This racing fan got real drive-thru service

Ken Wood of Dillard, Ore., has seen Michael Waltrip race at places as far as Phoenix.

This week, he only had to open his front door to find the NASCAR driver.

Wood paid $4,605.55 in an eBay fundraising auction to have Waltrip personally deliver pizza Tuesday night.

Wood was the winning bidder in the “Get the Door – It’s Michael Waltrip” package that was part of an auction to raise money for the American Red Cross and its Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Wood’s bid made the package the highest-selling out of 300 packages and products featured in the auction and brought the total to more than $64,000.

Some 30 people, including Wood’s family and friends, gathered to await the famous driver.

Around 6 p.m., Waltrip roared up the gravel driveway in his Best Western No. 99 street car.

“Who wants pizza?” Waltrip asked as he stepped from the car, his 8-year-old daughter, Macy, in tow.

As spectators feasted on pizza and buffalo wings, Waltrip mingled, signed autographs, snapped photos and praised Wood for his generous bid.

“Everybody dig in, I would suggest,” Waltrip drawled.

Lefty-handed compliments

Of Phil Mickelson’s decision to use a driver on the 18th hole of the final round of the U.S. Open, Randy Hill of Foxsports.com wrote, “At that point in the proceedings, even Tony Stewart would have avoided hitting another driver.”

Of the Dallas Mavericks losing to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals after leading the series 2-0, NBC’s Jay Leno said, “Even Phil Mickelson said they choked.”

And this: Leno said he had a close call while going to work at the NBC studios in Burbank on Monday. “I was on the 101 Freeway and my car got hit by one of Phil Mickelson’s tee shots.”

It’s all in the translation

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times found an item at anaova.com about two frustrated English soccer fans who attended a World Cup game in Cologne, Germany.

To easily find their rental car, they copied down “Einbahn Strasse” from a street sign near where they parked it.

However, “Einbahn Strasse” in German means “one-way street” – and every other street in inner-city Cologne has such a sign. The fans, with the help of police, finally found their car a few hours later.

Wrote Perry: “Autobahn? Try auto gone.”