Life just got more interesting for Little

Jamie Little, the auto racing pit road reporter from Las Vegas, may not officially be the most interesting woman in the world. I have heard, however, that when the Dos Equis beer guy sees her coming, he sometimes turns and heads in another direction.

To wit:

■ Jamie was raised by a single mother who was a Las Vegas showgirl. Her biological father was a drummer. She once was introduced to Sammy Davis Jr.

■ She is a former model who has appeared on the cover of FHM magazine.

■ She has published a book for women on automotive maintenance and car care tips.

■ She is an animal rights activist who wants to adopt a Budweiser Clydesdale.

■ She has appeared in a movie with Jessica Alba and was a celebrity judge on “Iron Chef America.”

■ She is friends with Carey Hart and Pink, having attended their wedding.

■ Like a certain TV newsman, she has flown in a Blackhawk helicopter. But no, insurgents did not take shots at her, real or imagined.

■ She won a pro-celebrity race at the Long Beach Grand Prix, holding off Mike Skinner, a NASCAR Truck Series champion.

■ She once reported from pit road about a tire changer on an Indy Car team who broke his leg after being run over. His name was Cody Selman. A couple of years later, Jamie Little married him. They have a son, Carter, and now they also have a Jimmy John’s sandwich franchise in Summerlin.

So she already was interesting in a profound way. And now today, in Daytona Beach, Fla., Jamie Little will interview stock car racing drivers as they climb from their battered machines and swear at other stock car drivers who may have gotten in their way. They also may complain to her about their setups.

This will make the charming 36-year-old Green Valley High and San Diego State graduate the first woman to cover the pit lane at both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, America’s two most iconic auto races and beer-guzzling extravaganzas.

Though Jamie Little has covered 11 Indy 500s and eight Brickyard 400s, this is her first Great American Race. Last September it was announced she would be moving to Fox for the 2015 season, paving her way to cover the 57th Daytona 500.

So even if some journeyman (Derrike Cope in 1990) or wet-behind-the-ear-plugs youngster (Trevor Bayne in 2011) doesn’t break through for an unexpected win, or some snakebit legend (Dale Earnhardt in 1998) doesn’t do the same after years of trying, or Denny Hamlin doesn’t crash femme fatale Danica Patrick for the third time in five days, history will be made at Daytona.

It’s not supposed to rain, so the chance of a driver plowing into the back of the track dryer during a caution period and touching off a blazing inferno (Juan Pablo Montoya in 2013) would seem minimal.

But if it happens, Jamie Little will be there in an up close and personal fashion to tell stock car fans about it.

And yes, though she’s an old — er, older — pro at this pit lane reporting stuff, she’s still doing doughnuts about doing Daytona.

“For the last eight years for ESPN, I always went to Daytona, but it was just for the Saturday race,” she said of the triple-A Nationwide — now Xfinity — Series race the day before the NASCAR Super Bowl. “So you didn’t get that full effect.

“It was like, yeah, it’s Daytona, we’re here, you see and hear everything, but we didn’t get to do anything with the Cup series. It didn’t have that same vibe. So this is going to be so big for me. Race day at Daytona. It’s very special.”

As for being the first woman to ask drivers at both the Indy and Daytona 500s about bad setups and bad pit stops and going low when they should have gone high, she said it’s still a big thrill for her, because she was a fan of motor sports before she became one of its most recognizable broadcasters.

“Oh my gosh, it’s really cool when you get to do things and be the first one — it’s really special,” she said. “I’ve done 11 Indy 500s, and that was the most important, special race I’ve ever covered, and now to get to do the Daytona 500, it’s pretty awesome.”

Although NASCAR still is most popular in the Southern states and wherever Dale Earnhardt Jr. is winning races, Little is just one of several Las Vegans who are fulfilling their need for speed at the Daytona 500, or at least intended to, before the authorities and the retaining walls interceded.

Kyle Busch was to have started fourth in the big race but won’t run today after suffering a broken right leg and left foot when his car slammed into the wall during Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.

Brendan Gaughan finished 29th in the Xfinity opener after being collected in the scary crash during which Kyle Busch was hurt.

Spencer Gallagher wound up 21st in the Truck Series race.

Paralympic bronze medalist and “Dancing With the Stars” finalist Amy Purdy will drive the honorary pace car before the 500.

And then there’s Kurt Busch.

Busch the elder, the racing Busch whose engine sometimes runs hot and head jumps out of gear when things aren’t going well on the racetrack, or away from it, has been suspended indefinitely by NASCAR. A family court commissioner in Delaware decided on Friday he probably assaulted his purported trained assassin ex-girlfriend there last year behind closed motorhome doors.

I’ll give you three guesses and a lucky dog pass and an 8-by-10 autographed picture of Aric Almirola, “The Cuban Missile,” who starts 33rd today, as to which Las Vegan with a need for speed gets the most Internet hits before the green flag falls.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.