Tales Become Apocryphal, Courtesy of TV

After Nigel Mansell won the British Grand Prix he enthralled writers with stories about how he drove the last 10 laps “with my heart in my mouth” because of gearbox problems, that he drove in fifth gear the entire final lap because he feared his car might stop as it had in a race in Canada.

London papers were full of his quotes the next day, but British magazine writer Jeff Hutchinson exposed the story, noting that Mansell’s car carried an on-board camera that also recorded sound, and that the car’s on-board telemetry system recorded his every move.

“Telemetry showed that he had trouble on only two gear changes the entire race, and none on the final 10 laps,” Hutchinson wrote. “His fans might have loved it, but the team wasn’t very impressed by his comments.”

Believe it or not: Bob Einstein of Beverly Hills, better known as Super Dave Osborn of TV craziness, recently made two holes in one, but he’s having a difficult time getting anyone to believe him.

Ron Rhoads, director of golf at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, witnessed the first one--a seven-iron shot on Sherwood’s 146-yard third hole--last month. Super Dave made his next one last Tuesday with a pitching wedge on a 110-yard hole at the Devil’s Pulpit course outside Toronto.

“It’s just another one of his weird tricks,” said an associate of Super Dave when he heard of the first ace. “How can you possibly believe it?” But Rhoads says it’s the real thing.

Trivia time: Who is the only player to hit 40 or more home runs in one season in both leagues?

Lend me an ear: The events in the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics are different from the ones held in the recent U.S. Olympic Festival.

Salmon-cleaning is one thing, but our favorite is ear-pulling, in which two athletes face each other with a string tied between one of each contestant’s ears. At a signal, each pulls his head back until someone gives up.

“Strong ears and strong neck, that’s what you need,” says champion Joshua Okpik, who can lift 16 pounds attached to his right ear and walk a half-mile with it. “It’s a talent like any other. Some people can jump. I can carry stuff with my ears.”

Field of reality: Actor Kevin Coster lived out a dream on the baseball field at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore on Sunday, hitting a home run while taking batting practice with the Baltimore Orioles.

After Costner meekly tapped a high fastball, Cal Ripken told him, “Hey, I have trouble with that pitch, too.”

Are you listening, Tommy?Remember a couple of weeks ago when Tommy Lasorda told the slumping Dodgers how even the 1927 New York Yankees lost nine games in a row--then recanted and admitted he really didn’t know, but it sounded good in a motivational speech?

Well, Dan Cunningham, a researcher for the Hall of Fame, looked it up and found that the Yankees’ longest losing streak that year was four.

Trivia answer: Darrell Evans. He hit 41 for Atlanta in 1973 and 40 for Detroit in 1985.

Quotebook: Nolan Ryan, on his longevity: “Writers like to say they’ve seen a lot of players come and go. I’ve seen a lot of writers come and go.”