Surviving the Competition
In hopes to break the streak of bad luck plaguing Mayfield Motorsports over the last few weeks, we decided Jeremy should take a week off blogging and that I, Cortney Sauter, his public relations person, would “pinch hit” for him and talk a little bit about what it’s like to endure the struggles of competition in NASCAR.
(NOTE FROM JEFF WOLF: Cortney Sauter, the publicist for Cup driver/owner Jeremy Mayfield, is writing Jeremy’s blog this week. I suggested it because since Jeremy was gracious enough to commit to blogging for us each week he has not qualified for a Cup race. Not only does Cortney’s blog provide a unique perspective, we hope it helps get things turned around for Jeremy in the No. 41 All Sport Toyota. Enjoy the blog.)
(NOTE UPDATE: Cortney snapped the hex. Rain washed out Friday’s qualifying and that gave Jeremy the 42nd and next-to-last qualifying spot. He will race on Sunday.)
In hopes to break the streak of bad luck plaguing Mayfield Motorsports over the last few weeks, we decided Jeremy should take a week off blogging and that I, Cortney Sauter, his public relations person, would “pinch hit” for him and talk a little bit about what it’s like to endure the struggles of competition in NASCAR.
For those of you wondering what makes me qualified to speak to this sort of adversity, here’s a little background. In addition to working with Jeremy, I’ve worked with a laundry list of drivers over the past six years including Paul Menard, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Robby Gordon and my husband — Johnny Sauter.
I’ve been with drivers like Paul — trying to qualify on speed and falling just shy of making the race. And I’ve been with drivers like Johnny — struggling to see the good in a top-10 finish but kicking himself because he swore he had a top-five car. These struggles are a part of our sport and have been for decades.
I remember a story Johnny once told me about when his dad Jim, who made 76 starts at the Cup level, missed the Daytona 500 one year. Johnny said he remembered his mom being really upset — more than usual — because “no race meant no money”. For the father of 11 children, racing wasn’t just about competition to Jim Sauter, it was about survival.
These days most drivers don’t have to worry about putting food on the table. Their desire to make races and succeed on the track is a lot more emotional. Being married to Johnny, I’ve seen him paste a smile on his face for his team after a missing a race, only to see him come home and proceed to beat himself up over what he could have done differently for the next two weeks solid. It’s an incident that he will agonize over until he can replace that bad day at the track with a good one.
From what I’ve learned from Shana — Jeremy’s wife — the emotional struggles of racing exist in their home just as it does ours. I imagine that the last few weeks have been especially hard on her because she sees the real Jeremy — the one that is probably worrying day and night about when he will break free of this streak of missed races. And the only thing that can allow Jeremy to put the last three weeks behind him is to go out there and qualify for this race at Martinsville.
These are the behind the scenes struggles that a lot of race fans don’t see, but I think if they did — they’d have a lot more respect for underdog racers and the teams in Jeremy’s situation — outside the top-35.
One thing’s for sure — Jeremy Mayfield has really earned my respect this year. Aside from my husband, I can say without question, that he’s the only driver I’ve ever worked with that has caused me to lose sleep over whether or not he was going to qualify for a race. I think it’s because he’s defied so many odds by starting this team and making the first two races. Because of that, I want so badly for him to succeed and show the world that an underdog racer can still make it at the Cup level. In a lot of ways — he’s like a new generation of a Jim Sauter — and for him it’s not about competition, it’s about survival.
Thanks, and wish our No. 41 All Sport Toyota good luck.
