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Dad and me suited up and ready to try bobsledding

 

Let me tell you, I’ve gone pretty fast in my day. I will never forget how it felt to hit the throttle on my Funny Car and actually take it on a full pass for the first time.

A bobsled is a whole other ball game.

I take my family on the Western Swing with me every year. That means three weeks in the motorhome together, but it’s the only time I can race and really spend time with my family at the same time.

This year after Denver we stopped in Park City, Utah. That’s where I met the bobsled.

My dad, crew man Geff Whitt, and the instructor all rode down together. Now, in my Motorcraft/Quick Lane Funny Car, I have a full carbon fiber body around me. In this thing? Just my helmet.

We all agreed that it was good to check this item off of our collective to-do lists, but I don’t think you’ll see us going back for another ride, especially my dad! I don't think he'll ever be the same.

Here are some photos from our Western Swing vacation. As you can see, we all had a lot of fun. It was good for the boys to see the athletes at Park City training for the Winter Olympics. They usually only see hockey! We even met up with Tony Pedregon and his family on the road again this year, at Train Town.

One of my favorite parts of this year’s Swing was my EcoBoost car in Seattle. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a photo! What do you think?

We were chosen to participate in Ford Racing’s Global EcoBoost movement – one car from every series Ford races in around the world will compete with the EcoBoost white, black and blue paint scheme during the month of August. This weekend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt Kenseth will race with the paint scheme in the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup series.

The EcoBoost car, for us, was something totally out-of-the-box. It really told the story about one of the most exciting technologies within Ford Motor Company.

I’ve said it before, but Ford EcoBoost is like having your cake and eating it too. That’s the best way I can describe it. It uses small engines that are turbo charged to give you great performance and great fuel economy. That’s what everyone is looking for now. It’s not just on small vehicles and engines — we’re talking from the Fusion all the way up to the F-150; from four cylinders up to six.

It was fun to be part of a global campaign to create awareness about technology that is really changing the way people think about buying vehicles.

Competition-wise, the Swing wasn’t what we hoped it would be. We had some issues, but as race teams we learn from them and move on. Points are really important now, and I told my guys our Countdown fight starts now. Really, there are three races before the Countdown: Brainerd, testing at Indy and Indy.

We have a seasoned, veteran team with Dickie Venables, Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner. These guys have been down this road many times. We have a talented crew. I'm as confident as I've ever been heading into this part of the season! I wouldn’t bet against us!

Speaking of betting for us — the big vote for the Traxxas Nitro Shootout is coming up! Stay tuned! We’ll show you how to vote us in.