Welcome to the home of “Slightly Off Track.” My name is Monica – I do the team’s PR and get the honor of interacting with all you awesome fans out there.

Before we go any further, I must warn you: If you thought this was your average team blog with race recap and play-by-play, you thought wrong. I’m here to give you the insider’s tour. To show you what we see – the good, the bad and the downright hilarious. This blog is for fun, so don’t take it too seriously, or we won’t let you stand by our garage. Deal? To agree to the terms and conditions, simply keep reading.

So I have this grand plan for Team Barracuda – BHA’s social media. It’s been going really well and it seems like you guys are enjoying it. But sometimes a plan breaks down, like my #FanReporter idea on Thursday. I thought it would be really cool to have fans submit questions on twitter and facebook. We’d pick our top three favorites and then have Tag answer them via video. Problem was, I didn’t tell Tag. So when fans started submitting questions and including @Tagliani in them, he started answering them on twitter! Fan questioned, Tag answered, fan questioned, Tag answered. What we have here… is a failure to communicate.

In addition to working with Tag for the first time this year, I get the pleasure of working with his wife Bronte. She’s probably one of the most attractive women EVER (two words: Maxim model), and it’s because her beauty is on the outside AND the inside. I’ve made it my goal to not stand too close to her this season, mainly to avoid being referred to as “the funny one.”

Another social media project we’ve launched this year is the track Tweetup. As part of the fun, we made t-shirts to give out to everyone who registers and shows up at a Tweetup this year. After the St. Pete event, I went back to the garage to offer our crew guys a shirt. Either the shirts are awesome sauce (hint: yes) or the guys were tired because I’ve never seen grown men happier. Later that night, I saw one of those Tweetup t-shirts on the streets of St. Pete. I got really excited until I realized it was on one of our crew guys. I’m still getting to know all of them. It’s a process.

Speaking of things people wear, fan track attire is by far one of the highlights of my race weekends. Don’t get me wrong – there are lots of people who dress for the occasion and rock it out. Then there are… the others. Perhaps I’ll include a “favorite outfit of the weekend” segment in this blog from now on. If you see me at the track, say hi! But if it appears that I’m taking a picture of you from afar, all incognito style, there’s a good chance you’re being featured in the new segment.

As a side note, we have two team hashtags so far this season: #BestFansEVER and #RaisingTheBar. In St. Pete, there was a suggestion for a third hashtag, but this is a family show and I can’t share it. Ask me at the track though and cover your kid’s ears.

And to the lady who had Tag sign her chest this weekend (no, not the chest of her shirt) in the hopes of getting a free hat, I salute you. Please don’t get that tattooed on your body.

Here’s the quick weekend recap…

The Hot Lap

Miles traveled by Team Barracuda – BHA crew: 2,199
Tweeps who showed up for our very first Tweetup: 47
Orange ribbons worn by IndyCar crew in honor of Dan Wheldon: 20
Times someone looked at our crew shirts and said, “Oooooh, Barracuda:” Too many to count
Sponsor execs who frolicked with us in hospitality: 110
Times Tag used the word ‘brother’: Growing by the minute
Distance from IndyCar paddock to Indy Lights paddock: .78 miles
St. Pete hotel beds occupied by our IndyCar & Indy Lights posse: 41
Pairs of shorts seen that we think are supposed to be underwear: 1
Trips to Publix to get Powerade Zero for Tag: 3
Team picks for favorite restaurant: Middle Grounds Grill & Ricky T’s (both in Treasure Island, FL)
Tweet of the weekend: @BHA Everyone else is just a goldfish, @Tagliani is a @Barracuda!!! LETS GO GET EM BOYS!!! (from @TwinCheckers)