race video, 3-D track simulations, articles, pre-race intelligence and post-race reports delivered to you as they are posted.

shortcuts: show tony your 14

Valli — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:24:48 +0000

I really, really, really wish I was in Daytona right now. I just had to get that out of my head for the record. I just realized that I haven’t written anything about win at New Hampshire. Hmm. It’s not entirely on purpse. I don’t dislike the kid, I just didn’t want the race to end that way. It was just boring and annoying. I’m not blaming anyone, obviously it was the weather. It was a good race until it had to end. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was doing so well, right? He’s making great progress but then, for whatever reason, something happens and he doesn’t get the chance to let it show.

In other news…

– Office Depot has launched a new photo contest for fans of Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet. From now until my birthday, August 31st (which is a total coincidence, most contests end of my birthday), you can upload photos of the creative ways you’ve incorporated the No. 14 into your life. I have a feeling they’re going to receive some verrrrry interesting entries.

The deets:

The proof is in the pictures! Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart is asking his fans to send in their photos as part of the new Office Depot “Show Us Your 14″ online photo contest. Now through August 31, fans can visit OfficeDepotRacing.com and upload photos that show how they support Tony and the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice team in their daily lives. Fun and unusual images – think fans sporting a #14 haircut, family pets sporting #14 gear or even a yard with some creative #14 landscaping! – are sure to catch the attention of the judge, who is none other than Tony Stewart himself. Tony will pick his favorite photos and the winners will receive a special prize package from HP.

“It’s great to have so many loyal fans supporting me and the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice team every weekend,” Tony says. “NASCAR fans are the most passionate fans in all of sports, and I can’t wait to see all the creative ways people incorporate the number 14 into their lives. I think I’m going to see some very imaginative stuff!”

– On Thursday, July 9th at 9PM ET CNBC is airing “Inside Track: Refueling the Business of NASCAR” hosted by Darren Rovell. Rovell will explore how our current economic state is affecting NASCAR and what NASCAR’s plans are to weather the storm. Rovell interviews Brian France and visits Tony Stewart’s garage. I think this will be an interesting program, I’m a fan of Rovell’s blog, Sports Biz with Darren Rovell. I think understanding the business side of sports is just as important as understanding the fundamentals of competition.

– It’s true that I don’t write about female race car drivers nearly enough. I don’t, but I’m going to work on improving that. There are a bunch of young women out there with dreams of becoming NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers and I think we should support them. One such driver is 19-year-old Caitlin Shaw from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been named the US representative and spokeswoman for GirlRacer. She’ll be writing a blog for their site, and will help promote the efforts of women in motorsports:

“I’m really excited about this opportunity. I feel like GirlRacer is a great organization that markets women who are making an impact in male-dominated sports. I’ve never been someone who likes to rely on the fact that I’m a girl to get attention, but GirlRacer promotes women for their accomplishments and who they are as a person. They give exposure to the driver for wins and exceptional runs. I’m happy to be a part of the GirlRacer team. I have some great ideas for my column and I’m looking forward to getting the opportunity to interview these incredible people each week.”

Check out her website too, www.CaitlinShawRacing.com.

– This is late, but I still love it. It’s a quote from Brian Vickers after last weekend’s Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in which he was involved in the big wreck on lap 175. Can you guess which part of the quote I think is funny?

“Everybody just started spinning in front of me,” Vickers said. “We slowed down and I got hit from behind, the side and the front. Then I hit the wall on the right. Just nowhere to go. While I was in the care center I saw the replay, and it looked like the 18 (Busch) was just completely impatient — very normal. He just hooked the 1 (Truex) in the right rear and turned him in front of the field. We’re probably going to take a big hit in the points.”

shortcuts: a night out with jimmie and chandra johnson

Valli — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:38:29 +0000

– I didn’t get to spend a night out with Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra but the New York Times did. I am severely jealous of this assignment, I want to spend normal person time with Cup drivers! Gah! Check out the piece and great photo at NYTimes.com.

– Clint Bowyer played a prank on Kevin Harvick at a golf course. It was funny. Bowyer’s reaction is priceless. Watch the video (below)!:

– NASCAR is slated to announced the first group of nominees for it’s new Hall of Fame this Thursday on SPEED:

SPEED will air an exclusive one-hour special Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET from the site of the new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., as NASCAR unveils the 25 nominees for the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

“There are a limited number of ‘firsts’ in any area of life,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “So, being able to work with NASCAR and the NASCAR Hall of Fame to bring fans a true first in their favorite sport is a real honor and a lot of fun for everyone at SPEED.”

NASCAR Hall of Fame: The First Class will be hosted by legendary motor sports broadcaster Ken Squier, with guest appearances from NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France and NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelly.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is scheduled to open in May of next year.