Kruger to give command to start engines

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009 | 1:22 p.m.

NOW:

As grand marshal of next Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lon Kruger will give the traditional command to start engines. While I am sure the UNLV basketball coach will play it straight, as he always does, here are some suggestions he may consider just to see if 70,000 fans are paying attention:

--- "Gentleman -- and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- start your engines!"

--- "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity -- we beat BYU in Provo."

--- "What happened to the Busch Series, anyway?"

--- "Gentlemen, play some defense!"

--- "Ref, his tire was on the line."

--- "Are there any 6-foot-8 drivers who know how to play in the low post?"

--- "I wonder if Pitino is watching."

--- "Which one is Danica's car?"

--- "Can I borrow that yellow flag? We're playing San Diego State at their place Saturday."

--- "I thought the most famous words in auto racing were 'free beer in turn one.' "

THEN:

Ten NASCAR personalities or people mentioned in Jim Croce songs:

Fireball Roberts

Speedball Tucker

Scott Speed

Rapid Roy The Stock Car Boy

Bad, Bad Tony Stewart

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

Big Bill France

Big Jim Walker

Operator

Intimidator