NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer must have the magic touch -- after you break up with him.
Athena Barber, shown to the right, was voted the hottest NASCAR Girlfriend back in 2007 in a vote done by Sports Illustrated, but lost that title in 2008 after she and the Emporia, Kan.-driver parted ways to the puzzlement of male NASCAR fans everywhere.
Well, as TGOM over at Answer This spotted this week, Barber has found her way into the camera lens of the magazine FHM. I've included the link below.
In the interview/photo shoot, Barber opens up quite a bit about being the arm candy of Clint Bowyer and what its like for the wives and girlfriends of the sport, both at the track and at home.
A lot of it's very informative (she talks about how Clint would never, ever drive even if he had a sip of alcohol) and a lot of it's kind of humorous (she says that the WAGs even take sides when drivers get into it on the track).
When I saw the Fanhouse post about the Iowa high school football players got suspended for gesturing in a team photo, my mind immediately went to all the photos of NASCAR drivers that I have seen displaying "the shocker."
Boys will be boys? Well, maybe that flies for the high school kiddos, but what's up with our drivers in this "family" sport? What's their excuse?
Do these guys really hold true the belief that "women are sexual objects, toys, things with which to be played and dominated?" Or have they just not matured yet? I'm sure Sherry Pollex, Truex's girlfriend, is real proud to claim her man in that photo. At least it's from 2004 and predates their relationship. She seems to have straightened him out--I don't recall a more recent one of Truex doing the shocker. Wish I could say the same about Junior.
Could this behavior have more to do with why he is single than he "hasn't run into any winners yet?" What "winner" is going to respect a guy who goes around giving women the fingers in photos? Nasty. Do you know where those fingers have been?
So, fans, we gonna tell the boys their shocking opinion of women just ain't cool? or do we just let the boys be boys?
Yes Junior is bummed he isn't getting the #8. Yes he feels for those fans who have tattooed the #8 on their person. But ... he wants everybody to lay off his step-mother, Teresa--the one who made taking the #8 to Hendrick Motorsports impossible:
"I do want to say that I think it's about time we give Teresa a break. She makes the decision on that number because she owns it and as much as I am disappointed and frustrated over the fact that I don't get to keep driving the No. 8, the stuff that I read on the Internet and the stuff that I'm hearing is going on, the remarks about her, directed toward her, I don't think anybody deserves that."
NASCAR driver Ryan Newman says that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but ... with regards to Michael Vick:
"His little group has made it clear they fight dogs. People who defend that are slugs. This separates the smart people from the dumb."
Newman and his wife Krissie, who raise funds for animal welfare through The Ryan Newman Foundation and serve as volunteer board members for The Humane Society of Catawba County, hope that the Michael Vick case will bring more attention to dog fighting.
They'll call some attention to it themselves by sporting the t-shirts they had made last week that say: "7 to life" on the front and "Neuter Vick" on the back, which Krissie says Ryan will wear through the end of the season.
NASCAR driver and animal rights advocate Greg Biffle didn't hold back today when asked by the press what he thought of NFL player Michael Vick torturing dogs:
"I just wish they'd put him in jail and be done with it.
"Just put him in prison and tell the general public, just give them all the details of what they do with those dogs. How they steal people's dogs out of their front yards and use them for bait dogs and let other dogs kill them. There's all the horrifying stories. You look at all the pictures on the Internet of the dogs, just maimed, mangled. It's horrible.
Biffle hopes the Vick case will call attention to the widespread problem of the "dog-fighting underworld":
"It goes on everywhere. He's not the only guy. It goes on in [Michigan] too. Maybe they'll use him as an example and maybe get some other people to think about whether they want to be in federal prison with him or not."
We can only hope.
In 2005, Biffle and his finacée, Nicole Lunders, co-founded The Greg Biffle Foundation to "create awareness and serve as advocates to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motorsports industry." Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $100,000 to humane societies and animal shelters across the country.
Jeff Gordon and wife Ingrid Vandebosch revealed the first pictures of daughter Ella Sophia today on www.jeffgordon.com.
Gorgeous!
So, what does Gordon think of fatherhood a daddy so far? It's "amazing."
"I'm getting less sleep, that's for sure. It's not so bad, it's been good. Ingrid's been fantastic. I don't know how she does it because she's got to be up every three hours, but the baby's sleeping good, feeding good, so that's helping both of us.
It makes leaving home more difficult, but won't interfere with his focus on racing:
"It's harder to leave but once we get here, your mind is so focused on driving the car, being competitive, that it doesn't enter into your mind a whole lot. When I'm in the car [it's the] same way, I'm focused on that. Anytime I have to go do an appearance or leave to come to the race, it's much tougher, but it's also a lot more exciting to go home when I do."
Sports Illustratedpolled NASCAR drivers and the results showed that 29% of them think Clint Bowyer's girlfriend is hotter than their own significant other.
Not surprising. Athena Barber, part-time model and former Bassani Babe, is as full of southern charm as she is natural beauty. She never fails to turn heads at the track with her casually sexy style. No doubt even some of the female NASCAR following would admit to having a girl crush on her. More pics and video.
Ironically, Jeff Gordon's "supermodel" wife, Ingrid Vandebosch, doesn't do much for the rest of the field.
Drivers to Junior: Hands off our Daughters 65% of NASCAR drivers polled said they wouldn't let their daughter date Dale Earnhardt Jr.
TGOM to Drivers, Owners, Crew Chiefs, et. al.: Be on guard. NASCAR's most eligible bachelor is in the market to replace his latest female companion, who recently passed her expiration date.
Earlier today, Jeff Gordon and Ingrid Vandebosch welcomed a new daughter into the world. Ella Sofia Gordon was born at 9:09 a.m., weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long.
"It's been an absolutely incredible experience," Gordon said. "Ingrid came through amazingly and we're both really happy and overjoyed. We can't wait to get home and start our lives together as a family."
The four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion will travel to Northern California later this week and is scheduled to participate in all on-track activities at Infineon Raceway, site of this weekend's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.
Kyle Busch might be a little sore today after the "best driver in NASCAR" wrecked him yesterday:
Once again, NASCAR is to be commended for their safety efforts. He was able to get out of there in a hurry, essentially unscathed.
And once again, I have to call ESPN on ABC out for sucking. Where was the shot of Busch's girlfriend in the pits? I can't be the only one whose mind immediately went to Erica and what it might be like to watch her boyfriend flipping through the air. She had to be terrified--if only for a moment. Where was the shot? And what about his crew? No shot of the pits, no post-wreck thoughts or interviews until Busch himself came out of the medical center.
Until recently I hadn't been able to put my finger on what was bugging me about ESPN's NASCAR coverage. A member of the NASCAR on FOX media hit the nail on the head in an email to me earlier this week:
"ESPN doesn't realize that broadcasting is about people...the technology is interesting but not what attracts the casual fan/viewer."
The daughter of the late legend Dale Earnhardt wears many a hat.
She's a wife, to crew chief Jimmy Elledge, and a mother, to Karsyn and Kennedy.
She's a patient, still recovering from a surgical operation removing a growth from her pancreas last month.
She is her brother's business partner, advisor and confidant.
Kelley Earnhardt Elledge is also playing one of the biggest roles of her life right now as chief negotiator for NASCAR's most popular driver in this season's face-off between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Inc.
She has quietly become one of NASCAR's most powerful women and she's going head-to-head with another--also an Earnhardt--who just happens to be her stepmother.
Well, almost head-to-head. Teresa Earnhardt has a go-between to do the negotiating on behalf DEI. I imagine that having Max Siegel around is good for family relations.
The Kids Have Spoken
What's at stake is their father's legacy. This time, Kelley isn't negotiating just on behalf of Junior, but also herself. She didn't spare her thoughts Tuesday when she reiterated that they want control of what their late father's company because they're not satisfied with the way it's going:
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer must have the magic touch -- after you break up with him.
Speaking of 
Yes Junior is bummed he isn't getting the #8. Yes he feels for those fans who have tattooed the #8 on their person. But ... he wants everybody to lay off his step-mother, Teresa--the one who made taking the #8 to Hendrick Motorsports 
NASCAR driver Ryan Newman says that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but ... with regards to 
NASCAR driver and animal rights advocate Greg Biffle 
Jeff Gordon and wife Ingrid Vandebosch revealed the first pictures of daughter Ella Sophia today on 
Sports Illustrated 
Earlier today, Jeff Gordon and Ingrid Vandebosch welcomed a new daughter into the world. Ella Sofia Gordon was born at 9:09 a.m., weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long.
The daughter of the late legend Dale Earnhardt wears many a hat.
