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Fast Cars Get Rocker Revved UpFrom: The Edmonton Journal Posted: July 22, 2008 Three years ago, GENE SIMMONS didn't know the first thing about Indy racing. "I never thought about it, it wasn't in my blood, I didn't grow up loving cars," he says. As the money-loving, fire-breathing bassist for KISS, he was preoccupied with his ever-expanding music and media empire, including his reality TV show, GENE SIMMONS Family Jewels, and thousands of licensing deals for products such as a KISS credit card, KISS Canon camera and KISS coffeehouse. Then, in 2005, Simmons was invited to an Indy race in Dallas-Fort Worth. He compares the experience to meeting his longtime love, Newfoundland native Shannon Tweed. "It just hit me like a two-by-four on the back of the head," says the 58-year-old rocker and grand marshal of Saturday's Rexall Edmonton Indy. "When I walked down the racetrack and saw the space-age technology and the astonishing pride and military precision of the teams and their drivers, I went, 'This is NUTS.' I've never seen anything like this in my life." Simmons liked Indy so much, he decided to get involved. The musician and his business partner, Rich Abramson, are now in charge of marketing Indy's races, including Saturday's inaugural event at City Centre Airport. As grand marshal, Simmons is responsible for waving the flag and uttering those famous words at the start of the race -- "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines" -- and showing up at Capital Ex on Friday night. (Check around the ED Fest stage.) "I'll make sure the people know and come to the event," says Simmons, who also wrote a theme song for the league, I Am Indy. "I'm the sugar-coating, babe." Which means he doesn't want to talk about his recent venture, Ladies of the Night, a book about the history of prostitution. "I shouldn't, because obviously everyone wants me to emphasize Indy, but if you go to GeneSimmons.com, you'll get a quick gander," he says. Fair enough. So what does he think of the merger between the Indy and Champ car leagues? "It's wonderful. They should never have split. It had to do with egos and politics, like anything. After the fact, you look back and say, 'Remind me what this was all about.' They should never have split. They're back together -- there are more cars, more drivers. It's the Olympics of speed, baby. The drivers are not only good-looking -- they could certainly be rock stars -- they're also literally Olympic-level athletes. Helio Castroneves literally won the Dancing (With the Stars) show on ABC. Athletes of the highest order." Who's his favourite driver? Or can he reveal such information? "You really shouldn't because every time you think it's Marco Andretti or Danica (Patrick) or Helio Castroneves or Tony Kanaan, it's the race itself that makes you root for somebody who's really pushing the limit. When you see someone going above and beyond, you just jump to your feet and go 'Wow.' It's the effort." Has Simmons ever tried to drive an Indy car? "I am physically too big, I'm proud to say. You have to be compact." It's probably for the best. If you watch his reality show, GENE SIMMONS Family Jewels, you'll know he's a road hazard. He was once pulled over for erratic driving and his six-foot-seven son, Nick, 19, bested him at a driving-test challenge. Mention his children -- Simmons and Tweed also have a 16-year-old daughter, Sophie -- and he is happy to veer off topic. Unlike rocker Ozzy Osbourne's dysfunctional offspring, Nick and Sophie are smart, sober and the real stars of Family Jewels. You'll never see them stumbling outside a club in L.A. "If they ever did that, they knew they'd find themselves in a work camp in the middle of the desert. Oh yes," he says. While he won't talk about his prostitution book, his entrepreneurial ego gets the best of him and he starts describing some of his other current ventures, including a 50-storey skyscraper in China and a new reality TV show, Jingles. (Contestants will try to write songs for TV commercials.) In addition to his grand marshal duties at this week's Indy race, the KISS bassist and relentless entrepreneur will be speaking at a local business conference in Edmonton in September. But the real news is that KISS is planning to rock Edmonton. They haven't been through these parts since July 20, 2000. (They're only doing four U.S. dates this year -- including one at the foot of Mt. Rushmore, on Aug. 4.) Simmons has always had a soft spot for our city. Edmonton was the site of his first groupie conquest in 1974, according to his 2002 autobiography, KISS and Make-Up. She was a girl with a green hair. "I thanked her on my solo record," he says. "I never bothered to learn her name. It's idyllic and romantic in that way." For stories, photos and more on the Edmonton Indy and the Indy racing circuit, go to edmontonjournal.com/edmontonindy. |
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