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Is "Let Go of the Wheel in a Crash" REALLY News to Stock Car Drivers?

I need veteran NASCAR fans' help. It's possible I owe Darrell Waltrip a very big apology.

During the Lap 2 crash at Daytona, in-car footage showed five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson letting go of the steering wheel after his car made impact with the wall. At the time Darrell said Jimmie was following the example of veteran IndyCar driver Danica Patrick who let go of the wheel when a crash was unavoidable earlier in the week.

A Spiffy Week for Women of pressdog®

Last week was pretty big for many of the Women of pressdog®, a cadre of females associated with open-wheel racing that I have decided (quite subjectively) demonstrate independence, intelligence and that special schwerve of personality, humor, playfulness and edge. View the roster and read the latest interview with each HERE.

I have a lot of fun with the wopd (for short). It's a natural outgrowth of my fandom for Sarah Fisher, the original Woman of pressdog. Way back in 2001, news stories of Sarah passing Eliseo Salazar to finish P2 at Homestead brought my attention back to IndyCar for the first time in nearly 20 years. As the father of two daughters, I was fascinated by the women-in-a-man's sport nature of Sarah's story, and as I learned more about her she seemed to be the ideal role model for my daughters.

Since then I've been on the lookout for women who fit the wopd description and, once a live interview is done (by phone or in person), said woman is a Woman of pressdog. Just a fun thing. I enjoy following the careers of these women.

ANYWAY, last week was a MONSTER for many wopd. Cue the recap ..

Sarah Fisher Gets Honda Power

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing will be powered by Honda. Sarah credited fan support and Bobby Rahal for playing a key role in transferring the second engine designated to his time to SFHR in time for her team to make the grid at St. Petersburg.

News release below ..

Need an engine? Call Peggy.

(SFX) Musak, suddenly cuts out, call rings through ...

Peggy: (Man's voice) Acme Engines, this is Peggy, how may I help you?

IndyCar Team: Peggy? OK, well ... I've been on hold for three months ...

Peggy: So sorry ... croquet game with Chip Ganassi ran long ...

IndyCar Team: OK, well, anyway ... thank goodness I got through when I did ...  have $1 million gold certificates right here in my hand, and I would like an engine, please. Any one that works. We don't care about color, brand name.

Peggy: Certainly, we can deliver fine engine for you ... five weeks.

IndyCar Team: But a lot of other teams have engines right now. Some are driving around test tracks one-handed, laughing and joking with each other, giving media interviews with big smiles. They look like a pack of deer out frolicking in a pasture. I can't have one engine until six weeks from now?

Peggy: Am sorry, connection is weak ... we do not sell deer ... engines only.

IndyCar Team: If I bring a suitcase to you right now with $1 million cash -- your choice of currency -- can I get an engine?

Peggy: You bring cash, we deliver engine ... five weeks.

IndyCar Team: But I need it in two weeks, max. If I bring $2 million and an iced kidney ready for transplant can I get an engine then?

Peggy: Is adult kidney? Market for kidneys depressed. $2 million and kidney .. four weeks.

IndyCar Team: If the money was in gold bullion and delivered by a team of strippers, would that help?

Peggy: Sorry ... other line ringing ... Penske needs cup holders ... you call back when you have kidney ..

IndyCar Team: But Peggy ..

(Dial tone)

St. Petersburg will be a Festival of Races

You gotta give it to the street races, they often have a zillion races on any given weekend. Why ovals don't do this, I have no idea. Maybe there are just more street-racing organizations. I'm no economist, but getting TEN races for your ticket price seems to be cooler than getting one or two. News release below from the St. Petersburg organizers outlining the Festival of Racing they have planned this year ...

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to feature record number of races in 2012
Ticket holders have access to 10 races including exotic car series and INDYCAR season starter

February 24, 2012 (St. Petersburg, FL) – Fans attending the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg, March 23-25, will see a lot of green and checkered flags. Event organizers announce today that the weekend race will feature 10 races – a record for the event that is only in its eighth year. The on-track schedule for the Honda Grand Prix includes the much-anticipated season starter of the IZOD IndyCar Series and will add a new race to this year’s line-up: the Ferrari Challenge.

Guest Blog: Lindy Thackston Talks about Her New Horizons

I invited my friend Lindy Thackston to do a post about her recent experiences. Here's what she wrote ...

I have someone in my life that, you might say, is addicted to quotes. He doesn’t look like a “quote” guy – but he updates his Facebook status with quotes and rarely tweets anything BUT quotes.

I used to scroll right through them, or say, “Sure, that’s nice… ”

But by November 11, I had become a quote queen overnight.

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

Sarah Fisher Tweets That She's Not Turned Any Engine Maker Down

The swirl around the possibility of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing not making the grid for St. Petersburg broadened a bit with a few closer-to-mainstream media getting interested in the saga.

The whole situation is filled with things not publiclly known, but Sarah took to Twitter last night to address talk that she was offered a Lotus engine early on but turned it down. Not true, said Sarah in her Tweet:

@SarahFisher: All parties are working hard. And fingers are crossed. We are thankful for all of your support, is has been a big help. After putting Zoey to bed, and after my last few minutes of work tonight, I have to clarify that I have not, to date, turned any engine manufacture down. Just wanted to state the facts from behind the scenes. Everyone, keep us in your thoughts! I truly appreciate it!

Hooligans at the Gate -- Trackside Blogger Night is Thursday

Recall the scene from Caddyshack when the caddies get access to the pool for 45 minutes. Rough equivalent of blogger night. Lifeguard: "YOU PUT YOUR SUIT ON." Caddy/Blogger: "You shave your ass!"

But seriously ...

This week's "Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee" is the 4th annual "Blogger Night" when the airwaves are turned over to those that write about IndyCar simply for the love of the sport. The show airs live on Thursday February 23rd from 7-9 PM eastern on 1070 The Fan (WFNI-AM) in Indianapolis and via the internet at www.1070TheFan.com.

The first segment will cover the news of the week including Sarah Fisher/Hartman Racing's engine search, the latest testing (including Texas and Phoenix), driver news, heat races at Iowa, single-file restarts returning to ovals and more. Questions and comments are welcome at [email protected] or via Twitter at @KevinLee23.

Then, "Blogger Night" commences. Interested bloggers should send an email to [email protected] that includes a phone number for Thursday night. All are welcome and each will get a quick opportunity to promote their blog and then dive into any topic of their choice (possibly a recent or future blog post) and then discuss.

A podcast will be available at www.1070TheFan.com/Trackside or via iTunes

New IndyCar Sponsor Directory Makes it Easier for Fans to Support Series Sponsors

Thanks to a new addition to the blog world, IndyCar fans now have a yellow-pages-like resource that identifies all the many IndyCar series and team sponsors.

Thanks to work by Megan Bickel and inspiration from "Christie M." fans can use their purchasing power to reward IndyCar sponsors. Before you buy, go to http://www.indycarsponsors.blogspot.com/ and see a listing of sponsors by category, etc. Give them a shot at your business.

NOTHING in a free enterprise democracy speaks louder than your buying decisions. You can complain or compliment all you want, but the real way to impact behavior is through buying or not buying.

HUGE UPS to Megan for putting this all together. If you know of a sponsor not listed, you can contact Megan through the site. Shoot over to IndyCar Sponsors today and check it out, then BUY, ye BASTARDS.

Moving Toward Product Differentiation

As a professional marketing copywriter, I always want to know 1) What the customer benefits are for any product, and 2) What the key differentiators are. Differentiators amount to "why buy Product A instead of Competitor B?"

The company that can communicate clear, compelling benefits and good differentiators usually gets the sale.I think we're seeing some real product differentiation in racing. And I think that is good.