From: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org (jewel-digest) To: jewel-digest@smoe.org Subject: jewel-digest V12 #113 Reply-To: jewel@smoe.org Sender: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jewel-digest Thursday, May 31 2007 Volume 12 : Number 113 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe from this digest, send an email to * jewel-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY the word * unsubscribe in the BODY of the email * . * For the latest news on what Jewel is up to, go to * the OFFICIAL Jewel web site at http://www.jeweljk.com * and click on "calendar" * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: jewel-digest V9 #___ gives fellow list readers * no clue as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- [EDA] Article: Jewel on Fast Cars [Fjjordao ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 17:00:13 -0300 From: Fjjordao Subject: [EDA] Article: Jewel on Fast Cars http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/06/04/columns1.html Fast cars, big stars Gillette's Young Guns teach the stars a few tricks as pop culture meets NASCAR in a new reality TV series It's the sort of scene that only a few years ago wouldn't have been imaginable in the NASCAR world: Flyin' Ryan Newman roaring around Lowe's Motor Speedway with Captain Kirk in the passenger seat of a race car. Along pit road, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher is discussing turn approach angles with Jimmie Johnson. Kurt Busch is ex-plaining to Serena Williams that the speed really isn't all that bad. Jewel, the singer, and her boyfriend, Ty Murray, world-famous cowboy, talk animatedly about how she slammed her race car into the fourth-turn wall and lived to tell about it. Welcome to the latest intersection of NASCAR and pop culture - the Fast Cars and Superstars Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race. Gillette, which has sponsored a "Young Guns" advertising program in NASCAR for several seasons, jumped into television in a bigger way by organizing the made-for-television, multi-episode "reality" series scheduled to be broadcast by ABC June 7-24. The event, taped over three days and nights in March at Lowe's Motor Speedway, paired the Young Guns drivers - Newman, Busch, Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray - with 12 celebrities from the worlds of sports, Hollywood and music. Thus the track hosted a zany mix of speed and VIPs, resulting in volleyball star Gabby Reese spinning a car at 140 miles per hour, professional wrestler John Cena talking about body-slamming not being out of the range of possibility in racing, nervous tennis superstar Williams going home early and every celebrity being decked out in bright-blue Gillette firesuits that occasionally were ill-fitting. It was NASCAR turning another corner in the never-ending rush toward the mainstream. "Events like this help out," Johnson said. "Perception is everything. There are a lot of stars that attend football games. I think our sport is slowly gaining speed in that respect. I'm not sure this talks to the status of the sport, but I think it sort of validates it. They're going to tell their friends how much fun it was, and it will continue to grow." The experience did modify some thinking about NASCAR. Taping began with the drivers giving the celebrities at-speed tours of the track in Jeff Gordon Driving School race cars with passenger seats installed. Former NBA player and sports television commentator John Salley emerged from his ride with Carl Edwards startled by the speed and the rapid approach of the first-turn wall. "I know NASCAR is trying to do a lot more with diversity, but I'm going to go out and tell my people to stay away from this," joked Salley, who is black. He called Edwards "the devil" after their three-lap run. "John Salley kind of flipped out a little bit," Edwards said. "I don't think he was prepared, but we had fun. We joke around about Salley, but to see somebody get that excited, to change the way they see racing, that is pretty cool." Cowher, recently departed from the Steelers but expected to return to coaching eventually, said he was surprised by the speed. "The focus and concentration of these guys is amazing," he said. "You don't realize the speeds and G-forces they're working with until you experience it. And to think that they're 3 or 4 inches from the car in front of them for four straight hours - I have an unbelievably greater appreciation for what they do because it is life and death. It's not like you hit a bad shot or you throw a bad pass. These guys make one bad turn, and it could be tough." After riding with the drivers, the celebrities turned practice laps in Gordon school cars before moving into the competition part of the program. They were timed as they drove several laps around the speedway as a NASCAR driver served as a "pace" driver to give them a speed monitor. The session included a pit stop and tire change. Six celebrities qualified for the final round. Reese spun out during her qualifying session, and Williams, former Wimble-don champion and current Australian Open champion, didn't make hers. She was so shaken by her ride-along experience with Busch that she decided to drop out of the competition. It was a little tougher than a confrontation at the net. "I thought it was going to be easy, like smooth and cool, and it was none of the above," Williams said. "It was stressful. It was scary. It raised by heart rate and blood pressure. I might have lost two days of my life. "I feel like I just spent all night in a bar and am just walking into my room. That was so much speed, and we were so close to those walls. I'm happy to be back. I've been to NASCAR races. It's a great sport, but I never knew how awesome it was until I went out there. It took my breath away." Busch said Williams had her head down and her eyes closed throughout the run. "She was struggling a little," he said. "I told her she needed her eyes open if she wanted to drive." Shatner, 76, whose starring appearance as Capt. James T. Kirk in the original "Star Trek" television series launched an unlikely career that has spread into virtually all elements of the entertainment world, was sweating heavily after his first run but said his experience as an actor could be beneficial. "I can pretend I'm going fast," he said. He failed to qualify, prompting suggestions that he traveled at warped speed, not warp speed. Jewel, Elway and Cena were perhaps the most serious students in the celebrity group. "Elway was absorbing it all," Busch said. "You could see he was into it. I would think an athlete would have an easier time than an actor because they have had to absorb a lot of changes in their sports." Jewel, who grew up on a backcountry farm in Alaska and now lives on a ranch with Murray in Stephenville, Texas, came into the competition with a plan to do more than simply participate. "I'm competitive, so I want to do it well," she said. "I haven't driven a stick shift in a long time. That will be hilarious, but if I'm comfortable I'll push it. I grew up on a ranch in remote Alaska with no electricity, no plumbing, no central heating and no grocery stores. We killed everything we ate, so they might underestimate my toughness." Indeed. She pushed it so hard in her solo run that she slamm-ed into the fourth-turn wall, pancaking the right side of her car. She kept control, however, and afterward said the incident didn't shake her. "It wasn't scary, actually," she said. "I wasn't hitting the wall head-on. I just scraped it. I was really pushing it to go as fast as I could. The tires just weren't warmed up, and I slid up. I should have let off the gas, but I just don't have enough experience." Jewel said she and Murray signed up for the celebrity event without a lot of investigation. "We were at a Valentine's party," she said, "and we got an e-mail asking if we wanted to do a NASCAR thing. We were a little intoxicated, and we said yes without thinking." Al Merrin, vice chairman for BBDO, the advertising agency that developed the series, said the logistics of putting it together were challenging. "We could write a book about the challenges and the obstacles," he said. "There were a lot of moving pieces, but we got all the approvals." ------------------------------ End of jewel-digest V12 #113 ****************************