So, I managed to tune into another episode of Speed Freaks via the internets Sunday night. And it was a fairly entertaining show, albeit the over indulgence of commercials.
They were missing one of the crew, (Lug nuts) which was actually nice as the “Stat-man” and Crash Gladys got to talk much more. They began the evening by discussing the Chilly bowl in Tulsa, which they talked-up the hell outta it! Then they went to their first guest, Damien “The Devil” Gardner, who was this year’s winner. He seemed quite low key and it was refreshing to hear him say he’d be happy to drive anything, i.e.; Indy Car or RASSCAR; he just wanted to keep honing his trade as a Sprint Car driver…
The next guest was Graham Rahal, who’d just finished doing demonstration runs aboard a BMW Sauber F1 chassis at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I got a little ticked as “Stat-man” didn’t have a clue towards what they called Champ Car when Graham’s father raced in it, nor how many championships he’d won, finally settling on two… As I bellowed out it was CART and he won three titles!
Graham, who at the tender age of 19 was also quite refreshing, saying that you needed to be able to drive anything, Especially since Champ Car isn’t real secure right now, when he was asked about if he enjoyed also driving Sports Cars? Graham noted how the TRUE Legends like Mario Andretti & Dan Gurney not only drove anything with wheels, they kicked butt!
Stat-man asked him if it was true that he enjoyed selling cars. Yes, I get a certain satisfaction out of selling cars at my Dad’s dealerships. Ohm, I don’t think I exactly wanna go to dinner with a used car salesman, Stat-man replied. No, you’ll get a friendly deal, just give me a call, replied Graham…
Then after an oddity section of various “Entertainment Tonight” news, they delved into Dancin’ with the Fools, talking about who Helio had recommended for a future show. Gladys said it was none other than the “Princess,” (Danica) to which Stat-man said she’s too short and her legs aren’t long enough…
Gladys noted how they do real ballroom dancing and that Princess thinks she’d be considered too serious for the show, to which Stat-man chimed in; She’s got the STOMP down real good. Then Kenny Sergeant said do you know we’ve just spent 10 minutes talking about Dancing with the Stars…
Next up was a conversation with Mike Peterson in regards to the cancellation of this year’s Dakar, to which I found a bit annoying hearing Kenny pronounce as Dack-kar. Mike is part owner of Peterson/White Lightning, which has won the 24 Heurs du Man,
Baja 500 & 1000, 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans.
Peterson was fairly succinct in his opinions towards the Dakar organizers, saying he just couldn’t understand why they did NOT have a “Plan B.” As he’d spent two years and countless man hours preparing a brand new buggy for the race, which all went up in smoke in a five minute meeting called to announce the cancellation. And the amounts of money lost are staggering, although Peterson wouldn’t give exact figures; I believe that Robby “Dirtman” Gordoun said the entry fee alone was $360,000! Peterson said he’ll try to possibly compete in some other rallies since his equipment is already over there…
Last, but not least was James “Don’t call me Bubbah” Stewart, who’d just won the Phoenix round of the AMA Superbike championship. James is all of 22yrs old and is a very entertaining interviewee…
