ON PIT ROAD: No class, no car and no clue

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* WE'VE GOT A new feature here at GWC we're breaking out. It's the "No Class Move of the Week."

Congrats to Mike Johnson for being the inaugural winner.

After Johnson and Derek Ramstrom were involved in the same incident during the NASCAR Camping World East Series race at Thompson International Speedway last weekend, in which Ramstrom ran into Johnson's stopped car, Johnson confronted Ramstrom in the pit area.

He didn't just confront him, though. He went over to Ramstrom while Ramstrom was being interviewed about his win in the PASS North Series race earlier in the night. You know, there's a time and a place to do things. That was neither.

I can understand a guy like Johnson being frustrated with what happened, but seriously, dude. If you're already in the wreck, it's pretty hard to blame somebody else for hitting you. If you didn't wreck, you wouldn't have been in that spot to begin with

Just saying.

Now I'm hearing that Mike Johnson might make the trip up to Oxford Plains to compete in the TD Banknorth 250 on Sunday. Just so everyone knows, if Johnson wrecks and then you hit him, he'll be mad about it.

* HERE'S A RIDDLE. How does a race team and its race car leave the same shop at the same time, and have the car show up almost two hours later?

I don't know, either, but it was a pretty funny sight to see Eddie MacDonald and his crew standing outside the gate at Lee USA Speedway on Tuesday night waiting for their Super Late Model to show up for practice. Seems the truck driver took a lengthy detour.

* BEN ROWE HAS a deal in place to run all the PASS South races this year for owner Gary Crooks.

Rowe will run the remaining PASS South events for Crooks and the rest of the PASS North and PASS National Series races -- including the ones at southern tracks -- with Richard Moody Racing.

"I know from racing against Gary over the years that anything he touches is top quality and it’s a privilege to be the guy to climb behind the wheel of his new car," Rowe said. "Having him on my side for a change could bring some good things for both us in the future, hopefully a PASS South championship. I’m pretty sure that would be a first in PASS, winning a championship with three different race teams."

It would be. In fact, nobody has won both the PASS North and South titles in the same season. Rowe has a 46-point lead over Ryan Blaney in the South standings.

The team competes in the Daniel Boone Classic at Newport Speedway in Newport, Tenn., on Saturday night.

* THIS JEREMY MAYFIELD saga just continues to spiral out of control.

I used to think that NASCAR couldn't be stupid enough to not have all of its bases covered when it initially revealed that Mayfield had flunked his first drug test. Then I thought Mayfield couldn't possibly be stupid enough to keep using whatever he was using, knowing that NASCAR was going to test him again on a dime.

Now I'm wondering again -- NASCAR couldn't really be so stupid and self-important to simply "flunk" Mayfield in a second test without any real proof, could it? Could it?

Sadly, we're never going to know who is telling the truth in this situation. Never. That's what happens when you get wild accusations, crazy stepmothers and the court system involved.

Best part of all is that Mayfield can't get a ride, anyway, and the same guy who blew the whistle on Ray Evernham and everybody else in his wake is simply dragging the sport through the mud with absolutely nothing to gain on the other side.

Hey, Jeremy. Walk away.

* WHAT'S THE BIG deal about strawberry shortcake, anyway?

* HEY, REMEMBER when it rained for like 112 straight days last Oxford 250 weekend?

* LOUIE MECHALIDES RUN in the PASS North Series' Bastille 200 at Lee on Tuesday restored my faith in short-track racing.

* JUST SO YOU can all have the opportunity to say "I told you so" later, I'm sticking with my prediction of 74 cars at the Oxford 250 this year.

And, before you all pile on, my reasoning is strictly economy-related.

* IF YOU'RE LIKE me and you were at Lee USA Speedway on Tuesday, you're still walking around thinking you're at that track.

I've never in my life heard a public address announcer that reminds you of where you are more than they do at Lee.

Seriously, do the Red Sox remind me 17 times every half inning that I'm watching a game at Fenway Park? No, because they don't need to. I'm already there.

I've heard a lot of race fan stereotypes over the years, but I've never until Tuesday night seen their intelligence so acutely insulted. I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 references to being at "New Hampshire's Center of Speed, Lee USA Speedway."

Hey, buddy, you don't have to tell them where they are. They already know. They drove there, remember?

* YOU'VE BEEN A great audience. The Boneheads are here. Try the pig roast.

-- TRAVIS BARRETT, GWC Editor

Comments

[Andy B]

So how many teams are chasing the PASS South title and what is the point fund for the series???