The Mayfields: On the move this off weekend

This week, while the Nextel Cup Series has its final weekend off before running 16 consecutive races to finish the season, the Mayfields are in the middle of moving their home after a summer of planning -- and packing.

All the while, rumors of the veteran driver's future swirl around them.

	Jeremy and Shana Mayfield Credit: Autostock
	JEREMY MAYFIELD •   Driver Page •   2006 Stats •   Superstore: Mayfield gear •   Dodge Fast Track •   Jeremy's official Web site

This week: Where do I hang my hat?

Q: While everyone else gets some down time, you guys have got to move -- but even so, is it nice to be able to get away from racing and not have to worry about that stuff for a while?

Shana Mayfield: Well, it's not that we're not worried about it, because it's constantly on our mind, with everything that's going on. So we're still thinking about it and talking about things every day.

But it's nice not to have to travel and just to be with the dogs. Yeah, we're moving, but we're having fun with that. It's been an adventure after one day of it -- so we'll see how the rest of the days go.

But racing's still at the top of our minds. We've been talking about everything that's been going on and our options and what we should be doing. It's still there, but the nice thing is that we can be here and do it and not have to travel somewhere and deal with the grind of it all.

So it's been nice. We're not totally disconnected -- just a little bit.

Jeremy Mayfield: I kind of like it, because I definitely like being home and having the weekend off.

Yeah, we're moving, but we're kind of excited about it because we've got a lot of stuff going on and it's really good -- as far as where we're moving. So I'm pretty happy about that.

It's going to be nice to be in our new house and we'll be getting ready to go after this weekend, pretty much. I think we'll be in by the weekend, anyway, so we should be fine.

Q: As much as you have to get ready to go each weekend, how much of an ordeal has it been getting ready to move? I seem to remember you not having any warm clothes on one of your trips, because it was all packed?

Jeremy: Well, some of that's a bunch of bull.

Shana: It's not, because I had my sweaters packed first.

Jeremy: Here's what she does. When we go somewhere and it gets cool she goes, "Oh, I've got all my sweaters packed, I don't have anything warm to wear." So then we need to go shopping for something warm to wear.

Then, when it's hot, she goes, "Oh, I've got all my hot stuff packed already, so I've got to go get some hot clothes for the weekend." So I think it's a shopping thing, right there.

That's just a way to get new clothes.

Shana: We have been trying to pack for a long time, but it's not very much fun.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Shana: So I think we've decided to just pack all we can and then just call moving company.

Jeremy: Yeah, that's what we decided to do.

Shana: We're moving about 20 or 25 miles, right Jeremy?

Jeremy: It's about 25 miles away from where we live now, in Catawba, North Carolina. We ended up buying 468 acres -- plenty of room for dirt tracks.

Shana: Plenty.

	We is this man smiling? (See chart below) Credit: Autostock
	Jeremy Mayfield Career Cup Earnings Year Races Earnings 1993 1 $4,830 1994 20 $226,265 1995 27 $436,805 1996 30 $592,853 1997 32 $1,067,203 1998 33 $2,332,034 1999 34 $2,125,227 2000 32 $2,169,251 2001 28 $2,682,603 2002 36 $2,494,583 2003 36 $3,371,879 2004 36 $4,919,342 2005 36 $5,741,090 2006 20 $2,323,008 14 years 401 $30,486,973

Jeremy: It's got three ponds, three houses -- actually two houses and a cabin and all that kind of cool stuff. You can actually go from one house to another and think you're going on vacation.

Shana: I always tell Jeremy when we go there; it feels like we're going to a camp. It's weird.

Jeremy: You go down the driveway and you've got all this stuff going on, so it's pretty cool.

Q: Do the girls have their own little vacation cottage on the property?

Shana: They have their own little room.

Jeremy: In the new house they do, it's going to be cool.

Shana: It's just where they're going to sleep. They like it out there because they can run around and the lady, Madeleine, who keeps them on the weekends already lives out there, so they can go back and forth between the houses.

They're all excited because they have their friends. They love it and I think they're really excited about it.

Jeremy: Yeah, and there's a pond behind the small house, which is where we're moving, until we get the remodeling of the other house done. There's a pond behind it and I've been digging a cove into it and I'm going to put some sand down, so the dogs can have their own beach and stuff.

I've got to keep working on that.

Shana: Zoë loves to swim and we haven't redone the pool up at the big house yet, so she's gonna be kind of sad when we have to leave the pool, but Jeremy's making her the pond so she can get in it, to make up for it.

Jeremy: It'll be shallow and there will be sand where there won't be any snakes or anything like that, you know?

I've got an excavator -- a backhoe and a 'dozer and all that stuff, so we've been working pretty hard on it. I don't have enough pieces of equipment yet. I need to get a few more and we'll be ready.

Shana: That's like me and a couple more pairs of shoes.

Jeremy: Yeah. I feel like the stuff that I've already got has already paid for itself, over and over again.

Shana: Oh, geez.

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Jeremy: It's probably paid for itself 10 or 15 times already.

Q: You don't rent yourself out, do you?

Jeremy: Yeah, I do. I charge myself all the time. I figure that's nine hours on the 'dozer today, that's "x" amount of dollars, you know?

Q: Speaking of the girls, did you do the pet show up in Pocono?

Shana: No!

Jeremy: We thought it was going to rain. It was raining when we were getting ready for it, actually.

Shana: It was supposed to be on Saturday, and it had been raining on and off all day, so Jeremy and I thought we'd just take them somewhere and get them an ice cream, or something.

So we took them away and come to find out, after talking to Melody from MRO, they had it. So I was upset because that was our only shot at getting a trophy that weekend, and we blew it.

But I don't know. Izzy was a little nervous. I think she knew something was going on because every time I put her collar on here she'd act nervous, so I don't know if she was real prepared.

Jeremy: And then afterward, well, she gets nervous when it's time to have show time. She knows she does a good job, but she gets stage fright. She gets up there like Eminem does, and she doesn't know what to say.

Shana: I think she probably would've whupped another dog, because she was cranky.

Jeremy: She was in a bad mood.

Jeremy Mayfield is 34th in points. Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers Jeremy Mayfield in 2006 Race Start Finish Status Daytona 26 36 running California 21 22 running Las Vegas 24 25 running Atlanta 20 41 running Bristol 10 16 running Martinsville 23 26 engine Texas 34 31 running Phoenix 28 26 running Talladega 36 13 running Richmond 38 32 running Darlington 30 38 running Charlotte 2 15 running Dover 2 18 running Pocono 26 23 running Michigan 18 36 running Sonoma 32 22 running Daytona 42 36 running Chicago 16 24 running Loudon 37 29 running Pocono 22 37 running Average 24.4 27.3

Shana: She's moody as hell -- you've got to watch her sometimes. She's like me, if she doesn't get enough sleep, or something doesn't go her way, she pouts and b------.

Q: With everything that's been going on, do you have to show the girls a photo lineup so they know who's OK to come by the coach without getting growled at?

Jeremy: They pretty much know. They keep an eye out.

Shana: They sense it, for sure.

Jeremy: You know how they are. If you scratch their backs, they're happy.

Q: So will you be able to get away at all?

Shana: It doesn't look that way. I wish we could, but this is just something, like Jeremy said, we just waited until the last minute to do, which is kind of our fault.

So we need to just suck up and do it. It doesn't look like we'll have a chance to go away. And that's OK, because we've been spending time together, quietly, which is not usual, so we're enjoying that.

Jeremy: We were going to go to the Bahamas, and then all this stuff came up and we had to get out of the house, so we decided not to go that route and to do it later on.

The closings are all scheduled and we're good to go. Even if something does happen, we're going to live there for a year, until we find something else, anyway.

Shana: We're just going to wait until the offseason to vacation, I guess.

Jeremy: Yeah.

Shana: I'm definitely going to keep up with the racing schedule. I won't miss any races.

We're looking at it this way -- it's been here this long and we're moving it, we're going to put it in another house and we'll get it organized when we get it organized.

Heck, we've lived in this house for almost five years and still haven't got it organized, so I'm in no hurry with the new house.

I know we're going to be there for a while and in the meantime I definitely want to be with Jeremy and finish the year out and we'll just do all our organizing in the offseason.

Maybe I'll talk him into this year, instead of having a big Christmas, we'll just go on vacation -- just get away. That would be nice, so it's not going to put a kink in my schedule at all.

It'll be fine. Jeremy might want to stay home a couple weekends and work on it, I don't know?

Jeremy: What, the house instead of going to the racetrack? No.

Shana: I'm just kidding. He doesn't -- but he just has so much fun out there on the 'dozer and all that, that I was just joking. But he really does enjoy it out on the property.

Jeremy: But seriously, I'm really proud of my team at Evernham Motorsports, though.

They've held up pretty good through all of this rumor and innuendo. They've stuck together and I think it's pretty neat.

You know, they're hearing stuff every week and I think they've done a great job of holding their composure or whatever you'd want to say.

Word Association: July off weekend

Boxes
Jeremy: Got a lot of 'em.
Shana: Keep 'em away from Izzy.

Cell phone
Jeremy: Nextel -- got to have one.
Shana: Broke my antenna, need a new one.

Time off
Jeremy: More time on the 'dozer.
Shana: Lovin' it.