Hey Betty Jack this is Evan, the gay race car driver.
This year has been trying. The season started at Daytona in January where we thought we had a great chance at a good showing. I was paired with Mary Katharine driving the GSM Motorsports VW GTI in the Grand Am Koni Challenge enduro. Our car came off the trailer with a few issues that did not rear thier ugly heads until practice. We were way down on power and having to reset the master switch on track to get it back (not fun @150mph entering the chicane!). We played around with programming and changed a few parts hoping we found the issues. The problem was we did not qualify well having these issues.
I was gridded next to Patrick Dempsey in the Roar RX 8 midpack. We got a great start picking up 8 positions and the car was making the power it should. I kept on turning times as good as the leaders when we started cutting out again. We soldiered on after a long pitstop to try and fix the issues. I handed the car over to Mary where she did a great job driving the car keeping her position. Eventually the motor let go. It was the .60 cent part that caused all the drama as usual ending our race (and our motor). Oh well!
Our next race was at Lime Rock and we had a pretty good candidate to drive with me. We tested him at 2 tracks, Roebling Road in Savanna and Kershaw (CMP) in South Carolina. He was pretty good, learning the challenges of a fast front wheel drive car. Two weeks before the race I was trying to make the funds to be in the game but I came up short. Part of the fun of being the only GLBT racer is there are very few companies that want to sponsor me. I am still looking for the right one that wants to help me and our community...I am sure they are out there I just need to find them.
I have had a great outpouring of support from the community though! (Faultline Bar in LA, Exile in Columbus, OH and a bar near you soon! More on that later). Anyways we go to Lime Rock and we have another driver with a bigger wallet renting the car with the kid. The new guy practiced in the car and realized you don't just hop in a car like this and learn how to drive it hours before a race. He backed out. This means I drive! Woo Hoo! Well it wasn't that simple. The kid did not want me as his co-driver. We are speculating why but the most logical answer is he wanted someone slower than him in the car. He was consistently slower than me in all our testing and he wanted to be the star. He chose one of his less experienced friends. It is possible that he did not want to be associated with a GLBT driver, but that is speculation.
Well they started the race, got lapped 3 times, then crashed. It was one of the most embarrassing and degrading weekends of my life. I would have much rather gone to IML in Chicago that weekend. I skipped the race at Mosoport as our team had no plans on going, then went to Mid Ohio. I was helping a couple of teams with their programs and being a mechanic. The car I was crewing for ended up in the gravel trap with a broken wheel bearing with 20 minutes to go (it was raining and the car went off a few times before that). It has been frustrating going to these races helping others and not driving. I love being there and helping, but I love racing more. If sponsors do not come, I will be out of the sport all together.
On another note, I have been doing fundraisers. I went to the Faultline bar in LA and had a great outpouring of support (paid my entry to Lime Rock...just could not afford the rest of the expenses). I was trying out a publicist type and he ended up being a bit strange and we parted ways. He did organize the event (sort of) by putting me in contact with people, but had his own plans for me. Well things did not work out with us so I was stuck in LA. He even canceled my flight home and did not inform me! Nice. The trip ended up a lot less profitable than it could have but it was great to see all the race fans!
I also met my Agent for the first time. He is pretty young and still in school, but he seems pretty smart. I am still waiting to see the Faultline pics and email list though! I then went on to Palm Springs to visit my friend George (Georgie's Alibi) to talk about future fundraisers. Then on to Phoenix where I set up a table at Charlie's. Great country western bar but not really a fundraiser. The next one was at Exile in Columbus Ohio. This is a new (renovated) bar with great clientele. I was surprised at how big the gay community was there. Columbus is an interesting city and should be visited if you are passing through. The fundraiser was not planned until a week before so I did not expect much. It turned out great with me meeting some really great people. I will try and have more fundraisers all around so look out!
Ok I will stop rambling on and hopefully have some great news in the near future about sponsorship! I have a blog (I promise I will update it more) http://evandarling.blogspot.com/ so check it out! Special thanks to Betty Jack...we have had some great media lately and it shows we are a BIG part of society as well as our community (GLBT race fans). Heres to growing our gearhead gay community!
Cheers!
Evan
EVAN DARLING IS A PROFESSIONAL RACECAR DRIVER BASED IN FLORIDA. CHECK OUT EVAN'S WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Down that Crown, Larry! Atlanta Motor Speedway is bringing back the Southern 500!
My good friends at Atlanta Motor Speedway sent notice last week that they had a big announcement to make, and they weren't kidding! In 2009, AMS will trade its October Chase race for a big weekend of night racing on Labor Day! Just in time for its 50th anniversary NASCAR's fastest track will get to host its first-ever Cup night race! Symbolically, at least, this represents the rebirth of the Southern 500, which basically died five years ago when NASCAR moved the Labor Day race to California. But that event never sold out, and now fans here in racing's heartland can again send the Summer off with a fantastic blast of speed! I think this is a terrific move for AMS. As part of the schedule realignment, Talladega will take Atlanta's October date, and California will take 'Dega's October date. The 2009 AMS schedule looks like this: Spring race weekend is March 6-8, with a Craftsman truck race Saturday and a Sprint Cup race Sunday. Southern 500 weekend is Sept. 4-6, with the Nationwide race Saturday night and the Cup race on Sunday night. Honey, it's going to be a time! That infield is party central even when it's cold, so you know it'll get wild on a hot summer night! Congratulations on this terrific move, AMS!
ARGE tells me he's doing table dances at this joint up in North Carolina now. It's the town's only breakfast buffet with two-for-one cocktails!
The craziest NASCAR thing I've seen lately took place on "Trackside" on Friday night of the Pocono weekend. That super-swift Scott Speed was on, dressed in a tight-fitting T-shirt and a rappy-looking cap. Larry Mac started to poke a Scott a little bit about his hip threads, and then Hammond got to poking Scott about what he'd said after his truck win at Dover. Scott acknowledged that he'd credited that win to the "great pedicure" he just had, and he started extolling the virtues of getting your toenails painted! Then -- and yes, this actually happened on TV -- they went into a gag where Scott produced a basket of nail polish, and Larry Mac proceeded to paint Hammond's toes in RAINBOW colors! (What was really adorable was that Hammond had obviously had a REAL pedicure before all this happened -- I've never seen a man's toes so cleaned up and buffed. They were like little pearls.) Congrats to Scott Speed for his wins this year, and thanks for being a real blast of style and fun for NASCAR!
Part of winning new fans for Our Sport is convincing your friends and neighbors to give NASCAR a chance. In this photo, our friend ARGE calls on a retired couple to give his personal testimony about NASCAR and how fun it is. ARGE always brings along the NASCAR Rule Book to illustrate his points.
Update for 06.17.08
Congratulations to Jr. and to the DeVine 91/2! We had eight guys in the top 10 at Michigan! This is how we do it!
The whole Jr. Nation breathed a collective shout of relief Sunday when the Most Popular Driver finally found Victory Lane again. The Michigan Cup race came down to real fuel mileage miracle. Jr., having last pitted at lap 148, took the lead from Jamie at lap 196. When Sam Hornish Jr. spun two laps later, Jr. stayed out along with Kasey in the 2nd spot. During the caution laps, Jr. ran on the apron and shut off the motor to save gas. As the green flew, Vickers went inside to get 3rd away from Mark Martin, who was suddenly out of gas! Jr. had three, now four car lengths over Kasey! The caution flew again, for Carpentier and Mikey this time, and under the white and yellow, Jr. took the checkers! It had been 76 races since Jr. tasted sweet sweet victory in a points-paying Cup race. Woo-hoo!
But even as the jubilation continued, questions were being asked about the strategy that helped the #88 make it to the finish line -- and scant few feet beyond. Twice during the late yellow laps, Jr. ran on up past the pace car, then shut off his motor to save gas and dropped back. After the second time, NASCAR told him to quit it. When Jr.'s unusual fuel-scrimping put him on Victory Lane, several drivers questioned why he had gotten away with pacing the pace car.
Their remarks seemed subdued, though -- perhaps a reaction to a closed-door dressing-down Friday by President Mike Helton, as reported by Speed TV and USA Today: Mr. Helton is said to have ordered the drivers to knock off griping. Carl Edwards said Helton warned the drivers "to be careful when you start complaining and whining and acting like things aren't that great" -- particularly about the performance of the Car of Tomorrow. They were also told to show more appreciation to the fans who come out despite the tough economy.
Here's what I say: If a race is a real snoozer, is it going to be more enjoyable because the drivers stand around afterward and holler "way to go, bud" instead of acknowledging that something went wrong? I think they show more fan appreciation by being honest about where the Car of Tomorrow is not performing or when the tires are impossible. Otherwise, it's like they're lying right to our face about something we all just saw with our own eyes. Tony's tight-lipped response to a query about Jr.'s pace car pass spoke volumes: "Ask Mike Helton. I don't know what we're allowed to say.... We're not allowed to have opinions now....We've all got it great. At least that is what we've all been told."
Getting back to Jr.'s win: On Speed's "This Week in NASCAR" on Monday night, Mikey was asked about why NASCAR let Jr. pass the pace car twice without penalty. And Mikey, with a straight face and his eyes overwelling with trust, said NASCAR did it because they would be reluctant to do something that could change the outcome of a race! "But Mikey," Dixie and I screamed at the TV, "what if they already did?" I mean, NASCAR would never hang back on enforcing a rule in order to help the Most Popular Driver, Son of the Most Popular Driver Promoted to Glory, break his long losing streak on FATHER'S DAY, would they? As my NASCAR pal Amy likes to say, "Hey, I'm not sayin'! I'm just sayin'..." Anyway, honey, whatever, we love Jr. and are delighted to see him winning again. He said he had missed "the joy." I can only imagine.
Like parched ducks to a limpid pool, the media are flocking to young Scott Speed, who took the checkers in the Dover Truck race. Scott takes every opportunity to remind everyone that he's different and loving it. Scott's years in Europe in the F1 world are evidenced by his Louis Vuitton man bag, his skintight Red Bull muscle shirt, his bigger-than-Elvis shades, and the flat (like rappers) not formed (like good old boys) brim on his Red Bull cap, among other blingy style choices. In one interview I saw, Scott recalled hating England when he first got there -- for one thing, he was way freaked out because the hot and cold water came out of different taps in the kitchen! (Poor dude! That is right out of caveman times, for sure!) But by the time he left he loved the European life. Scott lost his F1 ride last year, but as a new arrival to the NASCAR and ARCA arenas he's brimming with the sparkle of a guy who sees the road wide open to him. He's also reveling in speculation that he may be gay, declaring it "awesome" that he read as much on a men's room wall at Michigan, the Detroit Free Press reported. "If people are talking smack, that's a huge compliment." This same article, which also reports that Scott paints his toenails blue and spikes his hair, noted he is engaged. Whatever, honey -- we just love his style and how much fun he's having! Go Speed!
I hope your summer is off to a terrific start! We are roasting and toasting here in the ATL, but we sure enough like it hot, so we're having a ball!
We loved seeing Kasey win Sunday at Pocono! What a terrific streak that lad is on. He got fan-voted into the All Star Race and won it; then he won the 600, and now this! It's great to see this boy prove he's tough enough to win in the Budweiser car. So nice to have a cute winner -- I've had it up to my wig-hat with "Rowdy" Busch...
FOX ended its part of the season, as always, with a touching show of man emotions from DW and the guys. After so much boosterism all season long, it was interesting to hear DW make some remark to the effect that "NASCAR has got to do something about the new car so it races better," or something like that. I did sense a little "end of school" sass-back there from ole DW. While still being just as sweet as sweet tea, he was letting us know that he's no fool and realizes that we have seen too much strung-out, follow-the-vanishing-leader racing so far this year
No matter how evil they are, the FOX network people just can't help being brilliant. This past Sunday, their first without a Cup race, they went with F1 and showed LIVE the Grand Prix of Canada in Montreal! I believe they're showing four races in the coming weeks. I guarantee you they will connect with a ton of new fans in the USA who are going to EAT UP all the speed and bling and fabulousity of F1. (I know, I know: I used to make fun of F1 and say it was no good. I was wrong, OK?) F1 is just absurdly rich and swanky, and the cars go so fast you can't believe it! It is definitely worth mentioning that this year while NASCAR converted to a car that's been producing less entertaining races, F1 got rid of some computer part in the cars that was doing a lot of thinking for the driver, meaning there have been more wrecky races. And the boys, oh cherie! The whole world is talking about Lewis Hamilton, the handsome mixed-race sensation from Britain. He has a very inspiring personal story, and he's a speed monster behind the wheel. (He's the Barack Obama of F1! By the way: GO OBAMA!) Then there's the truly gorgeous Nico Rosberg of Germany -- this beach blond honeylamb -- you've got to see him to believe him! Plus lots of the others are cute too, and the circuit travels all around the world. It's just the top of the T! ... Speaking of Lewis Hamilton, on Sunday he made a crashingly bad error. Several cars were stopped under the pit road red-light (some kind of F1 rule) and he just drove ALL UP on the car of Kimi Raikkonen and wrecked out both their cars. Back at the garage, Lewis' dad Anthony, who is a big part of his team, looked furious. (My co-worker Pam and I decided that when the cameras were safely outside the garage, the Hamiltons totally lost their British accents and dad, as Pam said, "went straight-up Brooklyn on his ass!")
I recently recommended a Web site with TV listings for virtually ALL types of racing, including ARCA and F1. The kind folks who put the site up had to move it. Here's the new link -- be sure and bookmark it to plan your race watching! http://www.racefantv.com/USTV.htm
Look for the article on Gaytona in the current edition of Sports Out Loud http://www.sportsoutloud.com/ and over at ESPN.com http://espn.go.com/
04.24.08 Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! The off-week makes it seem like a long time since we've been racing. Are you ready for Talladega? Will we see a real show, or another yawner?
You get the feeling that NASCAR's Cringe-O-Meter must be off the chart when people read comments like the following posted after Texas by Trent Cherry of Ryan Newman's team:
"It was a boring race for sure. I have noticed that there have been some really exciting races and then there have been some dogs. This one was a dog. I don't see how fans can justify paying for a ticket at a high price and then seeing a race like this. Don't get me wrong, its the fans that keep me employed, but at least we can give them a better bang for the buck. Bristol was good, Matinsville was good. Cali, Atlanta and Texas were boring as hell. I hope Nascar hasn't messed up the racing with the new car."
Yikes!
Anyway, I want to tell you about a super site I found. Friends have you ever wanted to go to one Web site that has the TV listings for all kinds of racing -- NASCAR, F1, ARCA, IRL and more? Well I know I have. That's why I was so excited today to find the following site, and why I'm passing it on to you right now! Bookmark it!
