Thanksgiving is over, and it was a good one, with a lot of visits with relatives and a lot of great food! Thankfully, Pam and I were able to spread out our family visits over a few days, so instead of gorging ourselves on Turkey Day we had a lot of good food over many days, visiting with Pam’s family and mine!
We have a lot to be thankful for, since we’ve been blessed with a lot of good fortune. Pam and I always focus on giving back to others at this time of year. We have a local charity real close by us at our home in Greeneville, Tenn., Family Ministries, and we support them in helping out those less fortunate than us. Also, Pam’s family is in the furniture business, and I own a chain of gas stations, so we try to locate families in need and help them out as best we can. If we hear of a family that has lost their home in a fire or some other disaster, we’ll help out with new furniture, or we’ll donate heating oil for families trying to keep their houses warm during the winter. It’s a great feeling be able to help others and change people’s lives.
I’ve been in rest and relaxation mode since the season ended. Pam and I took in the Tennessee Titans game last week, and saw their last-second win over the Arizona Cardinals. It was our first game of the year, and we’ll try to see a few more. We were also able to visit with some couples we’re friends with that we hadn’t seen in awhile, so it was like a mini-reunion. I also had a chance to spend time with my grandsons, Jaevon and Jakobi. They’re little ones, so it was awesome to have some down time and be able to see them play in their basketball leagues. They’re already little stud players!
My J&J Racing team was up in Detroit earlier this week, putting our NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger in the wind tunnel along with the help of Mopar and Dodge Motorsports engineers. The results were great, as it looks like the Avenger will be a definite improvement over the Stratus. I’ll be in attendance at the PRI Trade Show in Orlando with the car to support Mopar in their display next week, and then we’ll put the Mopar Avenger on the trailer and head out for West Palm Beach for three days of testing following PRI. It will give us an opportunity to get our first drag strip data on the new car.
Besides a little break during Christmas, we’re pretty much back to work from here on out, getting the Avenger ready and testing it. There’s no rest for the weary, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way! After a few weeks off, I’m always ready to get back racing, and with the new Mopar Dodge Avenger I’m really excited for the 2009 season.