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Collete Davis Urges Girls to Rev Up Their Brain Power

 

 

When you meet Collete Davis — all 5’3”, 105 pounds of her with blond hair and a big smile — you may think “cheerleader” (used to be) or “sorority girl” (accurate!). And if you let looks trigger stereotypes, you may also be tempted to use small words and keep your conversation simple.

Mistake.

Gratuitous Cameron Haven IZOD Trophy Girl Photo

Work it, Cameron.

Final TV Rating for IndyCar St. Pete Slides to 0.9

ESPN PR reports that the final rating for the IZOD IndyCar race at St. Petersburg on March 25 was 0.9, down 25% from the 1.2 final rating for the same race on ABC a year ago.

The 0.9 came a few days after ESPN reported the race posted a 1.1 overnight Nielsen TV rating, which was down 15% from a 1.3 for the same season-opening race in 2011.

The overnight rating includes only major markets and is designed to provide an early idea of the rating. The final rating includes all measured markets.

Star Mazda Barber Schedule

pdog favs Ashley Freiberg, Zach "Ziggy" Veach and Sage "Brush" Karam and the entire Star Mazda Series posse are on the track Thursday, Friday and Sunday at Barber Motors Ports Park. Schedule below courtesy of www.starmazda.com.

On-Track Session Schedule
Thursday, March 29		Sunday, April 10
8:00-8:30	Practice Session #1	10:20-11:00	Race #1
10:15-10:45	Practice Session #2	4:45 p.m.	Race #2
Friday, March 30
1:45-2:15	Qualifying
4:45-5:25	Race 1 (rained out)

Star Mazda's timing and scoring is HERE.

For most excellent coverage of the entire Road to Indy, go to www.junioropenwheeltalent.com and follow them on Twitter, @JOWT

Trackside Hits the Turbo with Davey Hamilton and Gorgeous Facility Talk

"Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee" is tonight from 7-9 eastern on 1070 The Fan (WFNI-AM) in Indianapolis and via the internet at www.1070TheFan.com.

Listen for a recap of the IZOD IndyCar Series season opener from the streets of St. Petersburg and a preview of round two this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham.  Plus, news off the track including more potential venues for the 2013 schedule.  And, a visit with IMS Radio analyst Davey Hamilton, who is also now a car owner and we'll find out if he's still an active IndyCar driver.

Questions and comments are welcome at [email protected] or via Twitter at @KevinLee23. A podcast will be available at www.1070TheFan.com/Trackside or via iTunes.

Shea Holbrook Goes P5 in St. Pete Opener

Shea Holbrook was part of a massive 50+ car field to take the track for the Pirelli World Challenge last weekend in St. Pete. News release below.

(St. Petersburg, FL) – Beautiful weather and huge crowds were abundant for the season opener of the SCCA Pro Racing Pirelli World Challenge drivers as they commenced their 2012 season as part of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Freiberg Rolls to P9 in Her First Ever Star Mazda Appearance and Street Race

Woman of pressdog® Ashley Freiberg (@AshleyFreiberg) went top 10 in her very first race in Star Mazda AND her very first race on a street circuit over the weekend. In her second race, she got SPEARED. News release below ..

ASHLEY FREIBERG SCORES TOP TEN FINISH IN STAR MAZDA SEASON OPENER

Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, March 25, 2012 -- Last weekend, Ashley Freiberg (pronounced FRY-BURG) driver of the #91 TrueCar Star Mazda competed in her first race of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear season at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with team JDC Motorsports.

ESPN Broadcast of Nationwide at California Earns 1.7 TV Rating

From ESPN PR ...

ESPN’s live telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., on Saturday, March 24, earned a 1.7 household coverage rating, averaging 2,278,265 viewers, according to the Nielsen Company. The rating was up six percent from the 1.6 for last year’s race.

The pre-race NASCAR Countdown program earned a 1.0 rating, up 25 percent from a 0.8 rating for the program prior to last year’s event.

Across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, NASCAR Nationwide Series ratings are up five percent so far this season.

St. Petersburg Reaction ... Embrace the Twisty and Help Others do the Same

I get the impression that the IndyCar opener at St. Petersburg has underwhelmed many. On one side are those who say “Well, duh, it was a super-boring street race. Yawn.” On the other side are those who declare the race PREFECT!!! and blame the underwhelment on various other factors.

As usually, I’m in between … and I see an opportunity.

Shea Holbrook Gets her Schwerve on at St. Pete - In-Car Video

One of the several reasons Shea Holbrook is a Woman of pressdog® (read more here) despite being the only driver in the club with no open-wheel racing experience is that she has technological schwerve.

What's "schwerve"? Part of it is communicating regularly via blogs and news releases (often written by the drivers themselves), interacting with fans via social media like Twitter, keeping your website updated and having technical savvy (or the sense to collaborate with those who do) to create videos.

Below is something Shea posted (yesterday, the day after St. Pete weekend, not four weeks later), and it's more killer than much of what I see on websites of drivers much higher in the food chain. Schwerve ...