Odd couples

I love my job for the odd synchronicities that simply happen.

This week, I found myself writing two stories, related to auto racing, which both mention Elizabeth Taylor.

I would be hard pressed to find even one story, in my 12 years of full-time journalism, in which I had to mention the violet-blue-eyed, often married and often divorced movie star. Suddenly, I have two.

This Sunday, the "Great American Race" kicks off the stock-car racing season, so this week I had to do my semi-annual stint at the Speedway. That I know anything about restrictor plates or the rivalry between No. 8 and No. 24 is the result of my occupation, not any preoccupation of mine.

But I don't cover the sport itself, but the non-sports news around it. It's like covering the Olympics, not to tell people who won gold, silver and bronze, but to write about the host city, the economic impact of the Games, or the atmosphere of the Olympic village.

So my racing repertoire includes a story about a new documentary on the early years of NASCAR and a story about a new men's fragrance named after The Big Race (and, no, it does not smell like burning rubber though the top is meant to resemble a tire).

The documentary is produced by Liz Taylor's ex-stepson and narrated by her husband No. 6 (or 7 depending how you count Richard Burton). The fragrance is produced by the same company that sells her perfume.

Sheer synchronicity.

You can't make this stuff up.