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The Indianapolis 500 is the world’s highest attended single day event. Its total capacity is approximately 400,000 with about 125,000 located in the cheapest and most “festive” seats of the infield.
All newbies marvel at the sheer size of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway upon entering it the first time. The modern day answer to Circus Maximus is large enough to hypothetically house the Vatican, Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium and the Rose Bowl all at the same time!
ESPN/ABC will formally announce today that SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak will replace Brent Musburger, as host for the Indianapolis 500. Musburger has been hosting the race since 2005. The Greatest Spectacle in Racing takes place May 26th.
Lindsay Czarniak will join play-by-play announcer Marty Reid and analysts Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear
Auto racing saw another big gender milestone reached earlier this season as Danica Patrick became the first ever woman ever to gain pole position and lead a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
Last year:
Dario Franchitti not only won the 96th Indianapolis 500 on the track, but also won it in the Twittersphere. With an astounding 29,099 tweets, Dario was named winner. Coming up short of the win were Takuma Sato with 7,760 tweets and Rubens Barrichello with 7,691 tweets in second and third place respectively.
This is how the Indianapolis 500 Twitterverse reacted in 2012. How will the Indianapolis 500 play out on Twitter in 2013?
Former Chicago Bears QB and current San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh loves open wheel racing. He talked about the sport; and driving the Indy 500 Pace Car on the radio yesterday. Harbaugh appeared on the Waddle and Silvy show with Marc Silverman and discussed the Indy 500. Hear the interview here.
Harbaugh also discussed how much new Bears coach Marc Trestman has impacted his coaching career. (listen to the full show featuring Mark Giangreco and Jayson Stark here)
Star of film and television Michael Pena, who has a leading role in the upcoming 3D animated movie “Turbo,” is the honorary starter of the 97th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 26.
Michael Pena will wave the green flag in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The 97th Indianapolis 500 starts at 11 (CDT) on ABC.
Danica Patrick will be racing on Memorial Day weekend for the ninth straight year this weekend. In those seven of those nine years, Danica Patrick competed in the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Patrick had her moments in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” At Indy in ’05, she lead three times for 19 laps and finished fourth in her first Indy 500; becoming the first woman to lead laps and score a top-five finish at the Brickyard.
She also posted the fastest lap on the opening day of practice. Although she’s been doing absolutely nothing lately; finishing in the 20s and 30s pretty much every week of NASCAR, she still has a fair amount of glory at Indianapolis.
“One Lap Downica” had a practice lap of 229.880 mph on Indy Pole Day; the fastest turned by any woman in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Patrick ended up qualifying fourth, the best-ever starting position for a woman in the race.
Krista Voda is a pit reporter for NASCAR on Fox and host of The Setup, the pre-race show of the Camping World Truck Series, and Trackside on Speed Channel. The-soon-to-be-39 year-old Voda was born and raised in Clinton, Iowa and attended the University of Northern Iowa. So you should see Krista Voda on the Daytona 500 coverage tomorrow.
Krista Voda used to co-anchor Totally NASCAR on Fox Sports Net. She was also co-host on NASCAR Nation when it aired on Speed Channel. Before moving to FSN, she worked for various local television stations in Iowa and Kentucky, including WLEX, the NBC affiliate in Lexington. Among her first radio jobs was working the night shift at KROS AM/FM in her hometown of Clinton, Iowa.
SPEED TV motocross reporter Erin Bates is a 34-year-old goddess of racing. Erin Bates is also one of the hottest sports reporters out there. Joining a decent size group of sideline hotties named Erin: Erin Andrews, Erin Hawksworth, Erin Nicole, Erin Sharoni.
According to All Left Turns:
Erin Bates joined SPEED’s AMA Supercross broadcast team for the 2006-07 season as a pit reporter. Her career in motorcycle racing began as a trophy girl in the International Freestyle Motocross Association. She also has done some modeling.
NASCAR conspiracy theorists unite! You have nothing to lose but your…actually you don’t lose, you only gain today. Danica Patrick does as well. It seems NASCAR has made an All-Star voting rule change that benefits Danica Patrick greatly. We know the reason- $$$$$$$$$.
The publicity and popularity of Danica Patrick helps racing television ratings; so the networks can then sell their ad time at a higher price.
In the words of redneck, actually I think it’s spelled: Rednex
Jeff Foxworthy might have cornered the market on the term redneck, but we can still talk Dixie Chicks, shirtless driving season, Chelsea Lately, the people of rural Virginia, having dogs half the size of your porch and Waffle House. Just don’t make the mistake of equating redneck with NASCAR and NASCAR with redneck; I cover the sport so I know, you do not.
Six racing teams took part in a two-day Goodyear tire test at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet yesterday. Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick were available to media. In addition to Biffle and Harvick, the NASCAR teams included Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs, Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress, Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick, Jamie McMurray of Earnhardt Ganassi and Ryan Newman of Stewart Haas.
During the media session Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle had a lot to say about Twitter and social media.
Danica Patrick fell into a multi-car crash, finished an awful 33rd in the Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Talladega. Ricky Bobby probably even beat here on this Talladega day; and he’s not even real.
Danica Patrick was in the middle of the pack on lap 182 when several cars crashed in front of her. Despite her best efforts, she got caught in the wreck and her day was over.
