Mayfield's Map to ... Pocono

Each week throughout the season, Jeremy Mayfield and his wife, Shana, share their memories of that weekend's racetrack -- and the happenings around it.

This week: The Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway

Pocono has a reputation as the Honeymoon Capital of the United States. Do you ever think about that? And is that reputation enough to make you leave the safety of the motorhome lot?

	Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield at Pocono Race Start Finish 7/1994 23 21 6/1994 35 25 7/1995 38 8 6/1996 34 15 7/1996 32 12 6/1997 27 5 7/1997 17 9 6/1998 3 1 7/1998 29 18 6/1999 23 9 7/1999 20 35 6/2000 22 1 7/2000 4 10 6/2001 9 36 7/2001 25 18 6/2002 24 36 7/2002 4 38 6/2003 33 15 7/2003 15 38 6/2004 7 2 8/2004 9 9 Average 20.6 17.2

Jeremy Mayfield: That's a good question. I like Pocono.

I don't know if I'd want to go on my honeymoon there, but I think for the atmosphere we usually go to -- it's just a change in scenery from what we normally see.

Shana Mayfield: It's beautiful because you see a lot of deer running around.

Jeremy Mayfield: We get out quite a bit, really, from the motorhome lot.

Shana Mayfield: We do, and I can see where it would be pretty in the winter with the snow and kind of a tranquil atmosphere.

But Pocono is actually one of those places that I love the motorhome lot. It's very well laid out. It's nice.

Jeremy Mayfield: It's probably one of the best that we've got.

Shana Mayfield: We've been trapped sometimes, but we don't mind staying in the motorhome lot, either, at Pocono.

Jeremy Mayfield: The thing that amazes me, when you talk about getting out. I like getting out after practice, when we'll go shopping or hit a hobby shop, or something.

There are times where I'll bet that we'll count -- I'm not joking -- like, 75 or a hundred deer. So if you're at Pocono and just driving around, you will see some deer.

Shana Mayfield: The saddest thing is when you see them running across the racetrack, like right before qualifying. That gets me nervous.

Robby Gordon busted his butt on a motocross track near Pocono. You ever do any dirt bike riding anymore, or did your grandmother cure you of that?

Shana Mayfield: That wasn't very smart. Jeremy doesn't really do things like that.

Jeremy Mayfield: I'm not going to say I wouldn't -- but I wouldn't go over a motocross jump. But Robby's ridden a lot of them, so that would be like me getting on a four-wheeler and riding.

I'll ride four-wheelers and jump 'em, thinking I wouldn't get hurt when I can. But what I do try to do -- I respect four-wheelers.

I've got a bunch of them and little racecars and Sprint Cars that we run. But I never ride or run those like I do my racecars.

I know how to back it down a notch and still look like I know what I'm doing -- you know what I mean?

Shana Mayfield: You don't put it over the edge.

Jeremy Mayfield: That's what's funny. You've got to realize what you do for a living -- and that you can get hurt, and you can't be sick.

There are buddies of mine -- I've got a couple of them and they're crazy. They'll jump as high as you want to jump -- as long as you want to jump.

If they make it, that's cool and if they don't they'll just take the consequences. I've just never been like that. I do that on the racetrack and I know how to keep from crashing.

I've hit walls and I know how hard they are and how bad that stuff hurts. I think Robby learned a lesson from that, too. And I try not to (take too many chances).

Shana Mayfield: Even on race weekends you'll go out and race the guys on go-karts, but you don't really go out and do anything (chancy).

Jeremy Mayfield: I don't even actually like riding go-karts with guys, because if you're the driver, they're all over you, man.

You're not going anywhere until you're spun out and they've got you on your roof. It's fun, though -- you just try to stay out of trouble.

When you were teammates with Rusty, did he ever take you over to Edelweiss? That is one of his every-Pocono-weekend hangouts. If not, you got any place like that around the Poconos?

Jeremy Mayfield: Rusty never took me to any of his hangouts, really -- or places that he goes. I know he's got several places every racetrack we go to, that he likes staying at or stuff that he sees.

Shana and I just try to go out, together -- because that's our time together on the weekends, when we get away from the racetrack and go shopping, or find an outlet mall.

Shana Mayfield: There is one little diner -- I can't even think of the name of it but it's out of the racetrack and you make a right. It's down the end of that road, on the left.

It's just a little diner and they have the best pies and sandwiches. It's so good and we eat there probably every day that we're in Pocono. That's like, our little restaurant that we go to.

Jeremy Mayfield: It's awesome, with home-cooked food. That's kind of our hangout.

Shana Mayfield: We always like to find new things. We'll just drive until we see something cool. And say, "Hey, let's stop here."

Jeremy Mayfield: We always talk about, every year, going to Pocono and seeing different places and doing different things. We don't really do that all the time, but we try to.

Shana Mayfield: We try.

Pocono and wildlife are kind of synonymous, as poor Neil Bonnett found out one time when he came back to the garage with a deer sticking out the front of his car. You got any Pocono wildlife tales -- either on or off the track?

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Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, I do have one. I've seen a lot of stuff go on there. I've seen deer run across the front of you and all that stuff. But the wildest thing I've ever seen was wildlife.

A caution came out and we had been working on the car for some reason. I came in the pits with one to go, and the field had come by.

Now, I'm on the backstretch trying to catch up to them and they were past the start/finish line. They were coming off Turn 2 and I was going down the frontstretch trying to catch them so I could get a good start.

Evidently, whatever it was that was running across the racetrack didn't think that anything else was coming, because the field had just gone by.

So I here I come wide open and all of sudden I see something getting ready to run across the racetrack, right at the end of the frontstretch, towards the end of pit road almost into Turn 1.

I'm thinking, "What is this?" And I'm getting closer and closer, and I started to slow down a little bit. And I'm thinking I'll ease to the right and miss it, and it started going that way.

Then I moved back to the left and it jumped back to the left. Now I'm getting closer and I realize what it is.

It was some dude -- some guy -- he had his shirt off, I think he had a hat on, no shoes and some shorts on and he was running across the racetrack.

Shana Mayfield: Wildlife.

Jeremy Mayfield: At first I thought, "Was it a deer, a squirrel -- what is this?" I get closer and I find out it was some guy.

The guy ran across the racetrack in front of me, because he didn't think anyone else was coming. He jumped the fence and all of a sudden the security guards are after him.

The last I saw him he had jumped over the wall where the deer go.

I told 'em on the radio, "I don't know if you all just seen this -- but some dude just ran out in front of me, man."

They were waiting to hear something about some deer, you know? He was mooning people on his way across the racetrack and stuff, so it was wild.

Anyway, that's probably the wildest thing -- or wildlife -- that I've ever seen. I thought it was a deer, when it wasn't.

I'm just glad I didn't hit him, because that's probably the best wildlife story I've got.

Shana Mayfield: You'd have come out with a butt in your windshield instead of Neil Bonnett, with a deer in his windshield.

Jeremy Mayfield: Yeah, I would have come out with two cheeks on the grill.

Pocono's garage area is possibly one of the most populated with fans on the circuit -- so you have any issues dealing with that?

Jeremy Mayfield: Not really. They do a good job with it. They let 'em go in towards the fence, but they're not in there with us, where we can work.

Now, they do have one of the most special, and unique elements on the circuit as well -- Autograph Alley. What are you guys' take on that?

Jeremy Mayfield: The hard part is, when you've got that many fans in the garage -- a lot of them don't understand we've got to be somewhere and our schedule is tight and this, that and the other.

You've got a whole fence line of fans -- and you walk out there and sign a few -- you don't have time to sign everybody's item.

And what happens is you hear, "One more?" "Will you sign just one more?" "Will you sign just one more?"

There's only so many "one mores," and that's what's bad for us -- when you've got that many in there and we can't help them all, or give them an autograph.

But I think it's great that they can see what's going on, anyway. You might not be able to give everybody an autograph, but at least they can see what's going on.

Shana Mayfield: It's cool, though, that they have an opportunity to get that close, to the drivers. Not a lot of the racetracks have the opportunity where they can buy the tickets and get in.

So I think that's pretty cool that they can at least get that close and see it.

Jeremy Mayfield: There's a nice little restaurant for them to eat at, too, in the infield there. It's a pretty nice buffet.

ARCA races with Nextel Cup at Pocono twice a year. Jeremy, since you've got some history there, you ever get over to visit with Ron Drager and the boys?

Jeremy Mayfield: Sometimes, because the garage areas are real close. Ron was a great guy and it's pretty cool to see that series growing like it is, and still holding strong.

It's really a great series to start racing in. I'm not just saying that because I came from there, but you run the same type cars and the same motors -- same everything -- on a lot lower cost level.

So any time I can give a hand to Ron and those guys, I will. I don't get as much chance to talk to them as I used to, because obviously we're not there, but I certainly still know a lot of the officials, so it's cool.

Pocono is another transit nightmare, due to its location, the road system and the proximity of airports. So what's your solution?

	Shana and Jeremy Mayfield
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Jeremy Mayfield: Man!

Shana Mayfield: Helicopters.

Jeremy Mayfield: Getting in is pretty easy.

Shana Mayfield: Yeah, getting in is easy. It is a good little drive.

Jeremy Mayfield: We get there and we drive straight in, no problem. It's a long way from Wilkes-Barre, which is where we fly in. But once we get there it's fine.

We usually have our pilots come about halfway into the race and pick our car up, and then we'll helicopter out.

Shana Mayfield: We have driven out a couple times and it wasn't too bad because there are a lot of back roads and a lot of different ways you can go.

Jeremy Mayfield: That's the good thing about that -- there are a lot of shortcuts. Actually the last time we drove out of there it cost me about seven or eight hundred dollars.

Shana Mayfield: We got in kind of scuffle -- or our pilots did.

Jeremy Mayfield: Our pilot was driving and we were going and this fan kind of kept swerving at him and trying to get over.

Of course, the racer comes out in me -- I think we had a bad day, or something. I wasn't driving, which was a good thing. I said, "Don't move."

Shana Mayfield: "Don't give him nothing -- don't give him nothing."

Jeremy Mayfield: He didn't and we got in a little fender bender. It wasn't a big deal -- it was pretty cool, pretty fun, really, when you do that.

Then they realized that they hit us and they're, "Whoa, yeah -- you tore my right rear quarter off."

Doc and Rose Mattioli are Pocono icons, and I bet you appreciate the way they've laid out the driver/owner motorhome lot? You got any good Doc stories?

Shana Mayfield: I don't have any Doc stories, but I think Rose is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. Every time you see her, she's just like a mother, you know -- "Come see us here," and "Come do that."

They are very accommodating.

Jeremy Mayfield: They send you stuff in the mail. They're the best people.

Shana Mayfield: They are the best people. They're very family-oriented. I just saw them down in Daytona and she had her kids and was talking about her grandkids.

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She's just such, such a sweet lady. You don't find a lot of genuine people like that anymore.

They're just really good people and they do everything they can to accommodate wives, especially -- and the drivers while you're there to make it as fun and relaxing as it can be.

Jeremy Mayfield: Probably the stories that I have are the same thing.

There are a lot of people you meet in your career that you stay in contact with and you're friends with.

But they've always been supportive of our sport and our series and the drivers. I could probably call him at home right now, and that's pretty cool to do that.

Every time there are driver introductions, both of them are out there -- Doc and Rose both are out there -- for every one I've ever been to.

That's pretty cool and that's probably the best story that I have, is that they're willing to shake hands with every driver that comes by there. They're just great people.

WORD ASSOCIATION: Pocono

• Tunnel Turn
Jeremy Mayfield: Fast.
Shana Mayfield: That's a hard one for me. Which one's the Tunnel Turn? Where is it? I can't see it.

• Deer
Jeremy Mayfield: Tons.
Shana Mayfield: Pretty.

• Autograph Alley
Jeremy Mayfield: Crazy. Wild. Just one more.
Shana Mayfield: Cool