Ferrari Mailing List: Re: (OT) LA Times - How to spot a NASCAR 'pit lizard'

[rentiers (rentiers]

Uuh - he liked to walk around in stiletto heels?
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-----Original Message-----
From: Fellippe Galletta <fellippe.galletta [at] gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:35:31 
To:ken rentiers <rentiers [at] mail.com>
Cc:The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] (OT) LA Times - How to spot a NASCAR 'pit lizard'


I want me a pit lizard....

Now you know why Montoya left!


On 9/7/07, Dennis Liu <bigheaddennis [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein7sep07,0,1971866.column
>
> Joel Stein
> <
> http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-columnist-jstein,0,1575456.columnist
> ?coll=la-opinion-center> :
>
> How to spot a NASCAR 'pit lizard'
>
> The sport actively courts its female fans -- as do some of the drivers.
> September 7, 2007
>
> Of all the things I could have done to attract women, I did not realize
> that
> driving faster was one of them. The one time I got up to 112 mph on the
> highway, my college girlfriend yelled at me to slow down in a manner that
> in
> no way implied she found me sexy. Sure, it was in a tan Oldsmobile station
> wagon, and I had a mullet and was wearing a Yes concert T-shirt, but
> still,
> I was sticking it to Johnny Law.
>
> But as I learned Sunday at the California Speedway in Fontana, a town that
> is located 55 miles from the sun, NASCAR drivers do, in fact, have
> groupies.
> They are known as "pit lizards." Their existence shocked me because it
> meant
> that women go to NASCAR events. And also because, in addition to rabbits
> and
> cats -- which I already find confusing enough -- apparently there's
> something sexy about lizards. Am I the only one who thinks giraffes are
> smoking hot?
>
> It wasn't hard to find female fans at the Sharp Aquos 500, even in the
> 100-degree heat. More than 40% of NASCAR fans are women, and they make up
> a
> bigger percentage of the sport's TV audience than in pro football or
> baseball. NASCAR courts women so overtly that it put driver Jamie McMurray
> on "Passions," Carl Edwards on "Guiding Light" and Casey Mears on "Days of
> Our Lives." There's a line of NASCAR-themed Harlequin romance novels, with
> titles such as "Full Throttle."
>
> I talked to Mears, the sport's fourth-hottest driver according to Liz
> Allison's book, "The Girl's Guide to NASCAR," while he signed autographs
> in
> his merchandise trailer. As he nonchalantly signed a photo for a woman who
> had taken a shot of him entering the gym the day before, Mears told me
> that
> the sport has been marketing drivers as if they were Us magazine
> celebrities. "They cater to the behind-the-scenes now. It's a soap opera:
> Who's dating who," he said. "Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and I get a lot of
> female fans."
>
> In fact, Kahne (No. 2 on Allison's list) is the subject of a series of
> Allstate ads in which middle-age women stalk him and spend a lot of time
> staring at his butt. "You feel like racing is for guys, and when you get
> out
> here, it's a lot of girls," he said. "Maybe more girls than guys."
>
> I met Melissa Jaworski at the drivers' introduction ceremony. Despite
> strict
> rules that no one could be on the infield who wasn't wearing pants and
> closed-toe shoes, Jaworski was sporting a Kasey Kahne half-shirt, a Kahne
> visor, cutoff denim shorts and had Kahne's No. 9 painted on toenails
> peeking
> out of her high heels. Her friend wore a Carl Edwards tank top, an Edwards
> visor, cutoff denim shorts but, sadly, just regular toenail polish.
> Someone
> clearly didn't really care if Edwards won.
>
> Jaworski, who flew down from San Francisco for the race, met the object of
> her pedicure the previous evening. "I actually had dinner next to him at
> Hooters yesterday," she said. "He was really nice. Really polite." Being
> able to follow the etiquette procedure at Hooters seems to be setting the
> bar pretty low, but I kept my opinion to myself.
>
> Still, none of these women were really pit lizards. I was pretty sure I
> had
> finally spotted two -- all hair and breasts and makeup -- but they quickly
> informed me that they were TV hosts.
>
> Vicki Johnson, who has shows about racing on Sirius radio and the Speed
> Network, told me I had missed peak lizard time, which is the Thursday and
> Friday nights before a race, when drivers take their golf carts and cruise
> the infield.
>
> And the odds aren't so bad for women. Gordon's first wife was an ex-"Miss
> Winston" (NASCAR's former beauty queens); McMurray dated another, and Dale
> Earnhardt Jr. dated a woman whom fans later recognized from an MTV show
> about NASCAR in which she said she liked Gordon. I'm thinking these guys
> don't always crash accidentally.
>
> Moms even get their daughters gussied up and put them in front of drivers.
> When Johnson saw that I was horrified by this Lohanesque brand of
> parenting,
> she assured me it wasn't that weird. "If you're in Dallas, you grow up and
> your mom wants you to be a Cowboys cheerleader and marry a football
> player,"
> she said. "If you're in North Carolina, you grow up and your mom wants you
> to marry a NASCAR driver." The drivers like these women because they
> understand their schedule and lifestyle. Even if that lifestyle includes
> driving around in a golf cart looking for women.
>
> When the race started, I got to watch from eventual winner Jimmie
> Johnson's
> pit, where I finally spotted two lizards. One was wearing a trucker hat
> and
> jeans so low I could see a tattoo that implied Snoopy was actually more
> curious than lazy. Like the only other woman in the pit, she was wearing
> stilettos at an event where you have to walk around all day. This, says
> Karah-Leigh Hancock, who runs the website trackbunnyfilms.com, is the
> lizard's tell-tale sign. Though I might lean toward the giant fake
> breasts.
>
> I began to approach them to ask about their lives. But halfway there, I
> realized that it was impossible to talk to them because it was far too
> loud.
> Also, I have absolutely no idea how to approach women like this. Because,
> in
> the end, I really do drive too slow.
>
> jstein [at] latimescolumnists.com
>
>
>
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