Thursday- Well I didn’t break out any guns or alcohol while waiting for the Swill team to show up for the trip to BG. I was actually helping a neighbor put an exhaust on his Victory motorcycle. I drove for a couple of hours until giving up the driving chores to Dale. I don’t remember anything after that until waking up at the track. We arrived at 4am and slept in the line.

Friday
Things can get busy when dealing with two cars. The Sutton car was ready to go but, my car needed a little prep work. Scott was first up for a test hit. As most of you already know the radiator split a weld and dumped water under the rear tires just after launch. I was in the Circle Track area watching the run. I really didn’t get excited about it because, there was nothing I could do. Scott couldn’t do anything to avoid the wall. It happened so fast. I’m glad it didn’t occur at the top of the track. Things would have been much worst. I needed to focus on the driving the Sutton car and just put it out of my mind. We made a test hit in the Sutton car and it ran well but, was off pace a bit. We initially decided not to run my blue car due to the damage. Up comes the first round of qualifying. We had an awesome pass with an 8.508 and that put us in the #1 spot for Friday night. Chris Berry told me at the end of the track, sorry to hear about you car. I said what are you talking about, I just ran an 8.50. Then, I realized he was talking about my blue car. I was really on cloud nine after that pass. We went back to the pit and had a few beers. I was hanging out at the Sutton pit which was right next to where my blue car was pitted. Next thing I know someone tells me I might not want to go by my car. I stayed away for a while but, then had to see what was going on. Dale was pounding, prying, and cutting the crap out of the front of my car.

I’m not the kind of guy to stand around and watch so I joined in on the fun. I figured it’s already trashed; lets see what we can do with it. We hooked the golf cart up to the core support and pulled it until we could fit the radiator in to its original location. We finally got it in. We closed the hood and Dale just started pounding on it where it was buckled up. You would think I’d be sick seeing this kind of action occur on my car but, it was quite the opposite. I was excited to see it shaping up into something we could actually run down the track. Wow, I couldn’t believe how improved it was after all of the work. Scott went to the Urist pit and John welded up the split in the radiator. UPR supplied us with a new set of headlights and an alternator pulley. The Sutton guys gave us a set of front tires. The originals were peeled like an orange from the sideways sliding. Someone supplied us with some very close color matching blue duct tape. Thanks to all of you that helped and supplied parts needed to get my blue car back into competition! Another thing that most people don’t know is that my son and two of his friends were driving to the event on their own. My son and his friends are eighteen years old but, none of them have ever been on a road trip without an adult. Needless to say, my wife and I were nervous about it and we were in constant phone contact with them the whole way. It’s about a six hour drive from my house to BG. The boys finally arrived about 11:30pm and my wife and I were very relieved. What a stressful day. Talk about highs and lows.

Saturday
The blue car is back in action. Scott runs both the 2nd and 3rd rounds with two 8.75s. Not what we were hoping for based on some recent test sessions but, good enough to get it in the top half of the field. I must say it was not a bad comeback. The red car was on rails and we ran and 8.53 and an 8.51. This red car is really consistent. We just cannot nail the 60’ down. The best we had for the weekend was a 1.30. Not terrible but, we are not satisfied with that. We will get this car to go consistent 1.2x one way or another. When qualifying ended we found ourselves in fourth place. Normally a 50 would be good for first but, not anymore. The mighty Dan Rawls qualified with a jaw dropping 8.41.

I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me that but, I saw it with my own eyes. I was next up behind him and he disappeared down the track in a hurry. That was very cool pass Dan. Second qualifier was Bart Tobener. Bart is known to use many aliases so you might know him under a different name. He surprised us all and probably himself with an 8.48. The 3rd spot was held by second in points Dave Guy with an 8.49. We were fourth with our sluggish 8.508. Fifth was Brian Tuten with an 8.55. It was a tough bunch out there in BG. We ended the evening with a bang. Bryan and Larry cooked 32 16oz Rib eye steaks and boiled 60 ears of corn. We ate like kings. It was an awesome meal. Thanks to Sutton High Performance! I was also over at Chris and Megan VanGilder’s pit for a while. We were drinking some Yuengling beer from a keg and Megan and I smoked a cigar. That is some really good beer and Chris and Megan always have some good cigars. Thanks Chris and Megan! We didn’t party too late because, Sunday is the big day and we wanted to be ready for action.

Sunday
Things started out good in the first round. We had a bye in the red car due to Mike Catapano breaking his trans and the ring and pinion. He got the ring and pinion fixed then, found the trans was broke. We ran the red car all out to get the lane choice in the second round and basically make a test hit. My blue car also got a bye as Joel Howard had done some damage to his motor. Scott ran an 8.77 so, things were looking good for the next round. Right before the second round Jason Reiss showed up with the camera crew. They were going to interview me about winning the 2008 championship. Jason introduced me and I yelled out. Next thing I know I get a pie smashed in my face. I had no idea it was coming.

Everyone in our pit but, me knew what the plan was and they all had a big laugh about it. I thought it was funny too and didn’t have a problem with it. The second round was not a good for either car. We were ahead of Brandon Foley when our belt broke on the shift into third gear. Brandon passed us up running a 9.19 to our 9.50. The blue car didn’t fair to well either. Scott cut a perfect .000 light against Dave Guy but, spun the tires and lost. Scott and I were spectators after that. We stayed and watched all of the finals and collected our $60 each for loosing in the second round. Even though we won the Championship we were bummed about not doing well at the event. It seemed like a long ride home. When I arrived home about 2am, my two biggest fans woke up to greet me. My dogs Charlie and Frankie are always happy to see me when I return home from being gone for a few days. They wiggle, whine, and lick my face. This was the highlight of evening.

It’s finally official. We are the NMRA DiabloSport EFI Renegade Champs for 2008! BG was not the way we wanted to end the season. Jerry and I really wanted to give Bart a shot in the semi and possibly meet Dan in the final but, that’s the way racing goes. You cannot look past the next round and believe me we were not. We were going all out on each run. Jerry knows the limit of this car’s tune and could tell me within a few hundredths of what it would run if the launch was good. I always tell him when we are competing that, I like to see my eight little friends when we get back from the run. My little friends are the ground straps on the spark plugs. We had a great season and I enjoyed racing in the biggest heads up class at most of the events. I hope we can all come back in ’09 and maybe get a few new competitors too. I am also looking forward to seeing some of you guys at the PRI show in December. Hopefully, we can weather the storm with this economy and still afford to race. Good luck to all in the off season!

Thanks to the Sutton Crew for giving me the opportunity to drive the baddest and most consistent S197 in the NMRA. Randy (Manager Sutton HP), Jerry (Crew Chief), Bryan (Crew), Larry (Crew), and Buddy (Crew).

Thanks to our Sponsors!
Sutton High Performance, Ford Racing, Vortech Superchargers, Dynamic Racing Transmissions and TCT Converters, Big Stuff 3, Fast Forward Racecars, NGK Spark Plugs, Permatex, Goldie’s Auto Body, Valvoline, WorldWide Bearings, Zapp Race Engines, and Motive Gear.