Category: Sports Talk
3 I Am INDY
If you have ever watched any of the T.V. show, Gene Simmons, Family Jewels you have surely seen Gene Simmons wear the black hat with the Logo, I Am Indy. This is the marketing campaign that Gene helped create for the Indy Racing League.
Sunday’s are usually reserved for Motorsports at the Hard Rock Hideout. A few short weeks ago, My wife and I were are the Indy Race at the Kentucky Speedway. I can safely say that Gene’s marketing campaign is well in place. Banners, flags, hats, and t-shirts all emblazoned with Gene’s catch phrase, “I Am Indy”.
Gene Simmons was at the track, and I had an infield pass, but I did not catch even a glimpse of the infamous rock star. I did however take some pretty good pictures of IRL stars, Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, 3 Time IRL Champion, Sam Hornisch Jr. and 2007 Indy 500 winner, Dario Franchitti.
You can view those pictures here.
[ rockyou id=82682788]
I also took the video below. Enjoy!
Tony Kanaan won the race on this day. The race ended with a hellacious crash right in front of us. I didn’t take this video, but this is worth seeing. Dario Franchitti goes airborne at the end of the race. Check it out!
0 A.J. Foyt car co-owned by Sammy Hagar
The Mill Valley rock icon who sang the anthem for a generation is still going full throttle two decades after telling the judge he “can’t drive 55.”
Sammy Hagar was on pit road at Infineon Raceway on Sunday as a more-than-casual observer. Hagar slapped his Cabo Wabo Tequila logo on the No. 13 IndyPro Series car of Robbie Pecorari, which he co-owns with A.J. Foyt.
Pecorari crashed on the first lap of Sunday’s Valley of the Moon 100 and finished 18th in Saturday’s Carneros 100 in a disappointing weekend at his boss’ home track.
“For me, it’s not only about winning. It’s just coming out and being competitive,” Hagar said. “Winning is just a big fringe benefit. It’s like when you’re record goes to No. 1. That’s a big fringe benefit.”
Having Hagar involved in racing is a big fringe benefit for Pecorari – and for the series, which receives a big boost from Hagar’s star power. A camera crew was following Hagar all day for the taping of “Road to Cabo 2.”
Pecorari’s first win of the season in July at Nashville, Tenn., was a welcome wake-up call for Hagar, who happened to be in Italy at the time.
“That was so cool,” Hagar said, even though it was 4 a.m. when he got the news. “I went whoo! Woke the wife up. That was awesome.”
The Red Rocker himself has had more success in Sonoma than Pecorari. Hagar was at the
head of his class in a four-day course with the Bob Bonderant Racing School, which was based at Sears Point.
“I had a Cobra and Bob had just made a serious run at the world championship with the Cobra,” Hagar said. “He said ‘Here, let me show you how to really drive that car.’
“I swear to you that I still think I probably died that day,” Hagar said. “He would come into a turn (fast) and I thought, ‘This is it. There’s no way we’re going around that corner this fast.’ It was the most reckless driving I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s awesome. It’s genius in those front-engine cars. That was the wildest thing ever.”
Hagar always lives up to his reputation as the wild man of rock, even though he turns 60 in October. His lifelong passion for racing fits right into that.
When he had the opportunity to invest in a business venture, Hagar knew what he wanted to do. His managers with Cabo Wabo had other ideas, but Hagar won out.
“I’m hands on but I’m not day-to-day,” Hagar said of his involvement with Cabo Wabo.
“I’m a race fan. I only do things that I like to do. People talk about (race) horses. I don’t like horses. You’ll never see me at the race track. I’m into car racing. It just made sense.”
Hagar spent some time in the hospital due to illness in May, but he’s back in action, pumping out a new album – between races.
“Everyone is here for the same reason. It’s like a rock concert,” Hagar said, comparing his two passions. “Everyone’s there to see the band. Everyone is here to see a race. The sound of those engines. All the excitement and adrenaline. A good wreck is fine, as long as nobody gets hurt. It’s the same thing on stage. They don’t want to see the leader singer get too drunk and fall down It’s loud and it’s an event. Being a real musician and a real race driver takes a huge amount of skill.”
Hagar is itching to get behind the wheel of a race car. He was invited to Fontana on Feb. 22 for the AutoClub 500 Nextel Cup race at California Speedway. He wrote on his blog that if officials let him drive the pace car, the field might not be able to keep up with him.
And how about a street race in his hometown?
“What, between me and the police?” said Hagar, laughing all the way.
Courtesy of the Marin Independent Journal
4 The New York Trip – Part 2 – Cooperstown
The day after our trip to Woodstock we headed to upstate New York to visit the legendary Cooperstown, the Home of Baseball Hall of Fame.
I grew up near Cincinnati, the city where professional baseball started therefore visiting Cooperstown was a must see on my list fo things to do in New York. I have been a fan of the Cincinnati Reds since I was a kid, and there are plenty of Cincinnati Reds that have been inducted into the hall, and a few like Pete Rose, that still should be (but that is a rant for another article).
I figured this would probably be a once in a lifetime sort of stop, so I took a lot of photos. Even if you aren’t a baseball fan, you have to appreciate the grandeur of this place.
I hope you enjoy the slide-show below!
0 A little Michael Vick Humor
In case you haven’t heard, earlier this week Atlanta Falcon star quarterback, Michael Vick was indicted on dog fighting charges earlier this week. You can read that story here.
This morning in email, a friend of mine sent the following picture:
Classic!
5 The Rocket Ride
Rob Rockitt takes a Rocket Ride
Wednesday morning I participated in an event that was cool beyond words.
Marlboro sponsored this closed event at the Kentucky Speedway in which I got to do a ride along (4 laps) in an IROC Dodge Avenger Stock Car, at 140 M.P.H. As much as I tried to coax the Marlboro staff, they wouldn’t let me drive. 🙂 Nonetheless, it was an awesome experience that I will never forget. As a racing fan already, I always wanted to take hot laps in a stock car. At least I got to do this as a passenger. The great thing is, the experience did not end there.
Next stop was to the other side of the Kentucky Speedway infield, where they had a
mini road coarse set up on the infield. On this road coarse, we did 3 more hot laps as a ride along, in brand new, red Ford Mustangs, with Shelby racing stripes. This wasn’t any kind old kind of hot laps though….this was Drifting. The professional drivers were melting the tires off the cars as they came around the corners. The G Forces were actually stronger in the Mustangs, than in the Dodge Avenger stock cars.
After we had our fill of adrenaline, we were escorted into a nice air conditioned room 
complete with big screen TV’s, showing scenes from the day, and speakers blasting Europe’s the Final Countdown, as well as Foghat’s Slow Ride amongst a bunch of other hard rock tunes. (It is almost as if, they knew I was coming…lol.) Marlboro had a very nice catered lunch waiting for us, as well as a picture that they snapped of us earlier in the day, might I add, all free of charge.
Special thanks to my niece, Teresa for giving me the invitation to this awesome event, and for giving me an excellent reason to take a day off.
The video below is a nice recap with some of the pictures from the day!
2 Dreams (of a baseball player)
On Sunday Afternoon, My family and I had a nice outing to see the Cincinnati Reds play.
One of the best stories in Major League Baseball right now, is the story of Reds center fielder Josh Hamilton. This 6-4 player with tribal and flaming tattoos up his arms looks more like an 80’s Hard Rock Musician than your typical baseball player.
Hamilton was the number one draft pick by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays back in 1999, and was seemingly set for super stardom.
Sadly, after a nasty car accident that injured his back and took him out of the game he loved, he got mixed up with drugs, and due to a fierce addiction was suspended from Major League Baseball in 2002. After a few years of relapses and rehab, he has beaten his addiction, and was reinstated to baseball in 2006. By this time the Tampa Bay Devil Rays gave up on him, and let him go through the Rule 5 draft. The Chicago Cubs picked him, and decided he wasn’t worth the risk and traded him to the Cincinnati Reds for $100,000.
Fast forward to May 2007, 26 Year old Josh Hamilton was named top NL rookie for the month of April. He finds himself amongst the statistical leaders with the Reds, with 8 Home Runs, 17 RBI’s and .306 Batting Average.
During the game my family attended this afternoon, Hamilton hit 2 home runs, and made a catch in the outfield that will surely make the ESPN highlight reels this week.
Most clubs gave up on this kid, but he never let go of his Dreams. I don’t usually talk sports at the Hard Rock Hideout, but I thought this was a story worth mentioning. It brought the Van Halen song Dreams to mind. So in respect to Josh Hamilton, here is a copy of the video for Dreams.
Hard Rock Hideout 