Just a few short weeks after being involved in one of the most spectacular accidents in the brief history of Outlaw Motor Speedway, Mike Northrup returned to the track, not as a driver, but as an employee.

Northrup became the track’s steward — the one who oversees the on-track activities — when Jeff Howell left to follow his son’s high school football career.

As steward, Northrup is the man drivers seek when they perceive a problem or feel they have been wronged, such as receiving a black flag for a driving infraction.

“They (drivers) first go after Mike, not me when they get a flag,” said track flag-man Phil Branan. “They get around to me later, but he’s the first person they see and they vent their feelings on him.”

“Oh, I’ve experienced some tough times, but that goes with the territory,” Northrup said. “In overseeing the track, you might say I’m like a referee. Drivers always come to me. I hear every complain. I listen, that’s my job.

“You can’t take anything they say to you as personal. I’ve been on the other side and I know where many of them are coming from. They’re just venting steam.”

Northrup says he’s having a good time even though he is not driving anymore. He credits the people around him with making his new job easy.

“Basically, we have a good bunch of drivers, track employees, and volunteers,” he said. “Those factors counter-act all of the negatives.”

One of the areas that drivers have been critical to the track steward in the past is the post-race car inspections of the race winners. A new system for the inspections — in which Northrup had input — is now in place and early results look good.

“We have a list of 10 things we can inspect on a car and it’s the drivers who determine which one of 10 we will check,” Northrup said. “Each inspection area is numbered and each number is written on a poker chip. We select a driver to reach into a hat to pick a chip, and that’s the item we’ll inspect for that night.

"There’s no way a driver can know what we’re going to select. Mike Foltz is our tech inspector and oversees the process. As far as I’m concerned, his decisions are final.”

Northrup’s driver-ending accident happened last August. Hit from behind, his race car rolled eight-and-a-half times down the front straight-away. The rollovers are a track record, one he wishes some other driver had.

“I remember what started it, but nothing that followed,” the 41-year-old Coweta resident said. “I’ve seen a video and I have read the medical reports. Not wishing any ill-will on any other driver, but the rollovers are something I’d rather not have on my racing resume.”