Pothole fix, fence-mending top early season headlines

Three weeks into the season and it's time to empty out the ol' notebook ...

So far this season, the most compelling ongoing story is "the pothole" that nearly ate the Daytona 500. Daytona International Speedway reacted quickly and the fix -- using reinforced concrete -- was comprehensive and should be effective.

View of the track, patch at Daytona International Speedway.

You can barely see where the patch is, since the final step in the repair was to shade it the same relative color as the surrounding asphalt.

But from the public's standpoint, the "cover-up" appears to be a little bemusing. No one was actually convinced it was necessary to educate race fans and any other curiosity seekers about how big it is -- a little bit longer than two car-lengths and a little more than a car-width wide.

Daytona's annual Bike Week races are ongoing, but even if the two-wheeled rockets went over the patched area, they wouldn't affect it.

A non-spectator Sports Car Club of America event is scheduled in May, but with very few heavy, high-horsepower cars in their class, that event will be inconsequential. Even a scheduled test of the Nationwide Series' "new car," scheduled for later in May, will have minimal impact.

For better or worse, the real test will unfortunately come when practice opens for the Coke Zero 400 with plenty of heavy, relatively high-horsepower, set-to-drag-the-pavement race cars ready to rumble.

Classy guy

Ricky Carmichael may be the "Greatest of All Time" when it comes to the Supercross and motocross world, but he's making a lot of mileage in his NASCAR career with an abundance of class.

Carmichael was scheduled to be on NASCAR's weekly teleconference advancing the Truck Series race at Atlanta. More than 25 minutes went by with the waiting media on hold.

Carmichael eventually did his session but before signing off, apologized for losing the call-in number and scrambling his butt off to get connected. "If you need me, any time, call me or come by the truck," Carmichael said, and there was no mistaking the fact he meant it.

He offered another gem when asked to compare his AMA career and NASCAR.

"Everyone has the talent to be here," Carmichael said -- knowing he could be speaking of either discipline -- bikes or cars. "So sometimes, the only way you can separate yourself from the rest is to commit yourself to out-working them." (Continued)