I've been "going to the races" for almost 20 years, which is right about the time that I moved from New York to New Hampshire, and I began living within an hour of Loudon. And, when I moved to central Ohio back in 1997, I made sure to live within an hour of Mid-Ohio. I only went back to Loudon one more time-in 1998—but I stopped going to that track when I reached my limit for weirdness that year. I was standing in turn one at NHIS, and I saw, up-close and personal, what happened to Thomas Wilson and Miguel DuHamel. It was the kind of weirdness that leaves a pit in your stomach. Not the kind of weirdness that makes you love to be a motorcycle roadracing fan.

Now, since adopting Mid-Ohio as my home track in 1998, I have seen more than my fair share of the good kind of weirdness that always occurs during a race weekend. Guys walking around the paddock wearing bike fenders that were converted to dual beer-can guzzlers. Aaron Yates dragging his elbows through "The Esses", Tom Kipp's likeness emblazoned across the front of thousands of event T-shirts, and the cops setting up roadblocks for unlicensed scooters ridden by moto-gods. Every year offers up a cornucopia of all things wonderfully weird. And this year was no exception. Here's a sampling:

Who could have guessed that 1983 and 1986 Grand Prix 250cc World Champion and fiery Venezuelan legend Carlos Lavado would be strolling around the Mid-Ohio paddock. Carlos, who now runs the Venemoto Yamaha team that is fielding two Venezuelan riders on Yamaha R6s in AMA Formula Extreme and Supersport, still looks like he could crawl under the paint of a 250 GP bike. It's pretty obvious that the four packs of cigarettes he must smoke in one day are keeping him in "race trim". He was constantly puffing on a cancer stick the entire weekend, and thankfully, there were no reports of this former World Champion ending up handcuffed in the back seat of a police car.

At the end of the day on Saturday, after Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden had already left the track, father Earl stood for about an hour in front of a huge line of fans. He signed posters, hats, and T-shirts; shook hands; kissed babies; and made sure to share a little Hayden Hospitality with everyone who sought it. Sure, his Three Sons are going to be on The Tonight Show next month, but old Earl is a star in his own right. Very cool.

At about 11:15 AM on Sunday morning, right in the middle of the Superstock race that Roger Lee Hayden ultimately placed fifth in, Earl came running up to the press room with a cell phone pressed against his ear. He'd just gotten a call from Europe, and he was told that Nick had crashed out of the rain-infested British Grand Prix that was on-going at the time. Earl politely asked if someone could log onto MotoGP Live Scoring & Timing, and several media people happily obliged. Just as he noticed that there were no lap times being shown for 69, he got another call, which went like this: "Yeah, I heard he went down. Is he OK? He's OK, then? Thanks for calling." You could see Earl's face transform from concern, to relief, and back to concern again as he returned his focus to his other two sons, one of whom (Roger) was on-track at that very moment in the Superstock race and the other (Tommy) who decided to sit out Superstock in order to save his broken-and-plated hand for the Supersport race later in the day.

After the rains stopped on Sunday and all manner of jet dryers, brooms, squeegees, blowers, and tampons were used to remove every trace of moisture from the racing surface, Mat Mladin's lead mechanic Req O'Rourke calmly sauntered out to the starting grid, and surveyed the surface with the same critical eye that he focuses on a clutch plate or a valve spring. He walked over to an AMA official standing nearby, and in less than 30 seconds, an army of leaf-blower-packing track personnel descended on the start-finish area to dissipate the last remaining molecules of water that were undetectable by anyone except Reg. And Mat Mladin will be the first to tell you that THAT kind of attention to detail is a big reason why Mat keeps getting the number-one plate pasted onto his bike.

It seems that Owensboro, Kentucky—or "The OWB" as The Cool People like to call it—is suddenly being rivalled by Batavia, New York, when it comes to loyal support of their local talent. People of all ages, genders, shapes, and sizes were walking around Mid-O in shirts emblazoned with "DiSalvo 40". Jason's friends, family, and neighbors were there to represent. I spent some time talking to Jason's barber (who had just given Jason a very tidy trim) and Jason's Dad's electrician—the guy in charge of stringing up the DiSalvo's famous Christmas lights display every year. He said he'll get started on that task in a couple of weeks.

6. How About S'mores?

A lot of hardy race fans camp throughout the weekend at Mid-Ohio, and as you can imagine, all sorts of weirdness occurs in the tent city that springs up next to the track. But the weirdest site of all had to be Michelle Trueman, owner of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, who personally took the time to ask several campers if they were comfortable and if there was anything she or her staff could do to make their stay more enjoyable. It is unclear if any of the tent-dwellers were able to convince Michelle that the time to re-pave the entire track and remove the concrete patches is long overdue.

Since they were both OK, both got back into the race, and not all THAT much harm was done (although Mat might beg to differ), I have to say that the crash that involved teammates Aaron Yates and Mat Mladin seemed like something out of the Keystone Kops. Aaron clearly had the bike leaned over too far in the Carousel, and he gently lost both ends of his Suzuki simultaneously. He and his bike slid directly off the track amid a shower of sparks. But, unfortunately, Mat did not heed that old firefighter's warning to Stay Back 500 Feet. It seemed for a moment like Mat could have turned his bike in just a little more to avoid both his teammate's grinding hardware and his teammate who were centrifugally heading towards the grass. But, Mat did the honorable thing and rode a fine line between bike and rider that unfortunately put him in the grass, too. And, while Aaron, was bouncing back to his feet, it seemed like Mat was going to keep the rubber side down. However, at the last moment, Mat recreated something that most of us have done a thousand times. He lost his balance and the bike tipped over almost like he had just washed it in his driveway, and he slipped on the hose. You could see by the body language Aaron was displaying that he wanted to help his teammate just as badly as he wanted to pound his own clip-ons back into place. They always say that your teammate is the first competitor you want to beat, but he's the last competitor you want to send into the grass--especially when that teammate is the baddest man in AMA Superbike.

Mid-Ohio has had the same highly competent track announcer for years and years, and the guy is very experienced at his job. He has a pleasant voice, he's highly efficient, and I've never once heard him refer to the competitors as "drivers". But, this year, for some inexplicable reason, the announcer just didn't seem to know where to stand during the the post-race podium interviews. During the Formula Extreme race, for example, the announcer stood with his back to the very large crowd while he interviewed second-place-finisher Miguel DuHamel. Now, as you know, Miguel has a huge following, and the fans who come to Mid-Ohio simply adore 17. So, while the track announcer was asking the usual questions to Miguel, all you could see was a guy in a straw hat standing with his back to the audience. You could HEAR Miguel's voice, but you could not see him at all. Miguel is a very animated and demonstrative individual, but all of that charisma was almost completely blocked from view.

As mentioned earlier, Venemoto Yamaha is competing in both AMA Formula Extreme and 600 Supersport this season. And, when I was leaving the track on Saturday evening, I happened to be walking out of the paddock area right behind Venemoto riders Armando Ferrer and Victor Chirinos, along with most of their crew. I can't begin to tell you how surreal it is to hear a group of raven-haired young men speaking rapid-fire Spanish with Midwestern hayfields and cornstalks as the backdrop. And what was even more strange was the fact that both Armando and Victor were wearing heavy jackets (in Venemoto Yamaha colors, of course) over their team clothing. Apparently, when you're from Venezuela, 92-degree temperatures and 85% humidity is rather Chile. ... er, I mean, chilly.

10. Full House

I realize that it's been mentioned previously on this site, but something this weird MUST be brought up a second time. First of all, Ohio is a motorcycle-loving state. In fact, it's among the top five states in number of motorcycles registered, and I think it actually might be be third, behind only California and New York. And, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course almost did a terrific thing this year to entertain the many fans and ease the traffic situation at the end of the day. Even with cable and satellite dishes and DVDs and TiVo, there are still a couple of honest-to-goodness drive-in theaters still operating in The Buckeye State. And, this past Saturday, the number of drive-ins in Ohio increased by one as Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was transformed into a drive-in theater. What a cool idea. A chance to show "On Any Sunday", "Faster", or maybe even "The Wild One" to the bike-loving masses. But, instead, they showed "Born to Ride." Hmm, promising title. Is that the one starring Steve McQueen? Who? John Stamos, you say? You mean the dude from that show starring those two monkey-babies who grew up to become anorexic teen idols?

Weird, man. Just plain weird.