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Will Team REDLINE make a B-Line for Katherine Legge?

Got a link to this "teaser" in the email for "Team Redline Extreme," which is allegedly going to field an entry for the Indy 500. Team Readline Extreme is a combination off SH Racing, which as secured sponsorship from REDLINE Extreme energy drink and KV Racing Technology, which is owned by Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser.

WHO will drive it? I'm guessing Katherine Legge (based on exactly nothing). She's a fav of Kalkhoven, back in Indy and said she would be popping some news coming right up here.

Congratulations Mr. or Ms. PR Person, your video teaser was intriguing enough to get me to post it. News release would have gone unremarked upon. Here's the pretty well done "teaser." STAY TUNED to see who the REAL DRIVER IS!!

NASCAR Doesn't Do Kumbya

While IndyCar is throwing $5 million insurance-funded challenges around, we get word of what I take as a bit of a NASCAR nostril flare directed at IndyCar.

F1's Lewis Hamilton and NASCAR's Tony Stewart -- both wildly popular in their own worlds -- are set to switch cars for an exhibition at ISC track Watkins Glen later this year.

Insert monster media coverage here. I'll be among those very interested to see how the two do driving such vastly different cars. The two will drive real, race-prepared cars, in Stewart's case the multi-trillion-dollar 2010-model F1 McLaren.

The deal was arranged by mutual sponsor Mobil 1. Read all about it here.

This may just be coincidental to IndyCar's Randy Bernard's apparent determination to lure any NASCAR driver possible to any IndyCar race possible, but it has a strong whiff of NASCAR marking its territory/sending a message to me.

NASCAR didn't get to be NASCAR without being ruthlessly competitive. I can't imagine they're be real hip to the idea of their stars popping into an IndyCar race to generate publicity and drive up ratings for the little, tiny rival. But that may be just me.

IndyCar Headquarters Reportedly Overrun by Insurance Salespersons

Indianapolis news stations are reporting that the IndyCar headquarters has been overrun by insurance salespeople.

"We got brief cases and suits and ties everywhere" said one harried TV reporter as two well suited agents began beating each other with briefcases in the background. "Ever since IndyCar's Randy Bernard started tossing insurance policies around in public, headquarters has been overrun with certified underwriters."

The mob scene apparently broke out shortly after Bernard announced a second huge cash payout that would be funded by an insurance policy.

Last year Bernard offered $20 million to anyone who could win the Indy 500 AND NASCAR's Coke 600 on the same day. It's common for such huge prizes -- from a car won for a hole-in-one to $20M for winning a race -- to be funded by insurance policies.

Your Danistar Nationwide Viewing Guide

Danica Patrick represents in her Nationwide Impala on the 1-mile, much-revered Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) tonight at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2.

(Insert lamentation that IndyCar does not race at PIR here.)

I'm pretty sure NASCAR is offering FREE access to their most-excellent "Scanner" service for Nationwide races. "Scanner" lets you listen to ANY driver's radio via the internet. Go to NASCAR.com right before race time and look for a link. There's also a subscription-based version of the service for NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

That's so beyond awesome that I can't control myself. Many, many fans enjoy listening to driver radios so, in a daring, innovative, cutting-edge move, NASCAR gives those fans what they want. Certainly NO WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS.

I would PAY a reasonable amount ($30 a year for NASCAR Cup access is a reasonable amount, IMO) to be able to reliably listen to IndyCar drivers via internet, which is why IndyCar will never offer it.

Last week when Danica finished P14 at Daytona, we heard "yeah, but wait until she's at a real track like Phoenix." SO TUNE IN and give NASCAR you ratings points. (Insert evil laugh here.) That's what they want, after all, whether you're motivated by love or hate.

You go, Danistar.

Daytona NASCAR Nationwide Ratings Drop Back to 2009 Levels

TV ratings from the Daytona NASCAR Nationwide race last year were down 25% from 2010's record-setting levels, according to an ESPN news release.

ESPN said they expected the ratings slump given the historic highs from 2010. The 2010 Nationwide race, which featured the NASCAR debut of Danica Patrick, set a record as the most-viewed Nationwide Series race ever on cable and ended the year as the highest-rated program of any kind on ESPN2.

The 2011 ESPN2 race telecast earned 2.4 rating, level with the 2009 event but down from the 3.2 rating generated by the 2010 race. ESPN reported an eight percent increase in the coveted male 18-34 demographic in 2011 compared to 2010, a jump of 43 percent from 2009.

The 2011 telecast averaged 2,437,211 household impressions, third-largest ever on cable for the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The viewership number was the fifth-largest ever on cable for the series.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from February 22

  George Washington's 279th birthday on Feb. 22 was a wild one in IndyCar which (to participate in the 21 millionth rip off of Sergio Leone) featured the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The good: IndyCar's CEO Randy Bernard continued to play the role of maverick (a relative term in IndyCar to be sure) by announcing a 5 meeeeeeyon dollar bonus for any non-IndyCar driver who can win IndyCar's season finale on the 1.5-mile oval at Las Vegas on Oct. 16, a 200-lap, 300-mile race known as the "Izod IndyCar World Championship."

IndyCar Vegas Finale -- the Transcript

Randy 'Nard Dog' Bernard busted out with the announcement that IndyCar would finish at Las Vegas on Oct. 16 this year. Below is a transcript of a post-announcement teleconference with Bernard.

Marshall Pruett's 20 Questions with Randy Bernard

The Marsh apparently has Randy on the speed dial, since he's popped off another 20 questions with Randy. Worth a look. Here are a couple of nuggets:

On Motegi: "They loved it and we loved it there, but it has to do more than just make us happy. In the bigger picture, it just didn’t help the series."

On listening to fans: "I think research is important, don’t get me wrong, but just get down out of the ivory tower and mesh and meet with the fans, right?"

On "helping" teams financially: "But, financially, IndyCar is not going to favor one driver over another or one team over another. I don't think it's fair for the series, I don't think it's fair for the drivers or the teams."

That sound you hear is me softly weeping. Randy Bernard gets it. He understands that it's ALL ABOUT THE FANS. Pruett has much much more. Take a look.

Part 1 HERE.

Part 2 HERE.

Behold, the Underdog -- On Daytona and Trevor Bayne Post-Race Transcript

 

A funny thing happened on Twitter yesterday. We IndyCar fans were all snarking away, as is our custom, about the Daytona 500. The length of the race, the yellows, the Festival of Twisted Sheetmetal, the goofy two-by-two DANCE PARTNER racing. My Twitter contribuiton (@pressdog) was snark about not even watching the race until there was just 25 laps to go because NASCAR Sprint Cup races are all about four hours long and I don't even watch IndyCar for four hours.

Then, of course, NASCAR had the last laugh when part-timer, super-underdog Trevor Bayne came out of nowhere and won. That shut me up for sure, and replaced my self-righteous snark with pure jealousy. Nothing like a Cinderella story -- which essentially is a metaphor for the American Dream itself -- to kick you in the crotch and shut your smart mouth.

Nationwide Recap From ESPN

Nice little recap of the NASCAR Nationwide race here from ESPN ...