* SO, YOU STILL think of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as that loveable, aw-shucks, country boy who still races for the love of it, not the fame and fortune his surname drags along with it?

Think again.

It’s bad enough that NASCAR’s most popular driver isn’t held accountable by a rabid fan base for his poor performances over the last few seasons, now he’s not even held accountable by his fans for the way he acts.

Last weekend at Darlington Raceway, Earnhardt -- once again -- offered those of us who’ve had the, uh, pleasure of covering him the side his fans either don’t see or continue to ignore. It’s the side of him that can be flat-out surly, disinterested and rude.

The actual questions and actual, unedited responses to those questions during his media availability session at Darlington:

How’s the car, Dale?

"It’s fine."

How does the track feel with the new asphalt a year older, Dale?

"Same."

Your thoughts on NASCAR’s drug-testing policy, Dale?

"I don’t know."

Can you talk about the incident with your team in the pits at Richmond last week, Dale?

"Well, ya’ll saw what happened. Why do I got to comment on it?"

And then there was the best response of all, the one that suggests there isn’t really anything at all Earnhardt loves about his "day job."

Dale, why are you in such a bad mood?

"You go sit in that car. It’s not fun."

He’s tried different organizations and different teams, and he’s even briefly tried a different crew chief. Yet, Earnhardt’s car consistently struggles -- on the track and in the pits -- week in and week out.

Earnhardt’s made exactly one trip to victory lane since May of 2006, more than three years ago. One. In a fuel mileage fiasco at Michigan last season, no less.

Despite driving for the sport’s best organization, he’s just 18 th in the standings -- while all three of his teammates, who have seven combined Cup titles between them, are firmly in Chase for the Sprint Cup position and have won at least once this season.

Ever think that it could be the driver? Anyone?

And does anyone still honestly believe that this is the fun-loving, MTV "Cribs," larger than life driver who doesn’t take things too seriously?

* GREAT NEWS FROM Wiscasset Raceway. The average time of the weekly shows at the track could be cut by as much as an hour this season.

I’m hearing that John Crawford is out at Wiscasset after almost two seasons as the track’s sales rep for potential advertisers. John also has -- oh, how to put this delicately -- an affection for the public address system.

Particularly when it’s his voice flying across it.

* OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY. Tough track. Unique facility. One big circle where, as ACT Late Model Tour driver Brent Dragon put it earlier this week, the car just feels "numb" most of the time.

It’s not an easy place to get around. But, as longtime Oxford weekly competitor Tim Brackett said, if you can get around Oxford, you can get around anywhere.

The track opens for another season on Sunday with the ACT New England Dodge Dealers 150.

And there are a lot of guys who’d love nothing better than to open the season with a win.

But maybe not everybody.

"That’s been my hardest track," said Dragon, who failed to qualify for this race two years ago, despite being a constant ACT title threat. "I feel like we’re getting better there, though -- since that (DNQ), we haven’t finished worse than seventh in any race.

"I feel like we’re going to win one there. We’re getting close."

But if you’re only going to win one….

"Maybe this isn’t the one I want to win," Dragon said, laughing. "I’d like to win that one in July instead."

That July date Dragon refers to, of course, is the Oxford 250 on July 19.

* IS IT JUST me or does Joan Rivers look like that little porcelain doll with the white face and the red circles on its cheeks -- the one that was the staple of the "Jigsaw" character in the first "Saw" movie?

* RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT. Jeremy Mayfield took some allergy medication. And Manny Ramirez is sterile. And Barry Bonds never did anything wrong. And Andy Pettitte "misremembers" shooting up Roger Clemens with the muscle milk.

What’s next, Ron Hornaday Jr. only took steroids because he couldn’t figure out what that rare medical condition he had was…

What? What’s that? Oh, Hornaday really did have a rare medical condition?

My bad.

* WAS IT JUST me, or did the Oxford Plains media day on Wednesday feel more like a legislative session at the statehouse than a racing press conference?

Updates on House bills to ban camping in commercial lots being defeated.

Discussions of a lack of momentum for a casino in Oxford county.

Rubber-stamp approvals and "ought to pass" ratings on legislation.

Gov. John Baldacci’s veto power being wielded.

Yikes. Isn’t this stuff supposed to be fun? Well, hey. Look at the bright side.

At least we’re not talking about whether Super Late Models are better than Late Models again.

* THE CAMPING WORLD EAST Series is at Iowa Speedway on Sunday for the combination Long John Silver's 200 event.

Since the last Camping World East race at Tri-County Speedway, I have had time to do the following:

* Shave.
* Brush my teeth.
* Get dressed.
* Raise three children and send them off to college.
* Retire.
* Die.
* Come back reincarnated as a third-generation English lord.
* Fly a hot-air balloon around the world in 80 days.
* And shovel my driveway out of next year's snow.

I know, I know. It's grueling.

* I KNOW BOB GUPTILL has his heart in the right place, and he just wants to give support-division racers a chance to do something different with his Northeast Mini Stock Tour, which debuts on Sunday at Speedway 95.

I get all that.

But what I haven't gotten an answer for since I started asking the questions is this: Where is the fan base coming from?

Beyond family members and a few friends doubling as "crew guys," who among us is just salivating over the chance to go see Mini Stocks invade local tracks? Who is going to pony up the ticket price, the gas money and the grocery bill to skip a night at your home track to drive "up to Bangor, 'cuz they got them Mini Stocks there this week?"

Who?

Regional tours work because they have a fan base. They work because promoters can either lease a track knowing they'll make money off attendance or because a track is willing to pay purses they know they will trump at the ticket and pit booths.

Does that formula work for Mini Stockers? I don't see how.

* YOU’VE BEEN A great audience. Eminem is here. Try the Old 96er.

 Posted at 2:20 p.m. by TBarrett