Scott Speed Brings His Own Brand of Weird to NASCAR

Much has been written about how "different" Scott Speed is.  He paints his toe nails blue, wears clingy pink shirts, and most recently set off to conquer bull riding.

Speed likes new age music and signs autographs not by writing his name with a flourish as most NASCAR drivers do, but with what looks eerily similar to a dollar sign.

Scott has a "devil may care" attitude about racing.  At the track, his demeanor outside the car is usually more like "whatever."

But once he climbs into the cockpit of his race car, Speed is all business.  He is a fierce competitor, with the most recent example being how he retaliated for a hit from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., his rival for the ARCA championship, by wrecking Ricky and himself out of contention and the race.

But Speed is just a different kind of a guy, definitely marching to the beat of his own drummer.  He is in almost every way, different from the typical NASCAR drivers currently gracing the circuit.

That was most evident last night as Speed and the Red Bull team got ready for the Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.  Let's face it, things had to be weird as the trucks raced on Halloween night.

The Speed Channel's pre-race show was in a league all by itself in weirdness.  All of the hosts dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz.  This meant that grown men, who usually were fairly professional broadcasters, were dressed up like Dorothy and Glinda, the Good Witch.

These characters spent their time before the race running around interviewing the various drivers as they got set for the race.  One of the most priceless moments came when one of these "women" was interviewing Ron Hornaday. 

Hornaday truly was unable to respond to any question and just kept shaking his head in disbelief at what he was seeing.  Ron kept saying that he hoped that particular broadcaster's mother wasn't watching as she would most certainly be frightened and ashamed.

Much of the pre-race show also focused on asking drivers what they have dressed up in for Halloweens past and present.  Most drivers shared their favorite costumes, like ninja turtles, super heroes, and other sports figures.

Then along came Scott Speed, ready for his close up on the Halloween pre-race show.  And when asked what he most wanted to dress up as for Halloween, can you imagine his answer?

A loofah sponge. 

Yes, Scott Speed, in a very animated manner, described just how excited he would be to dress up and go to any Halloween party as a loofah.  He thought this would just be the coolest thing.

After all, who wouldn't want to be soft, warm and spongy?  And who wouldn't want to get all soapy and help get people clean in the shower?

Speed's response truly left the interviewer and probably everyone watching just shaking their heads in disbelief.  There are weird Halloween costumes, but this was one of the definitely one of the weirdest ever imagined or described.

Yet again, Scott Speed demonstrated that he is totally intent on bringing his own brand of individuality to NASCAR.  But is the NASCAR race world, drivers, teams, and fans, ready for it?

Only time and Speed's performance on the race track will tell.  By the way, Scott did have a good race, finishing tenth in the Craftsman Truck race.

And right now, there is no doubt in this fan’s mind that Scott Speed is somewhere, whether in his motor home or hotel room, taking a hot shower with his favorite loofah.