The Mayfields: Talladega

Throughout the 2006 season the Mayfields, Evernham Motorsports' Nextel Cup driver Jeremy and his wife, Shana, offer an insightful, irreverent and sometimes downright wacky look at the week-to-week happenings around the circuit -- and beyond.

This week: Big E's induction spin-off and spousal spinouts.

Q: This weekend at Talladega is a one-of-a-kind, because Dale Earnhardt is being inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. All the DEI cars are gonna carry the black, white, silver and red paint scheme, so what's your best memory of Big E?

	Jeremy and Shana Mayfield Credit: Autostock
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Shana: I already know Jeremy's, which would be mine, too. So I'll let him tell it.

Jeremy: Well, probably my favorite Big E story is when he flipped me off at Pocono in the summer of 2000 after we beat him in the race there in June.

He was so cool like that, but going down the backstretch on the cool-off lap, pulling up next to him and looking over and he's just driving along with his finger out the window.

Shana: Telling you [that] you were No. 1. But it was just so cool that day for Jeremy to do the bump-and-run on Earnhardt, just like [Dale] had done so many times.

And just to say that he wanted to rattle his cage a little, like Dale had done to Terry Labonte when he smacked him out of the way at Bristol. That was cool.

I think Earnhardt was more excited about going camping with [daughter] Taylor that week anyway. And that was the cool part about it.

And the next week, we got to Michigan or wherever we were going and he gave Jeremy a big bear hug and that was his way of telling Jeremy he was cool with him.

Jeremy: Yeah, his bear hug was a headlock. He was cool.

Shana: That meant a lot. I think that was a huge highlight in Jeremy's career and I think it was so cool that he could share it with someone of Dale's caliber, as a driver.

	NASCAR.COM takes a look at the lasting influence Dale Earnhardt had on the sport, on and off the racetrack. Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
	SPECIAL MICROSITE •   Dale Earnhardt Tribute

Q: So watching from pit road, and from the racecar, what's it going to be like seeing those cars on the racetrack, and being around them on the racetrack -- though considering that it's Talladega, you might not get a chance to appreciate it much?

Shana: I think from pit road, and being able to see all the fans because you know they'll be holding up three fingers as a tribute -- and I think you'll get goosebumps and there probably won't be a dry eye in the place.

It's going to be a really awesome scene -- just like feeling him again, though you feel him there a certain way every week -- but it's an awesome tribute, and I think from being able to see thousands of fans at Talladega, which meant so much to his career, is great.

He'll have a lot of supporters there and being the good ol' boy that he was, I think you'll see a lot of camera flashes going off and it will give you goosebumps, for sure.

Jeremy: From the driver's seat, I don't know. It's cool that they're doing that and it's great you're seeing those cars again, and it's a great tribute to Dale.

But I'm having a hard time imagining what I'm going to think when I see it and how I can even picture it. I'm kind of speechless about it, really.

Shana: And I think it will bring a big smile to Richard Childress' face, too. Knowing what big buddies they were, I think that would bring a smile to Richard's face.

Jeremy: I think the biggest thing is that Dale's going into the hall of fame. If there is anybody that deserves it, he does.

He needs to own the hall of fame because he was what the sport is all about. The good thing about Earnhardt, and what I think about more than anything, is that he was so normal.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the entire DEI stable of drivers will don black paint schemes at Talladega. Credit: Harold Hinson Photography / Budweiser Racing

BACK IN BLACK Talladega weekend will be a special time for Dale Earnhardt Jr., as his family and team honor his father's birthday. And it comes at no better place.  •   Complete story, click here Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the entire DEI stable of drivers will honor what would have been Dale Earnhardt's birthday by running black paint schemes this weekend at Talladega.  •   Complete story, click here Press PassDale Jr. shares fond memories as his father's birthday approaches Garage PassDale Earnhardt Jr. to pay tribute to his father at 'Dega Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

He wasn't Hollywood and he wasn't trying to be an actor or anything like that. He was a racer -- a racecar driver -- and he knew it.

He was who he was and he stood by what he believed in and that's what made Dale Earnhardt. You don't see that anymore, really, from anybody out there.

Shana: I don't remember who it was, but some driver [Kurt Busch] said they wanted to be the 'Working man's man.' Well, Dale was the epitome of that.

He was just a normal guy that raced hard and came up the hard way -- and that's what racing's all about. It's about being able to bring your name into the sport and to make yourself a name and to be remembered.

And Dale did that. I think that's what everybody strives to do, and I think it's pretty cool that he did that.

Q: A couple weeks ago we got a little different spin on "spousal involvement" in Nextel Cup racing when Nicole Lunders and Eva Bryan had a little get together after Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch had a crash on the racetrack. What's your take on that?

Shana: I've got Buster so I'm not worried about any bodyguards. Jeremy has always told me I don't need to fight his battles, because this is his career and he can fight them on his own.

I believe that, even though you do have a lot invested as the significant other -- whether you're a wife, girlfriend, fiancée or whatever. But I also think you have to keep it under control.

I know, myself, how emotional and upset I get and especially lately, where we're not running well -- but I've just found it better that if I can't control my emotions to just walk off and go back to the motorhome.

You can't get caught up in the moment, because sometimes you don't know the whole story. According to Kurt, Biffle lifted, and Nicole wouldn't have known that.

But whatever really happened, you just can't let yourself get caught up in that moment because it doesn't look good on either side. They always say that any publicity is good publicity -- but I don't think you want that kind of publicity surrounding you.

It's a professional sport, and the drivers have every right to display their emotions, because they're the ones out there doing it -- and that's a different story.

But when you have things going on on pit road it doesn't look very good.

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Jeremy: But they still didn't do anything, did they? All they really did was point fingers at each other, right?

Shana: Yeah, and I think the media kind of blew everything out of proportion, but it could have escalated into more, and I think that's what NASCAR was getting at when it talked to them about it.

Jeremy: But I've always told Shana: 'Don't ever go to somebody else's pit.'

But if one of them comes to our pit, I've told her to kick the piss out of them, you know what I mean?

Shana: He did tell me that.

Jeremy: I did. If they come down there, don't talk about it -- just go at it.

Q: I believe the way the regulations are written, or at least interpreted, your own pit area is sacred and you can defend your turf.

Jeremy: Right. If you come into somebody else's pit and you get your butt kicked, that's your own fault -- it's not the guy that kicked it.

Or in this case, the lady or girl, whatever it would be.

Shana: Jeremy told me, 'If they're going to write a story about it anyway, make sure it's a good one.' He told me to kick 'em in the teeth.

Jeremy: If they came to my pit box pointing fingers and doing the ol' 'Yap, yap, yap' -- you need to just belt 'em in the side of the head with your high heels. Put a Pony sneaker mark on their forehead.

Shana: Or put a Manolo Blahnik brand on 'em.

BIFFLE VS. BUSCH •   Biffle points finger at Busch over Texas incident •   We Wonder ... after Texas •   NASCAR reprimands Biffle's girlfriend for incident Lite tap?Contact with Kurt Busch sends Greg Biffle to the garage Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Jeremy: Just put Hush Puppies in there.

Shana: Don't you dare. In all seriousness, both girls, looking back, probably wish it hadn't happened. It was just one of those deals where they got caught up in the moment.

Jeremy: What? I am serious.

Shana: I think that's where you have got to kind of learn to walk away and cool off a little bit and look back at it. Jeremy.

Q: How interesting sometimes can the atmosphere back in the motorhome lot get?

Jeremy: It's no better. It's about the same.

Shana: I think actually it's more interesting. I've seen Jeremy go off on a few people back in the motorhome lot. That's when it's really no holds barred because you don't have anybody around and you can do whatever you want to do.

But that motorhome lot is nothing but a big soap opera. You see and hear a lot of things that NASCAR probably wouldn't want to be seen on TV.

Jeremy: I think it would be cool if they were to have a reality show in the motorhome lot. Though that might take the edge off it quite a bit.

Shana: The NASCAR version of Desperate Housewives.

Jeremy: That's what I'm talking about.

Shana: It definitely gets pretty interesting. It's catty, for sure.

Q: What would Izzy do if someone tried to mess with you in the motorhome lot?

Shana: If you looked like a box, she'd tear you to shreds.

Jeremy: Otherwise, there's no telling.

Shana: If we dressed you up all in brown and put a box over your head, you're done.

Jeremy: That's what I was going to do with Slugger [Labbe] at the end of the year, last year. I was gonna give him a brown shirt so he'd look like a box.

Heck, he works for UPS now -- I could just bring him by the coach.

Shana: The UPS man is in trouble when he comes to our door.

Jeremy: Oh my God. She hates the UPS truck, because it looks like a big, brown box.

Shana: She tried to chew the tires off of it.

Jeremy: I'm like, 'Izzy, it's the brown truck, not the brown box.'

Q: You know, NASCAR might be considering having some of the guys, or even some of the women serving probation, or penance, out in the infield this weekend at Talladega, do you think?

Jeremy: Right -- do some community service work out in the infield.

Shana: Well, you don't want 'em hurt, do you? If you go out into the infield at Talladega you might end up getting hurt.

Jeremy: Well that might keep you from raising hell with each other on pit road, now wouldn't it?

This week, Jeremy Mayfield and team owner Ray Evernham can breathe easily, as Mayfield is 35th in owner points. Credit: Autostock

Jeremy Mayfield Mayfield's Talladega stats Year Start Finish Status 1994 24 37 crash   25 32 wheel 1995 33 14 running   21 13 running 1996 3 32 running   1 16 running 1997 40 23 running   40 26 running 1998 37 13 running   24 5 running 1999 31 15 running   15 16 running 2000 1 14 running   40 42 engine 2001 41 35 running 2002 31 36 crash   26 20 running 2003 1 18 running   22 38 running 2004 38 21 running   9 38 crash 2005 22 4 running   32 14 running Avg. 24.2 22.7

Now, it seems to me I heard David Stremme and Reed Sorenson talk about just hiking around in the infield to see the sights and meet some of their fans, so I guess it's not all bad.

Shana: But I think having two young drivers that are single going out there is a different story.

Jeremy: But David's not single, so you might have gotten him in trouble. Maybe he was single when he went out there.

Shana: Exactly. Sorry. Jeremy used to visit out there when he was single and I've heard some of those stories

Jeremy: We were out there one time and some people said, 'Come on with us, we'll show you what the infield's like.' We'd like to have never gotten out of there, man.

I remember riding out on top of somebody's car, just to get out of there. Really, that's something you don't want to be a part of.

But oh, it's fun. They're all cool. There's nothing better than a Talladega race fan.

Shana: When you talk about being a driver that the fans can relate to, especially being from the South, those are the fans you're talking about.

You just know they're the hard-core, die-hard fans.

Jeremy: Listening to Hank Williams. Bocephus fans.

Shana: It's all about the racing, and they'll do or die for their driver. That's pretty cool and it's what the sport is built around -- that loyalty -- and that's where you see it.

They'll actually fight over their drivers and kick your ass if you say something bad about the wrong person.

Jeremy: And the funny thing about it, when you're in the motorhome lot at Talladega, every night, it never fails. You'll hear A Country Boy Can Survive by Hank Williams, you know what I mean?

It's Sweet Home Alabama and it doesn't get any better than that.

Shana: It doesn't. It's awesome. And you got the dirt track right across the street and you hear that all night, which is pretty cool.

Jeremy: That's awesome, right there. Big blocks.

Word Association: Talladega
The Big One
Jeremy: Hope I don't cause it -- and I miss it.
Shana: Dear God we can't give up any more points -- hope no one's hurt.

Big E in the hall
Jeremy: It's about time.
Shana: Perfect fit.

Plate racing
Jeremy: You got what you got, but I love it.
Shana: On pins and needles.