Q&A: Melissa Rivers

NEW YORK -- When Melissa Rivers works the "Yellow Carpet" at the NASCAR Awards Banquet for the SPEED Channel, anything might happen -- and probably will.

A self-proclaimed sports nut, Rivers is probably best known for the accurate and often acerbic commentary she shares with her mother, Joan, on Hollywood's red carpets.

RED CARPET AUCTION The NASCAR Foundation will have a Red Carpet Online Charity Auction for fans to bid on clothing and accessories worn by NASCAR celebrities at the Nextel Cup Series Awards Banquet in New York.  The auction will go live during the banquet on Dec. 1.  For more information, click here •   NASCAR Foundation

Rivers spoke recently as she prepared to make her NASCAR Nation debut from the Waldorf-Astoria on Friday.

Sporting News: You and your mother are the queens of the red carpet. What compelled you to venture away from Hollywood royalty to NASCAR?

Rivers: Well, I'm a huge sports fan. Huge! Huge! Huge! I get Sporting News. I get Sports Illustrated. I've always been very active in sports.

I rode show jumpers competitively from the time I was 6 years old to about five years ago. I'm like one step away from a weekend warrior and consider myself an amateur athlete. I like extreme sports and people probably don't realize that.

I'm a huge football fan. I'm an enormous arena football fan. I've had season tickets to the Los Angeles Avengers since they came to L.A. A friend of mine owns the team, and I've had tickets -- this will be my seventh year.

Everyone said, "You've got to check out NASCAR. You've got to check out NASCAR. You've got to check out NASCAR." And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I started following the human side of it a little bit. Then I started watching races. Then I got invited to go to the race in Charlotte, and I was hooked.

Sporting News: So how did that turn into a gig on the red carpet?

Rivers: I can't wait. It's going to be fun. One of the things that I was so amazed at was the access. I got to walk around and meet a couple of the drivers and go to the drivers' meeting. It was so much fun. People in the bigger cities don't realize how much fun it is, how exciting it is and just the enormity of the sport.

I've been reading a lot and looking at the gossipy sites and the magazine pictures of Jeff Gordon's wedding. I've already started forming my opinions on certain drivers, and I'm beyond excited. I can't wait to see all the wives and girlfriends. I'm attending as a fan. I don't know enough to be jaded yet.

Sporting News: Do you have a favorite driver?

Rivers: The only driver I've spent a little time with is Kevin Harvick.

I got invited into his transporter, and that was one of the most amazing things I've seen in my life. I'm a Jimmie Johnson fan. I can't lie. He's a California boy. But I've been sporting a Harvick baseball hat lately.

I have a weird emotional bond to Junior -- I think that's the parent bond.

Sporting News: And what will the queen of the red carpet be wearing on Friday night?

Rivers: I will be wearing navy blue Vera Wang ... and probably freezing my butt off. I just hope I don't fall down in my heels.