Wheldon scores

Posted by Iannucci | 5/07/2008 | 16 comments »
Bookmark and Share

Last week the driver with the newest teeth visited the FC Dallas team, which would be a Major League Soccer franchise for those of you who neither knew nor cared.

Dan Wheldon, humbly referring to himself as a "so-called celebrity", seemed genuinely excited to hang out with the guys, practice with the team, and even show off some nice pinching and fading moves with the equipment cart.



Man if you thought IndyCar drivers were relatively anonymous in the sports world, imagine how a professional soccer player in America feels.

16 comments

  1. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 8:45 AM  

    happened to that mega-superstar who came from england to play in LA? what was his name? is he still playing? he was supposed to make soccer a household name...

    obviously it worked. ;)

  2. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 8:50 AM  

    My name is irl & john edward :

    WHY are you putting down soccer ?????

  3. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 8:57 AM  

    don't fret, anonymous... nobody's making fun of soccer.

    I spend half of my time trying to make people laugh, the other trying to explain to them what I was trying to say, and trying to get out of the conversation without looking like an ass.

    But all and all I like to think I'm a good person with good intentions just absolutely poor execution.

  4. Iannucci // May 07, 2008 9:19 AM  

    How am I putting down soccer? By lamenting that no one in the US of A cares about the sport? Come on.

    Growing up in here in Phoenix there were only two sports teams – the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Inferno – and I saw more games of the latter since the Inferno had cheaper tickets.

    Believe it or not one of my college buddies is now the voice of the Kansas City MLS team. It’s true.

  5. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 9:26 AM  

    I think you mean Very few white or black americans care abbout soccer in the USA. Many hispanics like Soccer just ask Mario Dominguez.

  6. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 11:08 AM  

    What's a Phoenix Inferno?

  7. Jennifer Coomer // May 07, 2008 11:51 AM  

    You know those plastic Bubba teeth you can get at gas stations? Someone should do a line of Wheldon teeth to sell at the track. I bet they'd fly of the shelves.
    ....Right.

    That sound of the car at the beginning of the video-one of my favorite sounds in the world. I can't wait to be at the track this weekend!!

  8. mikebdot // May 07, 2008 12:15 PM  

    Mutt: It's a fire that is put out, only to start up again. Like one of those trick candles...

  9. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 12:29 PM  

    Bdot: I assumed it was some sort of mixed drink I'd neither heard of or tried--thanks for clearing up the confusion.

  10. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 12:44 PM  

    What's a Phoenix Inferno?

    That's what you get when you wear shorts and sit on the driver's seat of a car with leather or vinyl seats that's been sitting in the sun for hours in a Phoenix parking lot during July. Right Jeff?

  11. pressdog // May 07, 2008 1:17 PM  

    Danny Wheldon did a nice job with it. Love the golf car race where Dan throws a block party. Killer! I'm a big soccer fan. Watch it all the time. My daughters play and I watch on TV often. Then again I like street/road races too, so there you go.

  12. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 3:16 PM  

    Dan Wheldon,The Biggest Cry baby in Racing!!Formula 1 People!!

  13. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 3:17 PM  

    As a fan of both soccer (Go Chicago Fire!) and IndyCars, they strike me as very similar place, albeit by two very different routes. Both seem to have very bright futures, though. And Cuauhtemoc Blanco is way better than David Beckham, anyway.

  14. Iannucci // May 07, 2008 3:34 PM  

    I'm beginning to think the "Anonymous" comments may have outlived their usefulness. I mean, if Kimi Räikkönen can't figure out a good alias...

    And mmack, that's why we Phoenicians put towels on the seats and over the steering wheels after we park them. Such is life in the desert.

  15. Anonymous // May 07, 2008 8:46 PM  

    I like Soccer. I love Ovals. I like Road Courses. I hate Street Circuits.

  16. Anonymous // May 08, 2008 6:01 AM  

    And mmack, that's why we Phoenicians put towels on the seats and over the steering wheels after we park them. Such is life in the desert.

    Jeff,

    I've been to Phoenix once in my life, back in April of 2001. I would like to say that whoever started that stupid phrase "Yes, but it's a dry heat!" is an idiot or a liar. I darn near melted walking across a parking lot in the noon sun.

    But I digress.

    As for Dan and soccer, is it true they cut the scene where Danica! ran across the field, kicked Well-done in the shins, and got a red card?

    P.S. That wasn't Kimi up board, it was Lewis Hamilton. :^)