Bloom is off the bud in NASCAR relationship

THE MORNING began early, as I checked out of the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, $129 for the room, $13.03 in taxes, $63 for dinner, $13 for self-parking and $14.99 for an in-room movie.

The wife, who will be sitting in the bleachers today for the red carpet arrivals -- she’ll be easy to spot, she’ll be wearing Target -- has made a point of seeing every movie up for any kind of Academy Award this year, save one, “The Good Shepherd.”

She learned the movie was being offered by the Hyatt, so we paid $233.02 to make sure she has now seen every movie in the category of “art direction.”

I suggested we rent a few other movies to make the night really memorable, but she said she couldn’t see any good reason to spend more money.

Lucky me, I’ve got a frugal wife.

I LEFT Irvine for the drive to Fontana. I figured I could make it in two or three days.

They’ve got another auto race way out there -- a bunch of cheaters from down south coming here to make some noise, and probably run off with some of our women.

Last year the president of California Speedway, Gillian Zucker, offered a $1,000 donation to the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA if I stopped by the track. I wasn’t surprised to learn they have to pay people to go to these things.

When I arrived, everyone was gathered around an orange pumpkin. I thought it was some kind of NASCAR promotion until someone said it was Tony Stewart dressed in an orange Home Depot fire suit.

By the end of the day I’d come to appreciate Lowe’s more, and wonder why anyone would sponsor someone so jumpy as Stewart when they could have a sweetheart such as Jimmie Johnson? But at this point, I had never met Stewart.

Stewart’s greeting: “You’re going to have to work really hard today to tick me off.” Obviously, he had never met me either.

Stewart said he wouldn’t talk about what happened the previous week, and having no idea what happened the previous week, I said, “So what happened last week?”

It ticked him off. I explained I had never been to a race and he could educate me, and that ticked him off. Pretty much anything I said ticked him off and I wasn’t really working that hard.

The next day he finished 43rd in a field of 43 in the big race. I don’t know much about racing, but I don’t think that’s good.

Before we parted, though, he obviously began warming up to me, calling me, “bud,” and I’ve got to say, I consider him a bud too.

That’s why I returned Saturday, wearing an orange “20” baseball cap in his honor, knowing I’d probably be the only one who wanted to talk to the reigning last-place finisher. I also knew he had been accessible on the eve of the big race a year ago, and from the way NASCAR people talk, their drivers are some of the most accessible so-called athletes in all of sports.

I thought we’d get together and yuck it up, figuring by now someone had explained to him Page 2’s shtick. I hoped to banter a little, give him the chance to flash a sense of humor and then maybe show everyone he doesn’t really take himself as seriously as he comes off at times. No one can be that full of himself.

Bud to bud then, I wanted to talk to him about Tom Egan, the Home Depot manager who had been gunned down in a Tustin store a couple of weeks back. It’s a store in the daughter’s neighborhood -- and speaking of close to home, the picture in the paper of one of Egan’s twin 3-year-old daughters twirling in church beside her father’s casket remains an image not easily dismissed.

The Orange County Register reported Egan was a NASCAR fan, and that he never had the chance to take advantage of his 40th birthday present -- a ride in a

NASCAR race car. Seems enough to even name a race after him.

I had read that Tom Egan’s name had been added to Stewart’s race car for last week’s Daytona 500. That’s nice, but now we’ve got a NASCAR event in the family’s backyard.

Now I don’t know, maybe it wouldn’t be my place to suggest such a thing, but bud to bud I was still going to ask Stewart if he or his team had given any thought of making a donation on race day in the name of the twins, Katie and Jenna. If they already had, it’d be nice to let people know, and maybe others might follow their lead.

I know this, Stewart never finished last year’s race, so a donation for every lap completed today to the Tom Egan Memorial Fund via the Bank of America (Account No. 1027870292) would be a darn good reason to watch the race. Enough maybe even to root for him to win.

Unfortunately, I never got close to Stewart. His PR rep rejected repeated requests to speak to Stewart -- even when presented with the specific request to discuss the Home Depot store manager who had been killed.

Maybe Stewart just had more important things on his mind.

I LEFT the track, and made it downtown in time to catch the Clippers, who were playing without Chris Kaman, against Golden State, which was without Baron Davis. Two reasons why the Clippers won so easily.

It was also the first game for Corey Maggette since learning he won’t be traded, and the first game Coach Mike Dunleavy has come to his senses.

Dunleavy not only started Maggette, but had him playing almost 37 minutes and the Clippers’ losing streak is over. Dunleavy praised Maggette for his practice performance Friday, his play Saturday, and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence the trading deadline passed Thursday.

As for Maggette, when asked if he was disappointed when not traded, he said, “Until I get traded, I’m a Clipper.” Hard to argue with that.

ONCE THE Clippers’ game was over, I could’ve remained at Staples and covered the Kings’ game. Why ruin a perfect day?

T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to

latimes.com/simers.