Digger, the animated alter-ego to FOX’s Gopher Cam, now has his own show. Here is the fifth and final episode.
[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x91gb6_the-adventures-of-digger-and-friend_sport[/dailymotion]
If you missed episode 1, click here, episode 2, click here, episode 3, click here and episode 4, click here.
Editor’s note: I missed this one when it originally aired and was now just able to get the video.
IndyCar series driver Dario Franchitti will leave the series next season to race in NASCAR with Chip Ganassi Racing.
The agreement is yet to be finalized but it will announced at the end of the IndyCar series in September. Franchitti will occupy the #40 car for Ganassi.
Franchitti, who currently drives for Andretti Green racing, will join another former open wheel racer Juan Pablo Montoya a current NASCAR rookie.
Speculation on Franchitti’s future began in May when he won the Indianapolis 500. He currently works on one-year contracts and becomes a free agent on December 1st.
While he gets along with his teammates at Andretti Green, there has been some friction between Franchitti and team owner Mario Andretti after he and Andretti’s son, Marco, were involved in a crash at Sonoma in August.
It is expected that Franchitti, who has yet to drive a stock car of any kind, will get a quick course in the sport from Ganassi, who plans, according to the source, to enter him in a series of ARCA and NASCAR Busch Series races to get him up to speed.
Franchitti by the way is also married to the actress Ashley Judd, who is a huge University of Kentucky sports fan. She is also the daughter of Naomi Judd, who along with her other daughter Wynonna formed the award winning country music duo, the Judds.
Yes this is still primarily a Boston Red Sox and UCONN Huskies blog. As it says at the top, other sports news. Plus I am a fan of NASCAR and watch when I can.
The rumors that were running around NASCAR garages last week that Joe Gibbs Racing would be switching from Chevrolet to Toyota became official on Wednesday morning.
The move by JGR allows them to be the top dog at Toyota.
“If anybody said at the beginning of the season Toyota would be sitting at a press announcement on Sept. 5 announcing Joe Gibbs Racing as a part of the overall team effort we all would have had a hearty laugh,” said Jim Aust, the vice president of Toyota Motor Sales and president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development.
“Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the most respected teams in NASCAR, a championship-caliber race team and a first-class organization,” Aust said. “We are confident that partnering with the Gibbs team will raise the level of our entire Toyota NASCAR program, and will be beneficial to all of the current teams racing the Toyota Camry.
J.J. Yeley, part of the Gibbs stable of racers, was out of a job when they announced Kyle Busch was joining them. Well, Yeley will now be driving for Hall of Fame Racing, which has a working agreement with JGR. Hall of Fame Racing will also make the move over to Toyota with JGR. Recently, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, owners of HoF Racing, sold their majority interest to Arizona Diamondbacks executives, Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel. This now makes Tony Raines, the current driver for HoF Racing, a free agent.
If you’re a fan of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and were worried about him not bringing over his crew chief and cousin, Tony Eury, Jr., don’t worry. Eury, Jr. will be joining Junior over at Hendrick Motorsports as his crew chief.
“Dale Jr. and I are both excited to continue working together,” Eury said. “With the resources we’ll have at Hendrick Motorsports, it’s an opportunity to consistently run up front and be in title contention every year. The goals are winning races and winning championships.”
Rick Hendrick also announced that Casey Mears will drive the #5 car, a number which Hendrick has had since 1984 when he got into the business.
Longtime NASCAR driver, Bobby Hamilton Sr, died at the age of 49 from cancer. Hamilton had won the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series. He made 371 starts overall and raced in the Winston/Nextel Cup from 1989 til 2005. He also raced in the Truck Series starting in 2003 as an owner/driver. My condolences go out to the Hamilton family.
Technorati: Bobby Hamilton, NASCAR, Nextel Cup, Craftsman Truck Series