Race 7 - June 24

We started this event with 12 celebrities. The field has now been halved as we enter the final episode.

All of the celebrities are griping about their past mistakes - except for John Cena, who says that he only has one more shot. Your 6 finalists are...

John Elway
Ty Murray
Jewel
John Cena
Bill Cowher
Tony Hawk

In this final event, each young gun drafts a celebrity to help them in the final round. Here are your pairings -

Jewel / Jamie McMurray
Bill Cowher / Ryan Newman
Tony Hawk / Jimmie Johnson
Ty Murray / Kasey Kahne
John Cena / Carl Everett
John Elway / Kurt Busch


The final challenge - the celebrity gets 5 laps. After 2 laps, the celebrity has to make a pit stop and get the tires changed, then complete the 5 laps. The celebrity with the fastest time is the champion.

Jewel starts the event with Jamie McMurray. Jewel yells 'Come on!' and gets very aggressive. Maybe too aggressive...she smacks the wall during her warmup round, Oops. She recovers for a first lap of 142.22 MPH. Her second lap is a little better - 144.11. Now she has to accurately slow down in Pit Road so she can get tired up. Despite the fact that she says that she can't see the box, she gets right in and out of the box (though she almost nails a cameraman in driving out of the box). The third lap is...73.33 MPH but keep in mind that the mileage includes her deceleration and acceleration out of the box. The final lap is 144.35, which gives her a final time of 3:54.88. Jewel is worried about being DQ'ed after hitting the well, but she's fine. That is a decent time, but with an average of under 2 minutes, it's certainly beatable.

Cowher is the next person up and the first person awaiting to knock off Jewel. he's not going to do it in the first lap, with a time of 138.6 MPH. Lap #2 - 139.4 MPH, and that's still not as fast as Jewel, who is still chatting with hubby Murray about her hitting the wall. Cowher must pit perfectly to have any shot at beating Jewel, but he stops short in the pit and they waste time getting him in the Pit Box. He also wastes time stalling out leaving the Pit Stop by blowing the clutch and he's already at 3 minutes before leaving the Pit Stop. Cowher hits the 4th lap with a 55 MPH time and he has 10 seconds to race around the lap. That's not going to happen as Cowher finishes with a 139 MPH in the final lap and 4:18.22 in the final time. Jewel still holds the lead.

Tony Hawk is next, and he uses some tips by Johnson to get some acceleration to start the match, which leaves Jewel wondering where that help was from McMurray. Maybe McMurray was more concerned with you hitting the wall, Jewel. Anyways, 145.2 MPH was the first time from Hawk, who right now is leading Jewel. Lap 2 is another 145+ MPH and Hawk is still on pace. Now Jewel came in and out perfectly in the box. Hawk: In perfectly, Out....stalled. Hawk has to make up the time that he lost as he is trailing Jewel. His 4th lap is 69.80, which Jewel led him on. Hawk is flying down the track, but is it fast enough? His time...3:54.55! Hark edges Jewel out by 0.33 and a now steel-eyed Jewel is really going to want to have words with McMurray.

I'm sure that Jewel will feel better though if her hubby Ty Murray can reclaim the spot for himself. The first round PMPH - 146.8, and that is better than Hawk so far. The second lap is 146.5, and he is quicker than Hawk as well. If Murray can get in and out of Pit Road with out having the problems that Hawk had, then he will have a huge lead. Murray is perfect getting in the box, but can he get out of the box just as cleanly? Yes he can, and Hawk knows he's in trouble, while a beaming Jewel called it 'awesome'. His 4th lap is 80 MPH and he is in position to blow Hawk's score out of the water, barring a disaster. Murray doesn't screw it up, and with a time of 3:43.57, Murray takes the lead. he celebrates by doing birdies and spinouts in the midfield grass. That is going to be a VERY hard time to beat.

We do, however, have 2 people left who are looking to beat it. John Cena, who placed first overall in the second round, only garners a 144.48 MPH in the first round, which trails both Murray and Hawk. Cena shoots better with a 145.04 MPH, but he has to be perfect on Pit Road to have any shot to take out Murray. Cena does do that, as he and Murray tie for time in the box (16 seconds), but he has to go gangbusters in the last 2 rounds. He is 77.21 MPH in the 4th round, and Cena needs to see 150+ MPH to come close to Murray. He won't get it. His time is 3:44.57, and he also spins out on the midfield. However, he really doesn't have the right to do it, because Murray still has the lead.

Only John Elway is standing between Murray and the championship. Elway was the overall leader going into the final round, and he shoots a sweet 148.5 MPH in the first lap. That's higher than anyone so far. Lap 2 is even better - 149.29 MPH, and Paige Green (Elway's girlfriend) is breaking out the celebration T-shirt of 'It's Elway or No Way'. Now for that infamous box. Getting in...check. Getting out...check, and a now morose Jewel knows that Elway is running at a faster pace. Elway's 4th lap is 80.94, and now only a bad lap is the only thing that can stop him from the title. Elway's final time...3:39.31. Elway, who had a better lap time than Murray on every lap in the finals, now has a trophy that he can add to his 2 Super bowls - the Fast Cars and Superstars Championship.

You would expect the other celebrities to be good sports. You would be...wrong, as they all stare at him blankly. Heh. John Elway is deemed the First (and probably last) racing champion, as we get showered in confetti and champagne while the rest of the finalist celebrities fight around him. Fade to Black. End of Series.

My Take? This was actually not a horrible show. The problem, however is 3-fold.

1. It got paired with a lousy NBA Series
2. It got paired with a very short NBA Series, which left it sans sports coverage after San Antonio hammered Cleveland.
3. The geniuses over at ABC paired up an auto racing event with a basketball event. I highly doubt that there are enough people that watch both auto racing and basketball to make it a synergy worth pairing. Why not stick this on a Sunday before...uhhh...a NASCAR Event? Just asking...

This is Gordon Pepper, thanking all of you for reading the recaps. See you at
the next Pit Stop.