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Key week for Mayfield, who claims he’s broke and needs to race
This is a critical week for Jeremy Mayfield, who hasn’t raced since May due to the failed drug test that led to his suspension.
Mayfield will be in court July 1 to argue for a temporary injunction that would allow him to go racing as soon as this weekend at Daytona. He denies using drugs and claims a combination of Claritin D and the prescription drug Adderrall created a false positive for methamphetamines. The court date comes just as news has broken that a second laboratory has confirmed the positive test originally reported to NASCAR.
According to published reports, the court papers tell of a dire story in Mayfield’s personal life. He and his wife, Shana, claim to have borrowed money and sold belongings to keep up with living expenses.
"I do not understand how or why this is happening to me or my family," Mayfield says in the affidavit. "I have always anticipated that I would be able to race for another 10 years, but I believe my career will be effectively over if I am forced to sit out the rest of this season. I am afraid that I will have to sell my race team, and I know of no other way to make a living except as a professional race car driver."
It may sound dramatic, but it’s probably not far from the truth. When you race cars your whole life and can no longer compete in the sport, what do you do? Unless he can pull a Hail Mary pass and win in court on July 1, Mayfield will be looking at a very tough road ahead.
I do have to wonder one thing: What exactly did Mayfield do with all the millions he made when he was racing full-time for Roger Penske and Ray Evernham? You would think he’d still have at least some of it.
Since he entered the Cup series in 1993, Jeremy Mayfield has earned more than $33 million from racing alone, not to mention his endorsement deals (anyone else remember the classic, “Is that Octane 93 you’re wearing?” commercial),
After racing for 16 years and making millions, if he doesn’t have a dime in the bank and needs to borrow from his family, then he’s just plain stupid when it comes to managing money.
Kyle apologizes … but he didn’t need to
Kyle Busch has apologized for the wreck triggered when he hit Martin Truex Jr. on a restart late in the race at New Hampshire.
“I have to apologize to all those guys,” Busch said. “We got bottled up there in turn one – especially Martin and Jeff Burton and those guys. I meant nothing of that. The 88 (Earnhardt) spun his tires on the restart, I went to choose a lane, went to the middle, and the 42 (Montoya) and I got together a little bit. That pinched me with the 1 (Truex, Jr.) and I spun the 1 out and it was just mayhem from there. I hate it for all those guys because I know they’ve got ‘Chase’ contentions too. We were just battling for every spot out there today. Restarts are hectic, man.”
The thing is, Busch has it right with that last sentence … Restarts are hectic. So when someone spins their tires and everyone checks up, people are going to get hit. I’ve watched the replay and Kyle didn’t really do anything wrong there.
It’s ironic, because whenever Kyle has run people over for no reason, often when he is guesting in the Nationwide or Truck series, he never seems to apologize. But in this case, when the wreck was not all his doing, he does apologize.
It’s quite puzzling … but we are talking about Kyle Busch.
Sponsor woes all over
It looks like Matt Kenseth may be seeking new colors for the hood of the #17 car next season, as Dewalt doesn’t appear to be coming back for 2010. Similar situations exist for Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears over at Richard Childress Racing.
This rough economy, it seems, does not care how big your team is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more teams announce they are on the hunt for a sponsor before the year is out.
Strange stat of the day
Brad Keselowski has run 5 races in Cup this year. He has 1 win, 1 top-5 finish and 3 top-10s.
His boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has run 17 races in Cup this year. He has 0 wins, 1 top-5 finish and 3 top-10s.
Those numbers just don’t look right, but they are no lie.
https://twitter.com/MattMyftiu
Mayfield will be in court July 1 to argue for a temporary injunction that would allow him to go racing as soon as this weekend at Daytona. He denies using drugs and claims a combination of Claritin D and the prescription drug Adderrall created a false positive for methamphetamines. The court date comes just as news has broken that a second laboratory has confirmed the positive test originally reported to NASCAR.
According to published reports, the court papers tell of a dire story in Mayfield’s personal life. He and his wife, Shana, claim to have borrowed money and sold belongings to keep up with living expenses.
"I do not understand how or why this is happening to me or my family," Mayfield says in the affidavit. "I have always anticipated that I would be able to race for another 10 years, but I believe my career will be effectively over if I am forced to sit out the rest of this season. I am afraid that I will have to sell my race team, and I know of no other way to make a living except as a professional race car driver."
It may sound dramatic, but it’s probably not far from the truth. When you race cars your whole life and can no longer compete in the sport, what do you do? Unless he can pull a Hail Mary pass and win in court on July 1, Mayfield will be looking at a very tough road ahead.
I do have to wonder one thing: What exactly did Mayfield do with all the millions he made when he was racing full-time for Roger Penske and Ray Evernham? You would think he’d still have at least some of it.
Since he entered the Cup series in 1993, Jeremy Mayfield has earned more than $33 million from racing alone, not to mention his endorsement deals (anyone else remember the classic, “Is that Octane 93 you’re wearing?” commercial),
After racing for 16 years and making millions, if he doesn’t have a dime in the bank and needs to borrow from his family, then he’s just plain stupid when it comes to managing money.
Kyle apologizes … but he didn’t need to
Kyle Busch has apologized for the wreck triggered when he hit Martin Truex Jr. on a restart late in the race at New Hampshire.
“I have to apologize to all those guys,” Busch said. “We got bottled up there in turn one – especially Martin and Jeff Burton and those guys. I meant nothing of that. The 88 (Earnhardt) spun his tires on the restart, I went to choose a lane, went to the middle, and the 42 (Montoya) and I got together a little bit. That pinched me with the 1 (Truex, Jr.) and I spun the 1 out and it was just mayhem from there. I hate it for all those guys because I know they’ve got ‘Chase’ contentions too. We were just battling for every spot out there today. Restarts are hectic, man.”
The thing is, Busch has it right with that last sentence … Restarts are hectic. So when someone spins their tires and everyone checks up, people are going to get hit. I’ve watched the replay and Kyle didn’t really do anything wrong there.
It’s ironic, because whenever Kyle has run people over for no reason, often when he is guesting in the Nationwide or Truck series, he never seems to apologize. But in this case, when the wreck was not all his doing, he does apologize.
It’s quite puzzling … but we are talking about Kyle Busch.
Sponsor woes all over
It looks like Matt Kenseth may be seeking new colors for the hood of the #17 car next season, as Dewalt doesn’t appear to be coming back for 2010. Similar situations exist for Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears over at Richard Childress Racing.
This rough economy, it seems, does not care how big your team is, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more teams announce they are on the hunt for a sponsor before the year is out.
Strange stat of the day
Brad Keselowski has run 5 races in Cup this year. He has 1 win, 1 top-5 finish and 3 top-10s.
His boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has run 17 races in Cup this year. He has 0 wins, 1 top-5 finish and 3 top-10s.
Those numbers just don’t look right, but they are no lie.
https://twitter.com/MattMyftiu
posted by Matt Myftiu at
10:53 PM
5 Comments:
LOL. If Mayfield is broke he might want to look somewhere else besides racing, with his finishes and DNQ's I find it hard to believe he was making any money being a driver/owner.
If you actually understood Nascar, you would know that the driver rarely ever gets all of the purse money. You have to realize that young drivers starting out generally get a small piece of the purse and nothing more. So, of the $33M in purse money, over the number of years Mayfield has been in the sport does not amount to an excessive amount. The fact that he was out of work for over 2 years, and the expense of starting his own team and now the legal expenses it's a wonder he has lasted this long.
I recognize that the driver doesn't get all that money ... but you'll note I didn't even include the salary he earned all those years in my totals.
Even if he only got a portion of the $33M, he still should have been smart enough to invest a little of it so he had a bit of a nest egg in case things went south with his career.
It's the same advice I would give to any everyday Joe ... put money in savings because you never know what is going to happen.
Does anyone else remember the show that NASCAR did that showed the lives of driver and their families-wives off the track,etc... Mayfield should have thought better when he bought the old "Garvey" place that was listed at 9million, and his wife didnt need a unit in her closet that brought her clothes to her like you see at the dry cleaners !! FACE IT - THE JETS, MOTORHOMES, 10MILLION DOLLARS HOMES... todays drivers are spoiled brats and dont know how to manage their money. I dont feel sorry for them or any of the rest of them not planning for tomorrow living in today, Earnhardt Sr earned it and deserved it,these young punks think its owed to them,
Anonymous said...
If you actually understood Nascar, you would know that the driver rarely ever gets all of the purse money. You have to realize that young drivers starting out generally get a small piece of the purse and nothing more. So, of the $33M in purse money, over the number of years Mayfield has been in the sport does not amount to an excessive amount. The fact that he was out of work for over 2 years, and the expense of starting his own team and now the legal expenses it's a wonder he has lasted this long.
That statement is wrong.Drivers are paid a base salary and then a percentage of the winnings... usually in the 40% range for estanblished drivers. So even at 40%... go even 30% if you want for Mayfield, he still gets millions.
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