Jan
31
Cal Ripken to Drive Pace Car at Daytona 500
January 31, 2007 | Posted by VroomDude
While it’s not quite as ridiculous as some of the celebrity tie-ins of late, I’m not sure that news of Cal Ripken driving the pace car at Daytona is going to get many racing fans revved up.
“The Daytona 500 is one of the most storied sporting events in the country and I am thrilled and honored to be a part of it,” Ripken said. “NASCAR drivers are tremendous athletes and I look forward to being in that environment.”
“Cal Ripken joins an outstanding list of celebrities who will be joining us at this year’s Daytona 500,” Daytona International Speedway president Robin Braig said. “NASCAR’s most prestigious event has a history of attracting high-profile athletes and entertainers, and this year is no different.”
It’d be a lot more entertaining if they opened up the spot to fans and had them wrestle alligators with bacon strapped to their backs, in a swimming pool filled with sharks, with monkeys shooting compound bows at them, for the right to drive the pace car.
I know, celebrities and athletes are cool, and I don’t necessarily have a better suggestion, but it just seems kind of arbitrary to plunk people with such tenuous connections to NASCAR into the pace car. Better than Jay Leno or Ben Affleck, I guess.