They form their own taxi squad

Identity theft hits horse racing?

More like an international homage to the movie “Taxi Driver.”

Briefing HQ was looking up the record of Breeders’ Cup-bound Areyoutalkintome and found another horse with nearly the same name, Areyoutalkingtome, a British colt.

“I guess these guys are fans of Travis Bickle,” said Jay Privman of the Daily Racing Form, referring to the title character played by Robert DeNiro in the 1976 film.

Guess that extra G makes a big difference.

Eagerly awaited are the births of Whatyoulookinat and Whatyoulookingat.

Trivia time

What year did Tikkanen win the Breeders’ Cup Turf?

Burn, baby, burn

Dr. Jerry Punch sees his mission as a NASCAR broadcaster as multifaceted, involving smells and stains, among other things.

“I want fans to smell the rubber burning when they sit in their living room,” he told Greg Engle of the Sporting News. “I want them to get off that sofa and dust grass off their pants because when that car spun out, they were there.

“I want them to get up and have to go wash the gasoline smell off their face. That’s what we want to be able to do. We want the NASCAR experience to come out of the screen into their living room ESPN-style.”

Rubber burning and the smell of gasoline? Sounds like any ordinary freeway drive to the office.

Next stop?

monster.com

NBC10.com in Philadelphia, in the aftermath of the Flyers’ 9-1 loss to Buffalo on Tuesday night, asked the pressing question: “Who should Comcast let go next from the Flyers?”

Philadelphia General Manager Bob Clarke was the runaway leader, getting 69% of the 2,239 votes, as of Thursday afternoon. No word on whether the veteran players were stuffing the ballot box.

Coach Ken Hitchcock may not be safe, either. Flyers goalie Robert Esche had been asked earlier Tuesday about getting into the coach’s head.

“It’s an empty place,” Esche told reporters.

Food for thought

Who among us hasn’t washed down hamburgers with a $6,000 bottle of vintage Bordeaux wine?

Only joking.

Instant gratification or conspicuous consumption seems to be the hook in the Carl’s Jr. commercial showing the owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloof brothers, doing just that.

“It took us 10 hours to film it,” Joe Maloof told the Albuquerque Tribune. “I guess we had to eat a lot of hamburgers. It was a lot of fun. ... It’s the truth. We’re not lying. We eat at Carl’s Jr. all the time. We pull up in the limo and get hamburgers at Carl’s Jr. I’ve done that I don’t know how many times.”

Trivia answer

It was 1994. The horse was named after the Edmonton Oilers’ Esa Tikkanen. The same owner also had another horse called Turgeon, named after hockey star Pierre Turgeon.

And finally ...

Tirade-throwing Dennis Green of the Arizona Cardinals apparently had calmed down by Wednesday and didn’t even need to take a timeout on a conference call with reporters:

“Oh, I feel great.... I just let off some steam. The best thing to do with steam is let it out.”

Kids, don’t try that line in school today with the teacher.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com