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Look at his waste band ROWWWWDDDDY NAAAATIONNNN......

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Where is ... Rick Mast?

You pick up the phone and it's Rick Mast.

Almost immediately, you're laughing. There is no other sense of humor on the face of the Earth like Mast's. It's wild and wicked and, make no mistake about it, colorful. He absolutely, positively will not let you be in a bad mood. The world ... not the racing world, but the world, period ... needs more people like Rick Mast.

You've written a book in the past and he gripes because he wasn't in it enough. You ask if he ever got to sit in Robert E. Lee's office chair on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., near Mast's home in Rockbridge Baths, in the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley. "Hell no," Mast says. The author Tom Wolfe screwed that deal up by splitting the chair when HE sat in it.

You think back to another time years ago when you called him. When he answered and told you what he was up to at the moment, you had to hang up because you were laughing so hard. For more than 30 minutes this time around, Mast talks to you like you're a long lost buddy.

When the call finally ends, you reflect on the conversation. Given the circumstances that ended his driving career midway through the 2002 season, it's all the more extraordinary that Mast can still maintain such an incredibly positive countenance. Not only did carbon monoxide poisoning force him out of the racecars he'd driven for decades, it also very nearly killed him.

Surely, this guy has every right to be angry at the world. Since the sport began, drivers have retired due to circumstances out of their control. They've been hurt in crashes. They couldn't land adequate sponsorship. They were fired and couldn't land another ride.

Mast was different. This was an invisible problem, literally. It took months to finally figure out what was causing the stunning dizziness, utter confusion, incredible headaches and body-wracking nausea. Mast had been in wrecks, of course, but nothing that would cause anything like what was slowly but surely destroying his life.

Mast is too good a person for something like this to happen. That's not, however, the way he looks at it.

"People ask me all the time if I'm bitter the way I was taken out," Mast said. "What I had mimicked a lot of bad diseases. I say, 'Listen, man ... if any of those tests had come out positive for what they were testing for, I wouldn't be here.' So, to me, every day's a blessing."

Today, Mast owns and operates RKM EnviroClean, a company that does site work for underground utilities as well as responding to situations involving hazardous materials. He's also a regular contributor to Rowdy Racing News, a weekly podcast devoted to NASCAR. He has seen life outside the racing community, and it fits him.

Shortly after Mast left racing, he had the possibility of going into television. He actually worked a few races, but a full-time gig didn't happen. After watching son Ricky grow up from afar, he wasn't going to do the same with the twin girls, Katie and Sarah that he has with wife Sharon.

"I'm not gonna miss these little girls growing up the way I did Ricky," Mast said. "That put me over the top as far as contemplating going to the racetrack every weekend. Here's the deal ... here's how it happened ... you've gotta realize I'd done that stuff since I was a teenager. Racing has been my whole life, period. Even when I was a kid, that's all I ever thought about. My whole life had always been gone from home.

"When I got sick, I spent six or eight months forced to stay at home. I didn't have no choice in the matter. I laid in the bed the biggest part of the time, laying there ready to die. Those six or eight months ... I started seeing a different lifestyle, a life that I had never had. I started getting acclimated to that. As time went on, less and less did I want to have to travel." That's not to say that racing isn't still close to Mast's heart. It is.

"I will say this ... when I go to the racetracks now ... it's like walking into your momma's womb, it really is," Mast said. "It's like, man, I'm home. I'm real, real sad when I leave. This is actually home. This is where I belong. But as soon as I get one day away from the track, after I get back home, then I'm perfectly fine."
"... when I go to the racetracks now ... it's like walking into your momma's womb, it really is. It's like, man, I'm home."
RICK MAST

Things happen for a reason. Just before his health started to deteriorate in earnest, Mast had a deal in place that would've given him solid footing in the sport for another two-and-a-half years. After that, he planned to retire on his own terms.

Your own terms. It's the way anybody in racing -- or any other profession for that matter -- wants to go out. Mast didn't have that chance. Looking back, however, what might life have been like had he been able to fulfill those obligations? Mast likes the way things are, thank you very much.

"If I'd got of the thing naturally, just retired and got out of the car, I'd still be right in the middle of it, man, because I would've never had the opportunity to ... learn a different lifestyle," Mast continued. "I'm not saying down the road that I might not entertain doing something again. Doing some of that [television] stuff, I really enjoyed it. I was pretty darn good at it.

"I have people still today all the time giggin' at me ... 'Rick, why don't you do some TV, do some radio?' If they could move everything right here to Lexington, Va., I'd be there every day with a big smile on my face. It's just the travel and being away from home so much. I just got acclimated to what I'm doing right now."

Driving for veteran independent car owner Junie Donlavey early in 2002, Mast began to feel progressively worse. He limped through what was then known as The Winston Open at Charlotte, and that was it.

He knew he couldn't do anymore. He had to find out what was hurting him so very badly. He called everybody he needed to call -- Donlavey, his sponsors, everybody -- and let them know he had to step out of the car.

"I think it was 50 laps, and when that race was over, I'm telling ya, it was all I could do to get out of the car and make myself get back over to the motorhome," Mast said. "When I got to the motorhome, I just basically collapsed. I said, 'I don't know what's going on. There's no way I can run 600 miles next week.'"

In the following months, seven different clinics put Mast through the wringer. He would mow his lawn and be down for a week afterward. He was grand marshal for a parade near home, and even that put him back on his back. It wasn't until late October-early November before doctors at long last concluded that he'd been hit, and hit hard, with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Finally, Mast announced his retirement on Jan. 22, 2003. Before he did so, he got NASCAR involved. He was getting better, and Mast being Mast, he wanted to do everything he could to help prevent others from going through what he'd been through.

Mast was 45 when he quit driving. Already, he says now, there were drivers 15 years his junior who were experiencing some of the same symptoms he'd exhibited while battling carbon monoxide poisoning in a racecar. He won't say who they were, except that they were "winning races, championships, the whole deal."

"I called [NASCAR president] Mike Helton ... and told him what was going on," Mast said. "I said, 'Here's what's going on. We've got a problem with these cars we need to address. I want to have a little media circus and announce what's wrong with me and what happened to me, and I want to be able to turn to you and say, here's what NASCAR's doing about it.'"

As a direct result of Mast's problems, systems have been developed to get fresher air into driver cockpits to the point now where carbon monoxide poisoning is a "non-issue." Mast himself is better now, his bouts lessening greatly over the last couple of years.

Mast had already made his mark in racing. He won the pole for Richard Petty's last race and Jeff Gordon's first, back in 1992 at Atlanta. He won the pole for the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He finished second to Dale Earnhardt at Rockingham, sliding almost sideways coming off Turn 4 on the last lap trying to catch the legend.

Those are numbers that fade with time. You'd have to look them up somewhere. For all that, drivers can now breathe, and breathe easy. It's all because of Mast.

"I get so many calls from people I've never talked to in my life, drivers' names that I grew up hearing," Mast said. "A lot of people call me up and they all say the same thing ... 'I want to thank you.' Why are you thanking me? 'You've answered all my questions. All my career, I couldn't figure it out. I'd get out of the car and I'd feel like [expletive] and I'd feel like [expletive] for a week. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought it was just being out of shape.'"

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Johnson's Atlanta win nets over $1 million for wildfire relief

Johnson's Atlanta win nets over $1 million for wildfire relief
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 31, 2007) - Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag at Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL CUP race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the American Red Cross' California Wildfire relief efforts might have been the biggest winner.

Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team joined with their sponsor Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) and Sonic Automotive (NYSE: SAH) Chairman Bruton Smith to contribute more than $1 million to the Red Cross California wildfire relief efforts. Johnson, 32, a native of El Cajon, Calif., plans to present a check to the American Red Cross at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday before the race.

"I am very proud of everyone who has jumped on board with us to donate winnings to the victims of California fires," said Johnson whose Hendrick Motorsports team earned $343,861 in race winnings on Sunday. "I appreciate Lowe's, Hendrick Motorsports and Bruton Smith, Sonic Automotive and the NASCAR community for their effort to help out the people in Southern California during this devastating time."

In addition to matching the race winnings, Lowe's designated each of its 85 stores in California as cash donation sites for customers and employees. Those donations plus another match by Lowe's raised an additional $10,000.

"The donations to the Red Cross California wildfire relief efforts were instrumental in our ability to provide assistance to residents, firefighters and first responders in Southern California," said Kathleen Loehr, interim senior vice president of Development at the American Red Cross. "This kind of help and generosity is critical during times of disaster."

Smith, who also is the founder and chairman of Speedway Motorsports (NYSE: TRK), said, "On behalf of all of our associates at Sonic Automotive, some of which have been affected by these fires, I'm delighted that we could be involved. I commend Jimmie on his victory on and off the track Sunday in Atlanta. He is a wonderful champion in so many ways. There's a lot of work to do in California and this effort will help."

The Red Cross is providing people affected by the fires, including residents, firefighters and first responders, with shelter, food, water, clean up and comfort kits, counseling, basic healthcare and family connecting services. The California wildfires have burned almost half a million acres and forced the evacuation of over a million residents.

The Red Cross has determined that current financial donations and pledges will cover the Red Cross' cost for its response to the wildfires, estimated not to exceed $12-15 million.

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HMS at Martinsville

HMS Gordon on the pole and Johnson in row 2. This spells domination in my book. Gordon 7 win and Johnson 3 wins in 10 start and last spring from 20th . The odds makers give both Johnson and Gordon 4-1 that either will win. Can they be stopped I dont think so. I believe After today with good finishes Half the Chasers will be locked out. Lets talk Casey Mears at the rate he is going he has a good chance of taking the 11th position from Jr just because Jr luck is out the window right now. Best of Luck to everyone today BUT GO HMS toward the Nextel Championship.

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Charlotte

Jr and Gordon.......
My take on the situation was Jr had no business being on the bottom, his car would not go and closer rate on the bottom last nite was insane. Should Jr be mad yes.... but mad at himself for putting himself in that position knowing his car didnt work down there. He slowed greatly when he went down and Gordon did not have time to back off and if had I think we would of had the first big one..... hats of to Jr for not wrecking thou it tells me how good of a driver he is.... but his car was just terrible on the bottom and had no bussiness being there.......

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• Jr, gordon, LOWES, Charlotte, bank of america, Hendrick, DEI, 24, 8, week 30