Nascar and Racing The Word

The FIA is an organization best known for being the governing body of Formula One racing. The FIA's president, Max Mosley, had been known to organize social activities for strange fascist parties during his teen years.

Mr. Mosley has grown up since then but his odd tendencies have continued. Now, at the ripe old age of 67, Max is shocking the auto world for organizing another kind of social activity: a Nazi-style orgy.

Mr Mosley was caught on video by the News of the World with five women in an underground "torture chamber" in Chelsea, where he spent several hours allegedly indulging in sado-masochistic sex.

The Oxford-educated former barrister, who is president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), reenacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate.

It is believed Mosley whipped the prostitutes and submitted himself to "humiliating" acts. Not surprisingly, Jewish activist groups are outraged. Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, called the acts "sick and depraved."

The 2007 NASCAR seasons is in the book and oh ... the memories and monotony. I will remember it most as the year Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the company his father started, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus dominated and the season droned on in the car of tomorrow.

Here are the Top 35 things I will remember most about the 2007 NASCAR Season, in (mostly) chronological order:

1. AOL Sports welcomed NASCAR into the Fanhouse

2. Mark Martin didn't win the Daytona 500

3. Michael Waltrip Racing's Intake Gate

4. Washington State dissed NASCAR fans

5. Juan Pablo Montoya won in Mexico

6. Car of Tomorrow debuted at Bristol

7. Team Red Bull mechanic Jimmy Sprinkle murdered

8. The Virginia Tech Tragedy

9. Kevin James' Engine Command

The one-trick pony is back to kick ESPN on ABC while they're down.

Way down:

ABC's broadcast of last Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway earned a final Nielsen Media Research rating of 4.0 ...

20 percent lower than the 4.8 NBC earned for the same race in 2006.

20%?! Can't blame that one on arson the California wildfires.

So ... what do you want to blame it on?

Is NASCAR's Carl Edwards' clean cut, nice guy behavior all a front? That's what his Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth says:

"I thought it was good in a way that the cameras were there because a lot of us see that, and nobody else does because he kind of puts on a different front.

"His behavior has been real erratic lately, honestly. You don't know what to expect with him. That's the thing that's a little bit troublesome. One minute, he has so much respect for you, and he's real friendly and everything's so much fun. The next minute he wants to kick your butt and he's swearing at you. It's a little scary. You never know what you're going to get."

I'm not sure Kenseth is unbiased in his opinion, but I must say, Edwards' post-race behavior in Martinsville speaks for itself. Kenseth's comments immediately got the attention of a reader who emailed me asking:

"Now I know Carl takes good care of his body telling from the pics on the cover of whatever mag he was on. Maybe this is coming from me being a nurse and hearing about it a lot, but do you think Carl suffers from roid rage from using steroids? I am not sure if NASCAR tests for them or not.

"I hope you don't consider me a nut case, but that is the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the altercation."

Carl Edwards on steroids? I hadn't considered it, but I'd hardly say it's nuts for the thought to cross someone's mind. I do wonder if it's crossed NASCAR's.

Speed Channel's open wheel racing reporter Robin Miller, known to many NASCAR fans only as a frequent guest on "Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain," reported a rumor Saturday that Brian France will step down as Chief Executive Officer of NASCAR.

The rumor claims that Brian would be replaced by his uncle Jim, brother of the late Bill Jr. and current CEO of NASCAR's International Speedway Corporation. That move would presumably open the door for current ISC President Lesa France Kennedy, Brian's sister, to move up.

Ok ... so that sounds unlikely, but plausible. Until you get to the part about where the rumor has Brian headed: to the non-NASCAR related Grand Am Road Racing Association.

No way. I think we can assume that if they younger France were to step down, it wouldn't be by choice. But even if the family forced him to step aside from the big role, I don't see them pushing him completely out the door. And unless NASCAR is somehow acquiring Grand Am (they're not ... right?), I really don't see France leaving the family business to go there--or any place else, for that matter.

Then again, we've all seen how the dynamics of a NASCAR family business can change after a principle member of the family passes on. Still, I say this is a highly doubtful scenario.

What began on pit road at Dover as a war of bumpers between two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and rookie Paul Menard has turned into a war of words on the road from Charlotte to Martinsville.

Stewart says money can't buy talent. On his radio show this week, he had some harsh words for the son of his 1997 IRL Championship team owner:

"You can have your father buy your ride and write DEI a big check, but you can't buy talent. And that's what John Menard's been good at his whole life, is just buying success. He's bought his son a Nextel Cup ride and he's just got enough talent to just be in the way most of the time."

Ooooh. That stings. But I can't say I disagree.

Paul Menard says age doesn't imply maturity:

Everyone has a different complaint about ESPN on ABC's coverage of NASCAR, so this one's going to be a bit of a free-for-all.

What's your beef?

Is it the way they miss the restarts because they haven't learned what the different colored racing flags mean yet? Let's help them out.

Green means go. When the green flag is waving, the camera should be focused on it and that camera's feed should be transmitted live to the viewers' televisions. Not just some of the times. Every time. No exceptions. The drivers manage to be on the gas when the green flag drops every time. They certainly don't join the restart "in progress." ESPN gets the same head's up. Why should they have such difficulty heeding the "one-to-go" warning?

"Six months ago, it seemed like there was no possibility something like this could happen. Then all those dominos began to fall. It was like hitting the lottery."
~ Ralph Santana, Vice President of Sports Media and Interactive Marketing for Pepsi

Let there be no doubt about Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s value to a sponsor:

Fans of NASCAR drivers are far more loyal to sponsors than they are in any other sport.

About 277,000 tuned in to watch the press conference for Dale Jr.'s sponsorship announcement on the Speed Channel ... More than 200,000 more logged on to watch the streaming video of the announcement on NASCAR.com.

That's almost 500,000 people on a random weekday morning. 500,000 people who already knew what he was going to say and tuned in anyway.

It's tough to imagine even the most devoted fans of Tiger [Woods] or Peyton [Manning] taking time to watch a press conference for their next endorsement deal. But for NASCAR fans, the sponsor becomes a big part of their favorite driver's identity.

Indeed. Junior's #88 merchandise is already flying off the shelves:

It's hard to believe that any race car driver could walk away from this crash.

Australian drag racer Phil Lamattina was doing more than 300 mph at Willowbank Racway near Ipswich when his in his Top Fuel dragster busted into pieces, burst into flames and went tumbling down the strip. Lamattina walked away from the crash and was admitted to the hospital for observation. He was released the next morning with nothing more than a cut finger.

Previously on FanHouse:
NASCAR's 10 Most Spectacular Superspeedway Crashes

The "Who Is the Hottest Wife/Girlfriend in Sports?" Finals are underway at OurBookofScrap.com and Ingrid Vandebosch is among the three finalists.

48 sports star wives and girlfriends and 45 match-ups later, Jeff Gordon's wife, who was the 1st seed in the contest, has held up against the competition.

Her rival finalists are Elisha Cuthbert, former (?) girlfriend of New York Ranger Sean Avery, and former Playboy Playmate of the Year, Carmella DeCesare, wife of Tampa Bay Bucaneers' quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Ingrid isn't the hottest of NASCAR WAGs--at least not according to the drivers--but for the purposes of this exercise, she's our girl. Should you care if she's voted hottest? How about if you just care that they included NASCAR as a sport?

She's already crushin' 'em, but head over to OurBookofScrap.com anyway to show your support--click the poll below the photos at the bottom of the post--and stay tuned for some pics of the hot mama's gorgeous daughter.