RideLust

There’s irony and there’s IRONY, and this story clearly falls into the latter category. Robby Gordon, NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner and racer of all things with four wheels, alleges that male-enhancement pill maker ExtenZe failed to rise to the occasion and pay him for their Sprint Cup sponsorship. ExtenZe, on the other hand, claims Gordon breached the contract by pulling rookie Kevin Conway from the car and driving himself. Gordon is suing ExtenZe for $690,000, the amount of sponsorship money agreed upon but not paid.

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Travis Pastrana better have a good sense of humor since he’s heading right smack dabb into one of the most competitive forms of motor racing out there – NASCAR. In his new Nascar launch video, the X-games Champion and all around stunt jockey decides to poke not only a little fun at himself, but at the sport for which he’s about to enter. With “DON’T GO RIGHT” and “WHEN DO I GET TO BACK FLIP THIS THING?” emblazoned on his car, Pastrana shows that he’s definitely ready to take some good old fashion ribbing from the drivers as well as the fans when he makes his presence known during the 2011 season. It’s going to be interesting to see if Travis can transition his freestyle driving style to a sport which is much more regimented. Check out PastranaWaltrip.com for more information and press releases.

Source: Youtube.com

I’ll admit it: NASCAR usually doesn’t come to mind when discussing Thursday night binge-drinking raves, complete with simulated girl-girl action. Even after watching this video, I’m really no more inclined to watch NASCAR racing than I was before, nor am I inclined to drink more RedBull. The message, as near as I can tell, is that’s it’s OK to party your ass off on Thursday night (which RedBull says is the new Friday) since caffeine, sucrose, glucose, taurine and B vitamins will help you survive Friday’s crushing hangover.

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Yep, it’s true. Travis Pastrana has signed a deal with Michael Waltrip’s NASCAR team to drive in the Nationwide Series. It’s a bold move for this do-it-all competitor, but one that should surprise no one. Before hanging up his Subaru rally uniform though, Pastrana competed in rounds 3 and 4 of the U.S. Rallycross Championship on the Lightning course at New Jersey Motorsports Park. For those of you who are unaware, Rallycross is racing on a mixed variety of surfaces (dirt, tarmac and gravel) on an enclosed course in modified production based rally cars. Pastrana is an automotive personality that brings life to any genre of motor sport that he participates in, this is why I’m so curious to see how he will fare in NASCAR. I’m not sure as of yet if die-hard fans and drivers will embrace or repel Pastrana’s happy-go-lucky attitude. Time will be the deciding factor in that equation. Either way though, the above video kicks ass, so enjoy watching Pastrana as he puts on his Subaru suit one last time.

Source: Subaru.com

Wow… talk about being able to write your own ticket. Most people first got introduced to the world of Travis Pastrana at the X-Games in 1999 when he wowed the planet by winning the MotoX Freestyle competition. He’s since competed in every X-Games to date, run in the ROC (Race of Champions) and was contracted in 2006 by Subaru to run their rally car. Now in a move that has even me surprised, Pastrana is going to try his hat at running in NASCAR of all things. Apparently he’s left the world of back woods rallying to possibly become a part of Michael Waltrip’s NASCAR team where he’d drive in the Nationwide Series. Seriously, this kids got more talent in his left big toe than I’ve got in my whole body. Currently NASCAR is struggling to retain its fan base, as over the last few years the sport has lost quite a bit of its luster. Infusing a bit of Travis Pastrana into the mix may just be the ticket to bringing a little flash and dash back to the big oval.

Source: Examiner.com

Let’s see now, they’re blond, they’re twins, they’re hot and they race cars. Yep, that sounds like every Nascar fans fantasy if you ask me. Meet Amber and Angela Cope, twin 27-year-old sisters who completed their first Nascar race this past weekend in the Camping World Truck Series race. The sisters are the nieces of Derrike Cope, winner of the 1990 Daytona 500 according to blurb from Derrike Cope Racing these girls are nothing to laugh at.

“They began racing at the age of 9 in Go karts and quickly made names for themselves by winning poles and races year after year. At the young age of 15 they step up to late model race cars even before they had their license to drive.” – Hmm, impressive.

“After numerous feature wins and pole position these two attractive and dynamic young women are ready to take the next step towards the most elite form of motorsports…”NASCAR”. – I think the Formula 1 guys would probably disagree here.

Either way though Amber and Angela Cope are good for the sport as the sisters will not only attract attention, but controversy as well. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually be good at some point and make all the skeptics eat crow… stranger things have happened.

Source: DerrikeCopeRacing.com

According to Autoblog, the answer is probably yes, beginning in 2013. If German Touring Car (DTM) promoter ITR has their way, the series will run six races tied to NASCAR events in 2013, as well as six races tied to Grand-Am events. Why the two year delay? DTM technical rules will change in 2012, and ITR wants to take the series global under the new rules. They’re also working with the Japanese motorsport federation to adopt common rules for the GT500 class of Super GT, which would allow the Japanese teams to compete in the DTM series as well.

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I’ll be honest here, Nascar is the one automotive sport that I simply have no interest in. I understand that there’s more to it than just running cars around in a circle, but from a visual standpoint (at least on TV anyway) it just doesn’t appeal to me. I will concede however that watching a race in person turns this event into a completely different ballgame. This is something that was proven to me last year as I attended the Brickyard 400. Drifting cars around a track at 180 mph is one thing, but to do it lap after lap without crashing is nothing short of astonishing. The problem however is that I can’t attend races on a regular basis, and like I said TV just doesn’t do the sport justice. This is where my XBOX 360 and Nascar 2011 comes in. Granted I know it’s virtual, but games today have become so advanced and have such amazing graphics that believe it or not, they actually fill the void. Above is the new trailer for Nascar 2011 from Activision and by the looks of it I have a feeling that I’ll be parting with $50 when this is released in the first quarter of 2011.

Source: GameTrailers.com

Scott Speed Drives A Taxi To Supplement His Income

Times are tough in the racing world, and even teams with big budgets are having to face cutbacks in salaries and operating costs. Take Scott Speed, for example: the former Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 driver has apparently been reduced to driving a taxi in Chicago to offset the salary that Red Bull Racing pays him to compete in Sprint Cup. Worse, he’s using a modified Sprint Cup car to haul passengers since he clearly can’t afford a clapped out Crown Vic of his own. Oh, the huge manatee.

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We here at Ridelust are big fans of Travis Pastrana and have been following him for quite some time. First off the guy is a complete nut when it comes to piloting anything on two wheels, and now with his entrance into the four wheeled genre, well lets just say that Travis is beginning to leave his mark. This year Travis will be competing in the Race of Champions with teammate and 2007 NASCAR Champion Carl Edwards.

From the ROC website”
This annual event brings together the world’s finest drivers from all the disciplines of competition – on four wheels and two – and sets them free to battle, head-to-head, on the very same track in the very same car.
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