Duly Noted: NASCAR, Zzyzx Road and e-mail

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 | 9:06 a.m.

THE ROMANCE OF NASCAR

In its perpetual quest to put the NASCAR logo on every single solitary item on the shelves at Wal-Mart, the stock car sanctioning body has announced an agreement with Harlequin Enterprises, best known for its romance fiction titles.

The first in a series of romantic novels based around the track will be published in late January, to roughly coincide with the Daytona 500. It will be titled "In The Groove" (insert your own double-entendre here).

"She wouldn't know a NASCAR star if he hit her with his car," reads a promo on the author's Web site, "and she just did."

She must have been related to the Maricopa County deputy who pulled Kurt Busch over in Phoenix last weekend.

Postcript to the Harlequin-NASCAR deal: No word yet on whether Jimmy Spencer will pose for the cover painting.

Wranglers rookie defenseman Tom Hambly's plus-minus rating in Las Vegas' 6-2 victory against Bakersfield last Friday, a club record.

I'M HEARIN' THAT ...

... the relationship between landlord and hockey tenant at the Orleans Arena has developed a rut.

WHEN THE BOSS IS AWAY ... A couple of patrons at Brendan's Irish Pub inside the Orleans seemed miffed last Friday when they had to ask the bartender to switch one of the 200 or so television sets in the bar to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race from Phoenix.

The one in which Brendan Gaughan, the guy for whom the bar is named, was racing.

FAIRWAY ROCKETS

As usual, John Daly, one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, spent Tuesday's Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge entertaining the gallery at Lake Las Vegas with a series of prodigious 370-yard drives, one or two of which actually returned to earth in bounds.

Daly hit a provisional ball off the 12th tee that nearly drew rain. The crowd was still oohing and ahhing when as if on cue, three military helicopters buzzed the fairway where Daly's ball had landed.

They must have been trying to intercept a cruise missile with "Titleist" written on it. Also credit DeMarco with a fantastic tumbling one-handed pass reception in the Gaels' 20-7 loss to Palo Verde on Thursday night.

TOP 10

Ways to mispronounce "Dzieduszycki," as in Wranglers forward Matt Dzieduszycki (Zhay-doo-schits-kee) 10. Krzyzewski 9. Dosteyevski 8. Krushelnyski 7. Ziggy Stardust 6. Zzyzx Road 5. Ziggy Palffy 4. Shoe Fly Pie 3. Dizzy Gillespie 2. Carl Yastrzemski 1. No. 34

47-6-1

The number of fouls, yellow cards and red cards, respectively, handed out in Air Force's 3-1 men's soccer victory against UNLV last Friday.

E-MAIL BAG

My second take: Late success, too, Ken.

My second take: Thanks, Jim, but I'll always be an Indiana fan.

NASCAR journeyman driver Kenny Wallace: "I would cut one of my pinkies off to have the opportunity to do what Kurt Busch has done." on replacing Busch, who was suspended by team owner Jack Roush, after a con-frontation with police near Phoenix last weekend

Nevada-Reno's ranking for providing opprtunities for women in sports as judged by the Kennedy Index, which evaluated 103 schools from 10 athletic conferences.