Mayfield delivers Christmas spirit to area youth in need (cont'd)

Might it be bigger than Santa Claus? Probably not, but it's appreciated. And being the huge optimists they are, the Mayfields are hoping to double the turnout by next year.

The only thing that would put the perfect cap on the holiday season for Mayfield would be to have a definite ride for 2009, which the championship-contending, race-winning driver certainly deserves -- with or without his charitable contributions.

Jeremy Mayfield with wife, Shana, who dressed the part.

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Even though we feel like we've had a tough couple of years, this really put in perspective how truly blessed we really are.

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JEREMY MAYFIELD

"We're still having discussions with teams and sponsors, but as you know it's a tough time right now and there isn't a lot going on," Mayfield said. "I feel like we're close on a couple of things and I think I'll be in Daytona in something. There's a Cup opportunity along with some other things, we're just trying to work out the details. Nothing is finalized, but we're working hard every day to get something done."

Mayfield's perspective on the sport goes back to the mid-1990s, and he said the current climate is a numbing dose of reality.

"This is by far the toughest time [I've seen] in the sport," Mayfield said. "To think we may head to Daytona without a Richard Petty-owned car is unbelievable! It's just a tough time in general for the world and being that our sport is financially driven through sponsorships and manufacturer support, we're feeling the hit a lot harder than most businesses.

"NASCAR will rebound and will always be a viable, healthy sport, but it may take some time. I haven't seen anything like this in my career. The opportunities are dwindling each day with mergers and teams shutting down."

That's obviously true, but given his track record it's pretty incomprehensible that Mayfield would not create a larger presence on the "need to hire" radar screen.

"There will be more drivers available than rides," Mayfield predicted. "I honestly feel I'm not sitting here without a ride because of my ability to drive a race car. I think I've proven my abilities behind the wheel, I think it's just a bad time to be looking for a ride due to the economy and the number of rides closing up."

Mayfield's even said he would even consider some part of team ownership to facilitate making something happen, but like with everything else, it comes down to dollars and cents and that search, to date, has been as fruitless as one for a seat.

"Again, ownership depends on having sponsorship dollars and that's really hard to come by right now," Mayfield said. "I think if you have sponsorship money then you have a huge advantage in whatever route you decide to go. We're working daily -- hourly -- to try and pull some sponsorship together to take wherever we land. We have some promising leads on a few things, so we'll see."

So when it came time this holiday season to step up, Mayfield didn't hesitate, and now it's time, considering the season, for a well-deserved visit from Santa Claus.

If he gave back to the community this past weekend, the experience also brought some renewed appreciation to Mayfield, and that can never be a bad thing.

"We've had some really positive talks with some people and that's all you can really go off of," Mayfield said. "I know I can still get the job done. I feel like I'm a better race car driver now than ever before. I've grown a lot and feel like I have a newfound appreciation for my job and the sport.

"I've proven myself in the race car and if there's an owner out there who wants to hire someone who's finished in the top 10 in points under both the old and new format, has won races and has top-10s at every track we visit, then I'm here."

He'll even bring the gifts, if he has to.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.