Checking in with the dog

As most of you know, I have the utmost respect for our buddy Bill "pressdog" Zahren. His site actually predates this one, so if push comes to shove he can legitimately claim to be the "original" IndyCar blogger*. He can have the title if he wants, and if he wants to use it to print up all sorts of t-shirts, coffee mugs and mouse pads then I'll certainly buy one.

And since lately pressdog has had some fine posts that no one apparently has seen I thought it worth noting what's going on over there. It's the off-season (read: no racing) so no one really ventures around our sites much (check the Site Meter yourself) and as such I just wanted to direct the attention of the five of you here to the more enjoyable posts he's had over the last month.

IndyCar Teams Offer Advice to Ailing Stock Car Organizations

A classic take on the financial perils of running a $25M stock car team.

"Frankly, we have no idea how to get by on less, so we put them in touch with some teams who do," said an AGR spokesperson. "We thought maybe 'shop Danica around for more sponsors' but then we realized they don't have a Danica, so we transferred them to Pacific Coast Motor Sports."

SI, ESPN Puzzled by pressdog Ratings

For real, Bill actually handed over the blog to the Tree Hugger herself, former Indy Lights driver Leilani Münter. As much as I enjoyed her savvy sense of humor in calling Jayski "fendered racing's Perez Hilton", I'm fascinated with the hold prospect of turning over our blogs to drivers.

Think about it - these drivers do everything else. Race, sign autographs, go to sponsor shindigs, try to track down more sponsors - work work work. Let's just have them handle the reporting aspect of it as well. I've said before I'd turn this site over to Tony Kanaan in a heartbeat, but if we can get Dan Wheldon to take over for Curt Cavin or Darren Manning to unseat Robin Miller, then this is a trend that needs to happen.


IndyCar Glitteri Offer Big Hairy Audacious Predictions for 2009

Some predictions for 2009 by Cavin, Miller, Oreo, the braintrust at TSO, as well as a few of the word butchers. Ironically, your humble host was one of the few to actually make SERIOUS predictions. What the heck was I thinking?

Regardless, bookmark that post so you can laugh at our poor prognostications. Truly, I insist, since we don't need to be encouraged any further to pretend as if we have any clue what's going to happen in the future.

(*Technically though, the late Miles Nelson of "Ovalicious" gets this title.)