Shirley, Glidden, Garlits. Force, Jenkins, Prudhomme .... heroes and legends.

If you thought the Insider's Favorite Race Car Ever poll of 2008 was something else, well, here's something else that may top it.

There's an interesting discussion thread going on in the Motorsports - networking world, asking for members of the group to name their all-time motorsports heroes.

Already, names like Donald Campbell, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Gilles Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher, Dan Gurney, Ayrton Senna, Freddie Spencer, Colin McRae, AJ Foyt, Al Teague, Chip Hanauer, Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jack Brabham, Roger Penske, Parnelli Jones, Zora Arkus-Duntov, Jackie Stewart – covering everything from land speed to Formula One, stock cars, motorcycles, and rally racing -- have been bandied about along with a healthy mix of drag racers such as Don Garlits, Jack Chrisman, Shirley Muldowney, Bob Glidden, Elmer Trett, Art Arfons, Dave Zeuschel, and Dick Landy. It's been interesting to see many kudos thrown at the drag racers from some folks whose profiles don't seem connected with the NHRA world.

So, Insider Nation, who are your motorsports heroes? You don’t have to confine yourself to our sport, but I'd assume most of you will anyway. I want to know not only names, but reasons. I also expect to see more than just a mailed-in vote for the famous icons of our sport -- also consider racers, engine builders, mentors, etc. who were your heroes for whatever reason, be it idolization, inspiration, or whatever. I'll publish the best lists and the best tributes in a future posting.

Hit me up here: pburgess@nhra.com.

It has been a sad ending to the year with a number of painful losses, including of Don Woosley, Gene Fasching, Jim Harrington, Lou Sattelmaier, Ron Miller, and Rufus "Brooklyn Heavy" Boyd, but I totally missed the Christmas Eve passing of a guy who I think had a pretty big impact on NHRA from outside the cockpit: George Michael.

In the 1980s, no sports show gave more love to NHRA Drag Racing than The George Michael Sports Machine, a sports-highlight show that was unique in that Michael capitalized on the growing pervasiveness of satellite technology to pick up highlights rarely seen elsewhere on broadcast TV let alone cable. I'd dare say that even the awesome ESPN SportsCenter owes him a tip of the hat for paving the way. Michael, who was among other things a well-known top 40 deejay, weekend sports anchor, color commentator for the NHL New York Islanders, and a nationally known collector of baseball cards and early baseball photographs, died at age 70 after a two-year battle with cancer. Although he shut down The Sports Machine in March 2007, he's still fondly remembered by friends at NHRA for his appreciation of our sport.

Stupid fact department: Drag racing fans are, by definition, numbers freaks, but in case you weren't paying attention, Saturday was Jan. 2, 2010, which when written in U.S. notation is 01-02-2010, which is a numeric palindrome. (Palindrome being a word or phrase that reads the same forward and backward such as "radar" and "a Toyota.")

We're apparently living in rare times. Between A.D. 1000 and 2000, there were only 43 palindrome dates -- the most recent on Aug. 31, 1380 (08-31-1380) – but there will be 12 this century. The last such numeric date palindrome was Oct. 21, 2001 (10-02-2001), but you won’t have to wait eight-plus years (let alone 629) for the next one, which will occur on the second day of November next year (11-02-2011). After that, you’re going to have to wait a long time -- until roughly the 2020 Winternationals Feb. 2, 2020 (02-02-2020) – for the next one. The last one for the century will be Sept. 2, 2090 (or 09-02-2090), though I doubt many of us will be around to celebrate it.

Well, maybe "the Greek" will be.