He drives! He dances! He wins at both!

Who knew? Helio Castroneves. Indy 500 winner – twice. He can move more than his hands and feet. (Thanks to Penske Racing for the photo.)

Dancing With the Stars has been fun to watch, and may have gotten a few extra viewers because of Helio. And boy did his website pimp the show and voting.

So who’s next? Can’t be the Nextel, er, Sprint Cup guys, the Chase is underway during the Dancing With the Stars Competition. Hey, does anyone know if Dario Franchitti can act? His wife can.

Speaking of the NASCAR boys, they had the what’s become a traditional drive around Manhattan this morning, taking off from the Good Morning America studio at Times Square. Right after Helio showed off his moves.

ESPN Classic will air the annual NASCAR Nextel (yea, still Nextel) Cup Awards at 9 p.m. Friday from the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Dr. Jerry Punch will emcee the onstage event (yippee, didn’t we love him during the season, he’s so exciting.) It will rebroadcast at midnight on the Deuce.

Funnyman David Spade and singer Kelly Clarkson will perform during the awards program.

I have this feeling the NASCAR awards show won’t be as exciting as Dancing With the Stars. Oh well, racecar drivers are racecar drivers, just some have diverse talents.

King Jimmie

OK, I’ll say it.

Jimmie Johnson is the champion. I even have a photo to make all the JJ fans happy. Me with a JJ car flag.

It’s kind of like politics. You may not like the President of the United States, but you should respect the office.

Same thing with Jimmie. He may not be my cup of Coca-Cola, but he has the hardware and you have to respect that. Remember the commercial with Elliott Sadler? “Just a minute,” Jimmie says. The trophy shows up and he asks, “You were saying?”

Hendrick was the class of the field all season long. The teams combined for 10 wins, and pulled off the driver coup of the century. Hendrick drivers account for more than one-third of the season’s wins. Jimmie won with Chad Knaus, he won without Chad Knaus. Jeff Gordon fared well with and without Steve Letarte.

Now comes the really interesting part of the year. Drivers are looking for rides. Teams are being added and teams are being eliminated. Series sponsorships are changing to Nationwide and a name switch to Sprint. Junior will no longer drive for Budweiser (that’s going to Kasey Kahne). Dale Jarrett will quit driving after a handful of races. And Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch will drive Toyotas.

But, Jimmie Johnson is the champion. Long live the champ.

Freebies!

Jimmie Johnson may have won the championship, but Matt Kenseth won the race Sunday.

You know what that means?

Free Fries! That’s right. Take in the newspaper showing where Matt won the race Sunday and you get free fries at Arby’s. But it’s only for Monday, November 19, 2007. Arby’s has been doing this all season long.

The stipulation is you have to take in proof of the win, and that means the sports page (probably the standings on page B2).

Those fries will be a nice addition to your roast beef sandwich. And best of all, they’re free.

Of course Matt Kenseth won at Miami Homestead. He's a Roush Fenway driver and they RULE Miami Homestead. So sorry for The Biff, but it was still a Roush win. Enjoy the photo from the Associated Press of Jack Roush, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

Can’t we all just get along?

In the book “Men and Speed,” Jack Roush tells the story of putting his teams together in a room during the 2001 season and keeping them there until they aired every gripe, complaint and whatever else was getting under their collective skins.

I wonder if he’s doing it again this week with two of his drivers? Both whom are pretty secure in Roushdom future when he has to pare down to four teams.

During the after race melee, I was in the late stages of the Family Fall Festival at New Life Church. All day long, several of us there were checking the leader board on live phone updates or by calling friends watching the race at home.

But boy did we miss a confrontation between Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. I’ve since watched it on You Tube and Mr. 99 LOOKS like he’s having a friendly word with Mattman, patting him on the chest and maneuvering away from the camera.

Did he actually think the camera wouldn’t follow him?

But when the fist came up, I lost respect Carl Edwards. He’s the one at Roush Fenway who is supposed to be the media savvy one of the bunch. The cover boy who works hard at his image. You can take issue with other teams, but your own teammate? Gimme a break.

In my view, he just looked like a bully.

Wait 'till next year...

Halloween 310 has come and gone at Ona Speedway and I am again reminded how much more fun you have at the local short tracks versus the NASCAR events.
You are closer to the action.

There are lots of prizes just for showing up and paying $5 as opposed to $130 and $4 for a bottle of water, with roughly the same amount of time at the track.
When they aren’t in the car, drivers sit in the stands before and after their races and visit with the fans.

The wrecks can be just as big, just not at 190 mph. And the drivers still jump out of their cars, voices wailing and arms flailing, the difference is you can actually hear what they are saying.

So if you missed the action Saturday at Ona, you missed out on prizes from the track management and the Official NASCAR Members Club; keeping lots of money in your pocket for chicken sandwiches, reasonably prices beverages and unofficial race pools with your friends; some pretty big wrecks with drivers yelling at each other; and meeting some of those drivers before the race.

Prize winners from the ONMC to non-club members, who received their choice of Dale Jr., Dale Sr., Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart 2002 Championship caps were:
Curtis Hedrick of Milton, W.Va., Peter B. Garrett of Huntington, W.Va., Susan Arthur or Kenova, W.Va., Donna Wageman of Hurricane, W.Va., Terry Lee Solt of St. Albans, W.Va., and Jerry Dean of Branchland, W.Va.

And as a special gift for ONMC club members, the management of the track let me wave the green flag for the Any Car race. Thanks to photographer Jim Ellis for the picture of me on the flagstand.

But don’t fret, next season non-club members will be in the running for “Lucky Dog” prizes at each race. And there will be prizes for ONMC members, too.

So watch the NASCAR chase for the next five weeks, although the winner already seems to be determined. No conspiracy theory here, although there’s always room in NASCAR for that.

Then bide your time, watch the races you’ve taped, and show up in mid-May at Ona Speedway.

Whine, whine, whine

Gas, no gas, light, no light. Juan Pablo cuts a tire and debris ensues. Caution comes out. If the field is frozen, the field is frozen.

Quit whining. But then again, Jimmie Johnson learned it from the best.

I feel sorry for the boys behind The Biff, but NASCAR (in its own take on wisdom) froze the field for a caution. You can’t pass on a caution even if you are yards away from the finish line. Remember, “no racing to the start finish line under caution.”

Hey! They could have called the race during the red flag stop in the thunder, lightning and rain when Tony Stewart was in the lead. It was past the point of no return. But the skies cleared, the track dried and off they went.

But that would have made NASCAR’s Bad Boy the winner and not the Hendrick Pretty Boys.

Only Biff, Greg and Jack know for sure if he was out of gas or not. The Roush team, er, Roush Fenway team, says he had fuel and race officials told him not to fire up the car.

Conspiracy theories aside, you can’t pass during a caution. Biffle wins the race.

But then again, NASCAR could change its mind tomorrow, or today. It is sort of the norm for them.

Ona 2007 finale

Let’s go racin’!

Saturday, Oct. 13 will be the final race of 2007 at Ona Speedway and will feature late models (100 laps), modifieds, classics and Hobby stocks (50 laps each division) and nay car and u-car (30 laps each).

You can meet the local drivers from 4 to 5 p.m., and the green flag drops at 5 p.m. for a night of great racing.

There will be some changes at Ona Speedway next season with races every other weekend to give drivers more time to work on their cars. The 2008 season will begin in May with a demolition derby.

You can check out their new Web site at www.onaspeedway.com and find out more about the Oct. 13 races.