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Issue Date: October 23, 2005
My Other Car Is ...
We went home with top NASCAR drivers. Guess what we found sitting in their driveways?
By Dennis McCafferty
Jeremy Mayfield and his toys
Mooresville, N.C.
I've always loved big, old American cars, especially ones from the '70s," Waltrip says.
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For racer Jeremy Mayfield, his 135 acres just outside of Mooresville, N.C., is a big ol' playground. Which is good, because Mayfield is a big ol' kid. He has built not one, but two dirt tracks on the property, and when he has company over, he can't wait to show them off.
If Mayfield isn't in the garage assembling half-scale dirt-track cars (they pretty much amount to four tires, a sheet of fiberglass and a roll bar), then he's racing them with, among others, his boss, team owner Ray Evernham. "I raced Ray out here on the front-yard track, and I whipped him," says Mayfield, 36. "Then, we went out back, and he beat me. Frankly, that still makes me sore." If he's not doing that, then Mayfield is tinkering with literally hundreds of remote-control cars. And he's proud to show off what could be his favorite toy of the whole bunch: a full-fledged, actual 2004 Ram SRT10. It's a power junkie's muscle truck: 10-cylinder Viper engine, dual exhaust and a motorcycle-style, push-button starter. "Just press the button and it goes," Mayfield says. "Gotta like that."
Like many drivers, Mayfield gets a new vehicle "on loan" every season as part of his agreement with his racing car manufacturer. The current loaner is a 2005 Dodge 1500 Hemi truck. He likes Dodge Hemis for hauling everything from equipment to brush. But when he found out about the Ram SRT10, he ponied up about $45,000 to buy it. "It feels like a race car. And check out those tires," he says, pointing. "Usually, you have to buy those kind separately and put 'em on yourself."
It helps that his wife, Shana, lets her husband indulge himself. "I only spend time here one or two days a week," Mayfield says, in his garage. "So I want to be here with all of my trucks and cars and toys and have fun. Actually, spending time with these vehicles gives me experience in different situations and that makes me a better racer. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but she doesn't give me much grief about it. Anyway, she always knows where I am at night."
Mayfield and his jet-black 2004 Ram SRT10 (with 22-inch Scorpion tires) perch above one of two dirt tracks, where he says racing half-scale dirt cars makes him a better driver. He must be right: He has made the hotly contested NASCAR "top 10" Chase for the Nextel Cup two years in a row.
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Greg Biffle and Michael Waltrip
Sherrills Ford, N.C.
Taking a break from the NASCAR grind, top contender Greg Biffle stops by the home of his neighbor, racer Michael Waltrip, so he can check out what's in the garage. "Now, that's a baaad ride," says Biffle, admiring Waltrip's restored '73 Caddy Eldorado convertible.
"It made it here all the way from Owensboro," says Waltrip, in reference to his Kentucky hometown, where his father picked up the Caddy at a local car lot in 1991. When Waltrip first saw the car, it was the automotive equivalent of an abandoned junkyard dog. The body was covered in rust, and the interior had been ripped out. The motor sputtered when the key was turned. "I told him if he can get it here, I'll get it back in shape. I've always loved big, old American cars, especially ones from that era," Waltrip says. With the restoration now complete, the prestine, snow-white Caddy sports a gleaming burgundy interior to go with its top-of-the-line Eclipse stereo system.
Waltrip turns to Biffle's convertible, a 2003 Roush Stage 3 Mustang basked in bright gold paint. It's a signature car from Jack Roush, Biffle's team owner. "You got that for winning the 2002 Busch series, right?" Waltrip asks.
"Yep," Biffle says, turning and looking over his truck as if it were a precious jewel. "These cars are Jack's pride and joy." The engine on the Roush Stage 3 is a 4.6-liter 2-valve with a supercharger. The wheels are 18 inches. Inside are Roush insignia leather seats. "Winning the Busch series was a major event in my life," Biffle says. "The next year, I was in the Nextel Cup."
There are a number of "favorite" vehicles Waltrip keeps on his 120-acre property in Sherrills Ford, N.C., but -- at more than 18 feet long -- the Caddy is the daddy of them all. "This kind of car," he says, "goes back to my childhood."
Waltrip remembers his first ride -- a Grand Torino he drove when he was 16. It didn't last. His second was a 1981 Z28 Camaro that cost him $9,600. The car meant so much to Waltrip that, for his 40th birthday two years ago, his wife, Buffy, enlisted the aid of a local Camaro car club to track it down. Ironically enough, that car also turned up in Owensboro. "Having it back brings back so many good memories," Waltrip says, "just simple stuff like driving to McDonald's or cruising around with friends."
Like Waltrip, Biffle remembers practically every vehicle he has ever had. And as with Waltrip, there's much sentiment involved. The first was a 1976 Firebird he and his dad bought when he was 15, growing up in Vancouver, Wash. "We'd stay up until 11 at night working on that car," he says. "My father was a real gearhead, and I ended up building the first motor for my own car. It was a 427 big block engine. It felt great taking it to school or to my job at an auto machine shop, or just going street racing on a Saturday night."
The conversation turns to Biffle's first stock car, a 1972 Ford Torino that at age 17 he gunned on oval tracks in Washington. Told that Waltrip also had a Torino, Biffle's eyes light up. "Michael had the same car?" he says. "Man, we have to talk."
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Elliott Sadler with his buddy
Emporia, Va.
At home, Elliott Sadler's pickup accommodates his extended family of 32 hunting dogs, most of them Tennessee Walker hounds. "After we're done hunting," Sadler says, showing off the lighted dog cages he rigged in the bed of his Ford F-150 FX4, "I can gather up a dozen dogs in the dead of night and take them to where they stay here."
For Elliott Sadler, it doesn't get much better than hunting on his expansive property in Virginia with his Ford F-150 FX4. The truck's bed is large enoughto haul all of his hunting gear anda dozen of his 32 dogs.
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"Here" would be home -- 30,000 sweet gum tree-shaded acres in Emporia, Va., where he hunts. "We'll bang trucks out here," says Sadler, 30, with a laugh. "I've torn off doors, even the entire side of one truck. If somebody's riding with me, I make them sign a waiver." (He's joking. We think.)
The F-150 is built to survive. With a cab height of about 76 inches and a width of nearly 79 inches, the truck is certainly big enough for the former scholastic football standout. (Sadler is 6-foot-3, 205 pounds.) His ride also holds a 6-foot-long steel toolbox the size of a horizontal filing cabinet, packed with rope, water bottles, and sturdy boots and chaps designed to withstand chases into deep, thorny briar. "We'll walk and run 5 or 6 miles a day out there, and we're carrying 20 pounds of gear," Sadler says.
As for fuel efficiency with the 5.4-liter Triton, 24-valve engine and 300 horsepower? Let's just say it's good Sadler has solid cash flow; he reckons the truck gets him 6 miles per gallon on a typical hunting trip. "We go through an entire tank every day," he says. "And it holds 40 gallons."
Sadler's first car, a black Mustang GT with a 5.0 engine, lasted just four months. "I got it wrapped around a tree, doing something I shouldn't have been doing," he says. "That was my first and last sports car as a teenager. My parents and I reached a mutual decision there."
Next page, Car and Driver picks"
Photograph by Peter Gregoire for USA WEEKEND
Bob Rives for USA WEEKEND (Sandler)
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What's New for 2006
What a great year for speed! Check out our expert's picks for the hottest of the hot.
By Tony Swan
The 2006 model year will yield a bumper crop of motorized temptations: more power, more style, more gee-whiz technology. But which are destined to be coveted beyond their normal life spans? Which will be considered classics, say, 30 years from now?
The key ingredients are power, outstanding style and relatively low production volumes. Not many fit the template, but here are four we think will be keepers:
Dodge Charger SRT8
Jeremy Mayfield digs muscular SRT Dodges, so he should check this out. Yeah, it's got a Hemi. And how. SRT stands for Street and Racing Technology, the DaimlerChrysler skunk works that puts more heat in Dodge and Chrysler offerings. In this case, it adds up to 425 horsepower, with brakes and handling to match. (Think the Dukes of Hazzard car with four doors.) With all due respect to the Cadillac CTS-V, this just may be the hottest American sedan out. And at an estimated $39,000, it's a bargain.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
It looks very much like the other members of this celebrated family of sports cars, but the Z06 is the most torrid production Corvette ever offered -- and the most sophisticated. Exotic materials like magnesium and titanium keep down curb weights. Track-tuned suspension and brakes deliver surgically precise handling. And with 505 horsepower, expect world-class performance. Yours for $65,800. For the money, no other sports car can touch it. In fact, few can touch it in any price range.
Ford Shelby GT 500
Already a grand slam, Ford's all-American pony car will pick up the pace with this limited edition blessed by speed merchant Carroll Shelby. It includes suspension and tire upgrades, trim details and a supercharged V8 generating almost 500 horsepower.Original Shelby GT 500 Mustangs (1967-1970) sell for as much as $100,000 today. This thoroughly modern edition is expectedto go for about $40,000 new. Just imagine what it will be worth in 2036!
Pontiac Solstice
With prices starting at less than $20,000, the Solstice isn't likely to deliver much exclusivity. And its 177-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine may not deliver face-wrinkling acceleration. But the foundation for this new Pontiac roadster is as solid as a railroad trestle, a critical element in cat-quick responses. Equally important, the Solstice is drop-dead gorgeous. If you've got the dough, then buy one and put it in a warm, dry storage space. Then buy another and have some fun.
Tony Swan is the executive editor of "Car and Driver" magazine.
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