You Have to Be Fast to Keep Up With Comic

Comedian Tim Allen of “Home Improvement” has been driving race cars this year and has found that comedy and racing have much in common.

“The concentration level for doing stand-up comedy is intense,” he said. “If you lose concentration for a minute, you lose all your momentum. You don’t ever get it back. It’s so similar to this.

“I was at Willow Springs and I’m just flying and it was a beautiful day and I happened to mention that in the car. I said, ‘You know, this desert is really beautiful during the day.’ My instructor said, ‘Pull over!’ He was really mad. He said, ‘What are you looking at the scenery for?’

“It’s very similar to stand-up. If you’re good at stand-up, you run the thing, you don’t look back and you keep moving.”

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Trivia time: Who was the catcher for the last of Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters and the first of Nolan Ryan’s seven no-hitters?

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Free loaders: Fast food giant McDonald’s expects to serve as many as 500,000 free meals to Olympic athletes, trainers and coaches during the 1996 Games. The restaurant chain will bring in 2,500 employees from 83 countries to staff six restaurants in the Olympic Village.

Besides the normal menu of hamburgers and fries, the restaurants also will offer food more suited to an Olympian’s diet, including fresh fruit, yogurt and bagels.

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Add food: Pittsburgh defensive lineman Brentson Buckner reported to the Steelers’ training camp 20 to 30 pounds overweight, but he had good reasons.

“My problem is I love seafood, steaks, fried chicken, collard greens. Hey, I’m a southern boy. My wife’s a great cook, and that doesn’t help.”

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Going to the races: What kind of people go to Indy car races? A survey shows that men outnumber women, three to one, with the average spectator about 35 years old; that 40% are college educated and the average household income is more than $50,000, with 24% between $50,000 and $75,000.

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Extreme effort: Rodolfo Fernandez, 47, who lost his right leg in a bomb explosion in 1976, swam 20 miles between two central Philippine islands to raise funds for the handicapped.

That was nothing compared to what he did on Iloilo Island in 1987, when he ran nearly 100 miles in five days with an artificial leg.

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Wimbledon 2015? The only real Jack Kramer is doing well these days, but is still five or six years away from his first serve and volley.

Jack Everett Kramer, new son of Bob Kramer, the director of the men’s tournament at UCLA, was born July 8. The other guy, the fellow who won all those Grand Slams and had that tennis racket with his name on it that sold 50 million copies or so years ago? Oh, that is John Albert Kramer, once nicknamed Jack, but known now as Grandpa.

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Now that’s bad: The Toronto Sun held a contest asking readers to complete the phrase, “The Blue Jays are so bad that . . . .” One of the favorites: “They’d have an easier time scoring at the SkyDome Hotel.”

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Trivia answer: Jeff Torborg, with the Dodgers for Koufax and the Angels for Ryan.

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Quotebook: Cris Carter, Minnesota Viking wide receiver, preaching in Ohio during the recent heat wave: “I had asked Jesus for guidance today, but with this heat, I feel like he’s testing me by sending me right to the flames!”