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Congratulations to NASCAR.com reporter and Indianapolis native Raygan Swan on her marriage to Indy area attorney Matt Golitko. Close friends and family witnessed the couple's exchange of wedding vows last Sunday at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
WEDDING ALBUM: MATT AND RAYGAN GOLITKO
Photos: Rich Miller Photography
FIRESUITS OVER FASHION
NASCAR.com video feature: Delana Harvick's career in racing has gone from intern to owner.
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WEDDING BELLS ARE RINGING
Q. Is it true that Kristy Labonte is getting married?
A. Yes.
Q. To Brian Vickers?
A. No!
Congratulations to Terry and Kim Labonte whose daughter is engaged to be married. Kristy and her fiancé, Matt, will begin their life together in Texas. A wedding date has been set for April 26, 2008. Best of luck to them.
Congratulations to reporter Raygan Swan, who reunited with a previous beau from her native Indiana last year and recently became engaged. Raygan and Matt will be married on April 20. She has already returned to the Indianapolis area to begin wedding preparations and will carry out her duties for NASCAR.com from there.
Congratulations to former Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Steve Park, who proposed to Jessica Skarpelezos on New Year's Eve after several years of dating.
Quoting Steve on this...
"There is no party that could top this one. I am so happy to have Jessica by my side and even happier that she has agreed to be my wife. She's been with me through it all, and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful person in my life."
Wedding plans have not yet been detailed.
Congratulations also to Johnny Sauter and Cortney Owen, who were married on December 15.
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MARKET UPDATES
Off the Market
Agent Jeff Dickerson: Dating Crystal, Penske Racing's flight attendant
#15 Jackman T.J. Ford: Rumored to be seeing ESPN reporter Jamie Little
Two of NASCAR's most notorious bachelors have quietly rekindled former relationships since the end of the season. More of an update to follow if these old flames don't get blown out by the time they roll off the grid in Daytona.
In the Market
David Stremme
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NEW YEAR, NEW SIGHTS
A fan spied Miss Emily Maynard and country crooner Jake Owen at the
Kentucky Wildcats game against the Florida State Seminoles on New
Years' Eve in Nashville.
Miss Erica Dewey was spotted out on the town New Year's Eve with her new beau, former Crew Chief Lance McGrew.
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THE NASCAROLINA RUMOR MILL
Q. Are Michael and Buffy Waltrip getting divorced?
A. That rumor has a life of its own and has lived longer than this website. To date TGOM has found no evidence that either party has taken any action towards the legal dissolution of their marriage. It is confirmed, however, that the couple is currently maintaining separate residences.
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THE MOST FAQs
Q. Is Kasey Kahne still seeing the girl from his Bahamas trip?
A. Yep.
Q. Is it serious?
A. Serious enough that she can now be safely referred to as the girlfriend.
Q. What can you tell us about her?
A. Kasey's new girlfriend is
Ohio native Jenny Severance. She is a 32-year-old single mother who
currently works and resides in NASCARolina. The two began dating in the
early fall of last year.
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SUPER SPONSOR SHOUTOUT
Bright Star Light Products, a unit of Koehler-Bright Star, Inc. that
was recently purchased by Berkshire-Hathaway, Inc., has come to the aid
of a United States Army Battalion now based in Kirkuk, Iraq as a favor
to a Key Motorsports team member.
Jeff
O’Farrell, a computer specialist, welder, electrician and race day gas
catch can man for the Key Motorsports NASCAR Craftsman Truck and
Nationwide Series racing organization based in Mooresville, NC,
recently contacted Bright Star Light Products to see if the company
could help out his son Brody’s 10th Mountain Division unit.
Brody’s
Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade of the 22nd Infantry Regiment
is part of a 1,000-man squad located in this northern Iraqi province
where Jeff said “was based in a tent city with no outside protective
barrier to speak of.”
“Brody said that they are handicapped
by the lack of sufficient light when they are on patrol in motorized
vehicles at night, so he asked if we had a sponsor that could help,”
the elder O’Farrell explained.
Though Key Motorsports did not
boast of a sponsor that was into the lighting business, telephone calls
made by the race team’s sales staff produced Bright Star. Subsequent
telephone calls and discussions to the Hanover Township,
Pennsylvania-based company produced some interest, and in just a couple
of weeks after discussions began Bright Star shipped the lights to
Brody’s outfit. “It should make a whale of a difference for them,”
O’Farrell said.
“Bright Star is known in the lighting industry
to produce what is regarded as the ‘Safest Flashlight’”, said the
company’s National Sales Manager Shannon Sink. “There is a
certification process that has to be undertaken in order for any light
product to be certified for use in a particular situation such as
mining and military use, so when the problem these soldiers were having
was explained to us, we pretty much knew that it had to be our new
Lighthawk units with lithium iron battery technology that were needed
here,” Sink added.
Bright Star lights are predominantly hand
held versions, so the soldiers in O’Farrell’s unit had to devise a
method to attach the lights to their vehicles to achieve their
objectives. “We’re pretty happy as to how the folks at Bright Star
reacted to our plea and how quickly they sent the lights. It will
certainly help our son and the others in the Battalion as they serve
out their tour,” O’Farrell added.
Sink explained that Bright
Star has sold lighting to the military before, so this kind of
application was something they felt they could satisfy. “The key is
providing something that will keep the soldiers safe, and we take a lot
of pride knowing that we have the technology and the products to
satisfy this particular situation. So when the call came to help we
jumped at the chance,” Sink ended.
Sgt. O’Farrell, 27, is in
his sixth year with the Army and is serving in his third tour of duty
in the Middle East and second in Iraq. He first served in Afghanistan
for nine months and then a year in Iraq before returning home in
September 2006. He re-enlisted for another 4 to 6-year term upon his
most recent deployment that began in September.
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Alienating the affection of this...
Which NASCAR driver is rumored to have a civil lawsuit being brought
against him by a scorned man whose wife got screwed? Story goes like this ... Man and wife excited to meet their favorite driver ... driver more excited about meeting wife ... driver helps himself to wife ... couple gets divorced ... husband sues. Ex-wife moves on to a competitor's team manager. No word on how the driver's girlfriend feels about the whole situation.
Note to readers: Feel free to leave your guesses in the comments, but the tallglassofmilk won't confirm, so don't bother inquiring about this... Keep the comments short and sweet. Unwarranted personal attacks on the subjects of this site and your fellow readers will not be tolerated.
Q. What is a *blind item*?
A. Urban dictionary: blind item
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MEDIA ALERT
The Complete Idiot's Guide to NASCAR
by Brian Tarcy
Pub. January 2, 2008
For anyone new to the world of racing or hardcore fans looking for a comprehensive overview, this is the only book necessary. Chronicling the complete history of NASCAR®, as well as its controversies, this almanac—filled with fun facts, trivia, and stats—is the perfect guide for its millions of fans.
REMINDERS
NW&GFs OF THE WEEK
Raygan Swan, former fiancee of Anthony Foyt IV
The former Indianapolis reporter (IndyStar.com, INTake Weekly, That's Raygan) recently accepted a writing gig for NASCAR.com. She'll pick up her pen, er... laptop starting in April and will hit the road for several races. Congratulations and good luck to her! I do believe Raygan is the first female writer to hold such a position for the official site of NASCAR.
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Connie Freidel, wife of Juan Pablo Montoya
"I love motorhome living. I love the cooking and cleaning and having friends and family around. We've been to Monaco and Barcelona and done all the hotels and restaurants. We just want to feel like we are home.'' [AP, Q&A w/ JPM]
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Continue reading "Las Vegas to Atlanta: FAQs on the road to this..." »
Raygan Swan is the former fiancée of IRL driver
Anthony Foyt IV, who returns to IRL with Vision Racing in 2007 after losing his NASCAR Busch Series ride halfway through the 2006 season.
Raygan and Anthony originally met when he was in Indianapolis for the Indy 500 in May of 2004. Raygan, a native Hoosier, was involved in another relationship at the time. In 2005, when AJIV returned to Indy, Raygan, then a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, interviewed him and other IRL drivers for a feature story. Tracking their moves off the track, Raygan got to share Anthony's free time playing basketball, bowling, golfing and just hanging out. Dating followed.
The couple announced their engagement in early April of 2006 and Raygan relocated to NASCARolina to be closer to Anthony. Plans were underway for a January 2007 nuptials in the Turks & Caicos. But shortly after the move, Raygan discovered Anthony was
cheating on her with several different girls. She called off the wedding in October, exchanged her engagement ring for a down payment on
a condo and describes the entire experience to friends as a complete
"brain fart" on her part valuable learning experience.
Raygan is a graduate of Indiana State University and has been a reporter for several years. She is currently a senior writer for NASCAR.com. In her free time she enjoys working out, cooking, traveling and watching TV. Her birthdate is April 21, 1977.
Flickr*: Photo album
* Note: Additional photos tagged 'exclusive' are available to Answer this... Flickr friends only.
More links on this...
Former Blog: That's So Raygan
This post was updated Mar. 14, 2007.
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