Car-Melo??????

[cameraman]

You have got to be kidding me.

Gomers complained about the Ansan car but they are praising this?

http://www.indycar.com/multimedia/build_photo.php?photo_id=37867

And Chesson looks to be every corporate marketer's dream :rolleyes:

http://www.indycar.com/multimedia/build_photo.php?photo_id=37859&size=smlmed

[Spicoli]

:shakehead what a bunch of ****ing losers. :gomer:

fits right in with the KISS ********. **** them *******s.

[KLang]

Gomers complained about the Ansan car but they are praising this?


But Tony Bucks are different. :laugh:

[Wheel-Nut]

I had to google Carmelo Anthony to find out who the hell he is.

[Spicoli]

I had to google Carmelo Anthony to find out who the hell he is.

Criminal NBA dooder. :rolleyes:

[NismoZ]

Didn't he invent a candy bar or something?

[Opposite Lock]

That tatt on the back of Chesson's left hand - are those directions for how to get around Sparta?

[Don Quixote]

Melo's Baltimore contacts are a good fit for Tony's, um, needs. :gomer:

[Dr. Corkski]

No punt intended. :gomer:

[ChrisB]

I had to google Carmelo Anthony to find out who the hell he is.

I had no clue who he was either until this news.

REAL race fans don't follow stick n' ball sports! :)

[Cam]

DEsPerATioN AmpLIFieD! :rolleyes:

[swift]

looks like they just pasted "car-melo" decals on sarah fisher's walker racing sled

[Spicoli]

looks like they just pasted "car-melo" decals on sarah fisher's walker racing sled

:) :)

556666

[Fio1]

PJ Chassen is a cool guy. Big F1 fan btw. He dated a model that worked for my dad a few years ago. I'm glad he has an IRL deal, now I might actually have to watch the races.

[Spicoli]

PJ Chassen is a cool guy. Big F1 fan btw. He dated a model that worked for my dad a few years ago. I'm glad he has an IRL deal, now I might actually have to watch the races.


loser.

[Easy]

Baltimore! Where is that?

[Andrew Longman]

Car Melo?

Oh now I get it.

I guess I'm not one of those young fans they are trying to appeal to. I had no idea who Carmelo Anthony is.

From this http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=1&id=2369686 I still don't know why he is doing it. Doesn't even say that he's been to a race. I'm sure it offers tax advantages for him.

Glad to see Chesson rolled out of bed to make the debut. Pretty impressive. Usually you wear your driver suit and show off your sponsors and such. Gene is being edgy and doing things his own way I guess. "Hey, put this sweatband on your leg!"

Either that or he doesn't feel he needs to because this is Mindy and its hallowed ground and all. :rolleyes:


"I'm perhaps the public persona of a really simple message: You should all be blessed because you're standing on hallowed ground," Simmons said. "This is the Indy, baby. ... These are the fastest cars on four wheels. We have rock stars and rockets. These cars will drive on the ceiling.

"We intend on carrying this message around the world, because it deserves it," he said. "Indy? I am Indy, baby."

[extramundane]

Glad to see Chesson rolled out of bed to make the debut. Pretty impressive. Usually you wear your driver suit and show off your sponsors and such. Gene is being edgy and doing things his own way I guess. "Hey, put this sweatband on your leg!"


Well, the "edgy, rebellious guy" schtick worked so well for Buddy Rice...

[Spicoli]

Well, the "edgy, rebellious guy" schtick worked so well for Buddy Rice...

He's like a nasty bad version of PT.... :shakehead

http://www.gridbrasil.com.br/pilotos/irl-buddy_rice.jpg


Is that TG's poop all around his mouf? :saywhat:

[rabbit]

http://www.gridbrasil.com.br/pilotos/irl-buddy_rice.jpghttp://www.bishopaucklandtown.org/images/stan.jpg

[Sean O'Gorman]

I hope every new fan that this promotion brings in (my guess is it'll be less than 10) is packing heat.

[oddlycalm]

This is what you do when the steak doesn't sell and the sizzle doesn't sell and desperation sets in.

oc

[Cam]

This is what you do when the steak doesn't sell and the sizzle doesn't sell and desperation sets in.

oc

I heard there's a surplus of gigantic radioactive turkey legs too! :gomer:

[Ozarkian]

This is what you do when the steak doesn't sell and the sizzle doesn't sell and desperation sets in.

oc

Yep, they appear to be trying to sell the spent charcoal at the bottom of the Weber.

[Andrew Longman]

http://www.gridbrasil.com.br/pilotos/irl-buddy_rice.jpghttp://www.bishopaucklandtown.org/images/stan.jpg

:rofl:

[oddlycalm]

I heard there's a surplus of gigantic radioactive turkey legs too! :gomer: :rofl:

[indyfan31]

http://www.gridbrasil.com.br/pilotos/irl-buddy_rice.jpghttp://www.bishopaucklandtown.org/images/stan.jpg
ROFLMAO!!! :rofl:

[Ziggy]

/\That is EXTREMELY FUNNY/\

Dont know who said, well maybe this Fio1 guy, that PJ was a "cool dude" cause he dates my third cousins best friends neighbor, but that guy is a no driving hack. He should watch several views of Homestead practice before getting into a racing car. Maybe solo, but with others on the track, needs a mirror the size of a billboard.

[rabbit]

/\That is EXTREMELY FUNNY/\

Dont know who said, well maybe this Fio1 guy, that PJ was a "cool dude" cause he dates my third cousins best friends neighbor, but that guy is a no driving hack. He should watch several views of Homestead practice before getting into a racing car. Maybe solo, but with others on the track, needs a mirror the size of a billboard.Get your facts straight. Fio said he "dated a model that worked for my dad a few years ago," which obviously makes him more qualified than just dating his third cousins best friends neighbor. :gomer:

[cameraman]

From the fine folks at ESPN...


In the never-ending quest to find new talent and create marketable stars, the Indy Racing League is trying out a new formula with rookie P.J. Chesson.

And in that quest to transform the mostly faceless group into commodities a la NASCAR, the league retained L.A.-based Simmons Abramson Marketing to help out.

Gene Simmons is better known as the onetime lead singer for the rock band Kiss.

Richard Abramson is better known as the onetime agent to Pee Wee Herman.

Chesson is a young driver with arguably a thinner resume than the late Paul Dana had, but oh, is he a piece of work, boasting 15 tattoos, 37 broken bones (from crashes) and, in the words of Simmons, "a spitfire personality. He will tell God to jump off a building."

Chesson is also an American -- a breed in short supply on the open-wheel circuits and another reason many feel open-wheel has lagged.

"NASCAR's got 38 or 40 American drivers in their series, and they have fans from wherever they started out around the country," Chesson said. "Nothing against our Brazilians, but they don't have that [following], and that's a hindrance."

Simmons admits he and Abramson are viewed with suspicion by hard-core gearheads, but so what? As he informed IRL officials upon introduction, "This is an old man's game in need of a makeover."

Simmons Abramson wants to elevate the image of IndyCar drivers to "rock stars in rockets" -- and create stars, as necessary. An early sample of their work: pairing Chesson, who comes out of "World of Outlaws" sprint racing, with an unconventional owner named Carmelo Anthony, who comes out of the NBA and now sponsors IRL car No. 91, the "Car Melo."

Now that's the flair you'd expect from a rocker who used to split blood, but to many, it's not what open-wheel racing desperately needs.

The IRL and Champ Car are light on drivers with the skills and flair to win races and win back fans. They are heavy on drivers who have the connections or the gimmicks to attract sponsors but not to attract a following, absent strong performance.

Chesson has a slim oval-racing resume. In 2004, he ran in the IndyCar feeder league, then called the Infiniti Pro Series, and won three races against marginal fields. But he couldn't land an IndyCar ride in 2005 and wound up working on a fishing boat out of Miami. It was only when he met and bonded with Simmons during the offseason that he got his break.

Simmons put Chesson together with Carmelo -- Simmons had sold Carmelo's business manager on IndyCar -- and placed them both with the hitherto sponsorless Hemelgarn Racing.

Chesson is at best a work in progress based on his first three races this season. He started near the rear of the grid at Homestead-Miami, the Honda Grand Prix in St. Petersburg and the Indy Japan 300 and failed to finish any of the three races.

That's just because "Car Melo" is still in a shakedown mode, explained Chesson, noting the team was assembled shortly before the IRL opener and is making adjustments "in the middle of the season that others were doing in the offseason."

He also bridles at any talk that P.J. Chesson is more sizzle than steak.

"I'm tired of hearing people say, 'How can you hack it?'" he said. "That's all bull----. If you're a racer, you're a racer, and you can adapt. I think things will turn around for us at Indianapolis."