Life has been so busy around The Garage that the Carnival of Wheels has definitely taken a bit of a back seat lately. I began this edition a couple of weekends ago and now I’m watching the Formula 1 boys paddle their canoes around Monaco. So let’s get going on this hot lap around the auto blogs, because there are LOTS of submissions!

When the media talks about women in motorsports, usually they are referring to drivers as they are the most visible and possibly the most news worthy. The reality is that women are involved at many levels, but few are seen in a team ownership capacity. Sheila Scarborough from The Driving Woman recently sat down with Lori Morgan from JD Motorsports who compete in the Nationwide Series. In this insightful chat we learn about Morgan’s roots on an Ohio farm, being the Mother figure on the team and get some idea of what it costs to run a car at that level. How does 14 grand a weekend just for tires sound?

We’ve all experienced the silliness that is overlapping programming when it comes to our favorite sports. You know the scene, you’ve popped some corn, cracked open a cold one and settled in front of front of the TV to watch the final race in the lawn tractor racing championship, when the network cuts out the first 20 minutes to show the Oklahoma corn husking finals. A few weeks back, Fox did just that to fans of baseball and NASCAR. Brian Vermette from Race Driven didn’t get to see the final 2 pitches of the Red Sox vs Yankees game or the green flag at Phoenix. Dumb.

Will Honda’s 2 superstars, the S2000 and the NSX soon be related by more than just parentage? Jeff at DrivingEnthusiast has comments on a report that says the new versions of the cars will be based on the same platform. Let’s face it folks, building cars is all about making money and even halo cars can’t go on costing more to build than they can sell for. Platform builds save money!

Woohoo! Alonso just switched to dry tires and there is rain coming again in 5 minutes!

When you write about cars, inevitably friends and family often come to you for advice on buying a car. Nick Borgia at Automoblog went into action to help his brother decide on a small, fun, 4 door for life in the city. They players? Mitsubishi Lancer. Mazda 3. Toyota Corolla. The winner? You’ll just have to visit and see.

They’re still talking about rain in Monaco and race leader Lewis Hamilton has gone to dry tires too!

Fans of car movies and cheesy horror flicks should head over to DrivingEnthusiast where Jeff has a review of The Hitcher. I’m not much for scary movies, so I didn’t even realize this was a car flick.

ooooohhh…Nico Rosberg just obliterated the BMW and Hamilton’s 40 second lead has been reduced to nothing. The aerial view from Rosberg’s car while hanging from the crane is pretty cool.

Newcomer to the CoW, Stephan Grindley has some info about buying an extended warranty for your car. Perhaps his best advice is to make sure the company has a good, long history so they’ll be around when you need them and to read the fine print. There is a lot of important stuff in the fine print of an extended warranty that can make or break the validity of the program. Read it carefully!

Aw crap! Raikkonen just destroyed the best drive of Sutil’s career.

Now we enter the gas mileage section of the CoW. You would think gas prices have gone through the roof or something!

Back to Driving Enthusiast again, Jeff has a bit about some electric muscle from HST and Tjaarda Design that will have you thinking twice about the need for the internal combustion engine in sports cars.

Mad Kane gives her absent minded hubby a possible solution for the price of gas.

I Want Better Gas Mileage (another no name newcomer) has a few words about E85 Flex Fueled vehicles.

Lewis Hamilton just won the time restricted Monaco Grand Prix! Now, I’m heading off to fix a flat tire and then to the ball diamond and the CoW will have to return later this afternoon.

Another newcomer to the CoW is Michael Bass. I hate to delve into politics like so many Americans do, but poor left wing Michael not only misunderstands many of the realities of gasoline, but he also doesn’t understand the realities of commuting. Michael submitted two posts, here & here. Unfortunately, I’ve been gardening and drinking and don’t have the patience to respond right now. Tomorrow however is a new day and I may just have to lay out a full comment about the commuting lifestyle!