Time flies ...unless you’re in line at the airport waiting to fly. Or holding your breath underwater. Or ahead at 1,000 feet and the blower belt comes off. With few other exceptions, the months and years seem to blaze by at an ever increasing rate. Has it really been that long ago that I was in elementary school and thought that girls were silly? Sure, I did go through my “dating phase,” but I’m pretty much over that now and back to thinking they’re silly. It seems only a short time ago that I got out of the Air Force and began my career in the elevator trade. That was 20 years ago! Didn’t I just start at the Hawley School a few years ago? (Try 1998!)

I still very much feel like a 25-year-old (no dating jokes here, please) in many ways, and the rude awakening about time never sitting still is when you see people who you remember as children, and they are now grown-ups.

Saturday night I was working at the Hawley shop late, so I left straight from there to go to a surprise party for Ryan Tietz. Ryan’s father Bob won the first Super Gas Wally ever at the ’81 Winternationals, and Ryan “the kid” Tietz is still the youngest national event winner ever (he was 16). I remember a skinny redhead helping then driver Al Padron in the Tietz racing entry. At that time Ryan was 12 or 13 and I was competing against their car at most races. He just turned 30! THE KID? Better change that nickname. And how old does that make me?

I have been at the school a lot lately. Amongst my projects are: Rodger’s dragster (all done except the engine limiter bracket is on order … THAT will slow time down); Jenna’s dragster (engine and trans are bolted together and ready to drop in; my dragster; I think it’s still in the trailer. I probably should check); and the motorhome (got the leveler installed, replaced leaking hydraulic line, and waiting on filters to complete servicing). We’ve also been cranking out the classes lately, and doing our best to dodge the rain that has given Southern California a decent amount of water lately.

We ran classes Monday through Thursday last week, but it wasn’t quite as smooth as we had hoped. Monday we didn’t get all of the sessions in that we normally would due to rain (as a racer, precipitation puts a complete halt to the time/space continuum) and having to hand scrape all of the peeling rubber on the track. Tuesday we had issues. By “issues” I am euphemistically saying that we got our asses kicked. The Firebird broke the crankshaft clean in half, even putting a small crack in the transmission. Time seemed to speed up, as the day was getting later and we had lots of students and no Firebird for them to drive. Tom Bayer and Bob Tevis took it back to the shop to start the swap, and I, along with our medic Stu McWilliams continued to run the class with our two dragsters and the four remaining students. Time slowed down, as I was strapping folks in, adjusting controls, and manning the starting line to monitor their runs. That didn’t last too long. Dragster # 1 decided it was a good time to start slipping the trans, so we parked it. Amazing how quickly time did an about-face and sped right back up. All of our dragster drivers finished and earned their licenses, and we had the Firebird drivers return the next day.

Meanwhile, back at the shop ...while Tom and Bob took care of the engine and trans in the Firebird, Stu and I began the trans swap on the dragster. Time really flew, and Stu had to go (smart guy, that Stu). Lying on a cold concrete floor at 8:30 p.m. and being able to see your breath was not what any of us wanted, but the cars need to be ready for our Graduate race the next day. They were. We even got all of the two-day (make it three-day) licensing class drivers done and licensed. Larry Beckner won his first grad race, ending a four-race win streak for Kyle Russum. Thursday we ran our Adventure class, which is half throttle, and it went smoothly, putting time back to its original pace.

At home, our backyard is so close to done, and it looks unbelievable. After 12 years of an overgrown tree and dirt yard, anything would be an improvement. I know nothing of landscaping, and the crew looked at me funny when I thanked them for finishing. I thought that Jenna had ordered a bunch of red and blue plastic flags as plants, and that the white PVC pipes and trenches were part of the decor. I even thought that the axe was a nice finishing touch! Turns out there was still plenty to do, and we even got real plants (though I still thought the little flags looked cool, kinda like my own game of “battleship” in the yard). It should be all done by the next blog.

Jason has been crawling all over and getting into everything. Once we childproof something, he goes around the house and demonstrates how much more we still need to address. He is amazed at the world, and wants to see and touch (and taste) all that he can. One particular rainy day we just lay in bed and watched through the window as the water fell. Jenna really has taken an interest in photography, and she got a few great shots of the little model. We are desperately trying to get Jason to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and sleep through the night. Seems he takes after me and is quite a night owl. We have a nightly routine that includes bath time, and Jenna and I alternate washing duties. He really enjoys the water, and I would like to get him back over to Grandpa Bill’s as soon as it warms up to go in the pool. I can’t wait to take him surfing with me, but right now the Pacific is unusually cold, and even with all of his baby fat I don’t think he’d be pleased with dad if his toes touched the water. I went out surfing a couple of days ago and it was real fun, but real cold. Funny how fast the time passes in the water, but drags on while stuck in traffic heading to and from the beach.

If you are curious what’s new with the racecar and team, the answer is ....everything. NHRA added lots of weight in addition to upping the nitro percentage, so everyone’s tune-up will be affected. We have a new major sponsor, and MTS is remaining as a co-major. We have a new crew chief, though Todd Okuhara will still oversee much of the operation and act in an advisory position, and we will have an entirely new crew, as several of the MTS crew had already taken positions with other teams, and now that Jerry Toliver has brought his operation under the DSR umbrella, Phil and the remainder of the MTS crew will be on the Rockstar car for ’08. LOTS of changes, a little apprehension, but overall I am very excited and know that we will still contend for the title.

The off-season has just flown by, but for that I am kinda glad. I am anxious to get back in the funny car and start going 300 again. Also, I must applaud NHRA for its revisions to the Countdown format for this year. I think that they ironed out nearly all of the kinks in the program and have come up with a more balanced scheme overall for the racers and fans. I’ll bet that by the time we get to the cutoff (Countdown to One) at Indy, everyone will be wondering how the season went so fast. Time flies!