Answer this...

NASCAR blogging with the best of this...

Hey, Race Fans, did you know this...?

“NASCAR blogs are among the most informed and intelligent across all sports.”

~ Kathleen Hessert President of Charlotte, NC based Sports Media Challenge.   

Go NASCAR bloggers! Right on track.

Just over one year since Sports Media Challenge (SMC) launched its first Sports Blog Index™, SMC announced the addition of its NASCAR Sports Blog Index to guide fans to some of the most influential racing-focused venues on the web. The SBI is the first-ever standard measurement tool that identifies the most influential sports and entertainment blogs. 

A blog is rated on three main criteria: influence, fan engagement and quality. These factors are measured through a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data, which allows the Sports Blog Index to more accurately rate the true “worth” of a given blog.  Influence, which is a measure of the impact a blog has on fan opinion and perceptions, is a key factor in determining a blog’s ranking. Fan engagement is based on quantitative data such as page visits, number of posts, etc. The quality of a given blog’s content is determined by the SMC team, who analyze the humor, sentiment and sarcasm of a blog more effectively than a computer.  The inclusion of both quantitative and qualitative data in the rating is what makes the Sports Blog Index unique.

Based on the rating of each blog in the areas of influence, fan engagement and quality, the top ten NASCAR sports blogs are:

1. The Daly Planet

2. From the Marbles

3. One Bad Wheel

4. Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

5. Restrictor Plate This

6. Answer this…

7. NASCAR Ranting and Raving

8. Kathy’s Pit Stop

9. Life in the Turn Lane

10. Full Throttle

I must say, TGOM is in good company and quite proud to be listed among these fine NASCAR bloggers--some of whom have embraced the off track angle of Answer this... and welcomed its author into this elite club with open arms. Nevermind the naysayers who'd like to put us into the wall on turn 4.

Once again, I must thank my impassioned and loyal readership for their insatiable appetite for all things related to their favorite driver's personal life--and then some.

A new season is upon us and much gossip is abrew. Upcoming Shootout FAQs include new features ("Spotted," "Overheard at the LKN Dinner Table"), updates to previous FAQs, off-season breakups and makeups, engagement news, paternity results, more baby-making speculation and, of course, a blind item.

Buckle up, fans. If the inbox is any indication, we're in for a wild season.

TGOM shamelessly wonders about this...

Q. Do Answer this... readers know that the Blogger's Choice Awards are now accepting nominations and votes for the 2008 competition?
A. Current evidence inconclusive. TGOM hopes they do, because according to most readers, this is a pretty good darn good blog about sports and gossip and stuff.

TGOM's nominations went to Benchracing in sports, Seriously?OMG!WTF? in gossip and MomLogic in parenting.

Go give 'em votes, eh?

Vote for Benchracing
Vote for MomLogic
Vote for Seriously?OMG!WTF?

Speedway Illustrated shout out to Answer this...

Answer this... got a nice shout out in the January issue of Speedway Illustrated! Thanks guys!

And thanks to all of you readers and linkers who make this site so popular!

Even more thanks to the drivers and their ladies who always keep it interesting.

TGOM weighs in on the soap opera lives of this...

The tallglassofmilk was interviewed by NASCAR.com for their article on the soap opera lives of drivers. Here are excerpts of the story, written by Raygan Swan:

She knows their breakups and their make-ups. She has positioned her blog as the People magazine of NASCAR.

[Denny] Hamlin, who Jen follows with regularity, became blog fodder for his recent split with a long-time high school girlfriend and now his current love interest.

"If that site didn't write it, someone else would've," Hamlin lamented.

McMurray initially embraced the celebrity attention early in his NASCAR career but now prefers his privacy.

...

Why the preoccupation with NASCAR drivers' wives and lives?

"Previously, NASCAR drivers weren't considered celebrities and with that status comes a tremendous amount of interest," said Jen, who in 2004 began tracking the pop culture craze inside the sport. "The interest has always been there but there's never been a place where NASCAR fans could get the info."

And the info they are getting, historically, has been taboo, never written about.

In the infancy of the blog, Jen's reach inside NASCAR circles was limited. The blog was hardly mainstream. That was until her blog was linked by another popular blogger, operated by Jade Gurss, public relations representative of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who reveals behind-the-scene tidbits on the sport's most popular driver.

"Once that happened, the entire NASCAR online world found out about it, until then I had flown under the radar," she said.

Tall Glass of Milk touches on an array of topics, but readers beware -- the information is not always accurate or confirmed.

"We call it 'As the Track Turns,'" Jen said. "We discuss which drivers are cheating, which drivers are sharing the same girls and which girls are hanging on to the drivers who don't want to let go of the lifestyle."

The appetite for NASCAR drama and gossip, Jen said, is human nature. Fans want to know anything and everything about their favorite star or athlete, particularly so with young female fans.

Full story

And now, some linky love for this...

It is quite customary for people to thank the supporters of their ventures. For NASCAR drivers with sponsors, it's every time they have a mic in front of their faces. For bloggers with readers, it's whenever we damn well please.

The tallglassofmilk pleases to pause right now and give a big shout out to the teams and employees of NASCAR sponsors, partners and other affiliates who read Answer this... 

AAA
Allstate
Allstate 400 At The Brickyard
Alltel
Anheuser-Busch
Autozone
Bank of America
Carhartt
Caterpillar
Chevron (Texaco)
Chicagoland Speedway
Cingular
CitiGroup (CitiFinancial)
Clorox
Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Dupont
ESPN
FedEx
Ford
FOX
Geico
Genuine Parts (Napa)
Ginn
GM
GMAC Insurance
Harrah's
Hendrick Motorsports
Home Depot
Husqvarna
Kevin Harvick Inc.
Kroger
Lowe's
NASCAR
NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR Images
NASCAR Partners
Nextel
Office Depot
Pfizer
Raytheon
Rockwell Automation
Roush and Yates Racing Engines
Roush Industries

Sony
Target
Tiffany
Toyota
TrackCouture
Turner Sports (NASCAR.com)
UPS
Verizon
XM Radio
Waste Managament

Thank you all for reading! It is my pleasure to keep you informed and/or entertained. Ditto for all of my readers--NASCAR fans and otherwise.