David Letterman: Nascar Dad

Like any right-minded American male between the ages of 24 and 54, we grew up loving David Letterman. And native Indianaian Letterman grew up loving the Indianapolis 500, culminating in his co-ownership of the Bobby Rahul Racing Team, which employs hot commodity Danica Patrick in this weekend's race. In a wide-ranging interview with USA Today, Dave, as tends to be the case when he talks race cars, isn't funny, but, unusual for him, he wears his heart on his sleeve.

In the old days, when the Speedway opened up, it meant many, many things. Not just the opening of the Speedway, but it was the official end of winter and the beginning of warm weather and the smell of freshly cut lawns. It was all pretty heady. You only had another month of school and summer was coming and you'd go to the Speedway.

So you had all this tremendous activity wrapped up with these high-spirited emotions, and then you got to see the world's attention on your town for a month. For a kid, it was very exciting, and we used to go out there for practice and qualifying and listen to the race on the radio. It was like any other big holiday on the calendar.

In other news, Jay Leno might do another wrestling promotion.

Letterman Gets Moment In Hot Seat [USA Today] Late Show With David Letterman [CBS.com]