Losing in round one in Chicago wasn’t what we had in mind, but we just got beat by a great run. Our 4.89 actually was the fourth best run of the round, but that doesn’t get you a win against the second quickest. Mark Oswald did a great job in Mike Ashley’s ride, showing everyone why he was such a bad a$$ back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. That car has been driven by Mike, Frank Hawley, and Mark this year. Quite an impressive driver’s list, if you ask me.

My weekend began on Thursday, as most of the Schumacher teams gathered at Don and Sarah’s house for their annual Chicago get-together. It’s a good opportunity to see most of the folks out of their racing uniforms (not naked, just in “civilian” attire!) and just having fun. It’s also a chance to rub shoulders with some genuine legends. Chris Karamesines again was in the house, only this time I didn’t let a photo opportunity escape me. At 80 years old (Chris insists that he is only 79), he still races his Top Fueler on occasion, and still is a competitive driver. What a stud! Here is a guy that was one of the most highly regarded fuel drivers of all time, racing since the ‘50s, and one of the biggest match race draws of the ‘60s, and we’re just two guys hanging out and b.s.’ing about cars! Life is good. By the way, I’m the taller guy with the Valvoline shirt on.

The Comstocks also were there. Rodger Comstock collects stuff. His and Karen’s house is full of cool, eclectic items that have a high rating on the “gee whiz” meter. Part antique store, part game room is a good description. Anyway, Rodger recently found a late ‘70s Funny Car-themed pinball machine with a strong Chicago influence to it. He had to have it. However, the philanthropic part of him really wanted to get it for Don (Schumacher), as it really was a perfect fit for him. Thankfully there happened to be TWO up for sale, now everyone is happy. Except me … where’s mine? At least I got to play a couple of games before Don had it put into the house.

After Don’s party Karen, Rodger and I made our yearly trip to visit the Mail Terminal Services Chicago terminal and thank all of the employees for their hard work and support of the racing.

We ran good in qualifying, including two 4.85s and a 4.84. One of the highlights of the race for me was spending time with the Groeller family. Dave brought his two daughters, Brynn and Amanda. One of my former students at the Hawley School recommended they get in touch with me, and I’m glad they did. Amanda went through sarcoma (bone cancer) and had her left leg amputated at the knee. Think about how tough that would be for a 17-year-old! She’s in good shape now, fantastic attitude, and a great outlook. She got to stand next to our car for one of the qualifying runs, and she’s hooked now.

Early Monday we hit the road for Martin, Mich., to test. We had planned on staying in Chicago, but NHRA’s new mandate prevented that. We HAD to get some shakedown runs on our new big-tube (Also an NHRA mandate, due by the Denver race) chassis. You just don’t want to run a brand new, different configuration car without at least a shakedown run, and Johnny also had a couple of tune-up items to try in an attempt to speed us up early in the run.

We made a total of five runs, and everyone felt very positive with the results. We appear to be quicker early, and, though we didn’t run past half track, the car seems to work just fine. Congrats to our chassis man, Norm, who built this McKinney clone in the DSR shop. In addition to our car, Capps, Worsham, Tasca, and the Mopar/Oakley car were also there for the two days. Gary (Scelzi) had to fly back home, so I drove his car as well. Between the two rides, I made eleven runs, eight of them on Tuesday! The Mopar/Oakley team sent that car down the track seven times on Tuesday …that has to be a record.

In addition to the four runs that I made, Leah Pruett-Leduc made three. She did a great job and should be able to finish her licensing by the end of the year. Gary’s car throws out a LOT more clutch dust than mine, apparently the result of a tweaked motor plate. Poor Leah: Our firesuits look like Force wore them for about three races and forgot to stop at the dry cleaners. My last run was at 9:30 p.m. and the track lights weren’t on. It gets dark late there, but it still was tough to see. Let’s just say that it didn’t break my heart that it went up in smoke-Todd was trying to set the track record on that run and I would have preferred having headlights!

The track crew at Martin was very accommodating and friendly. We even had a “dress up as your favorite Funny Car driver contest”. Here is the picture of the winner and I. I’m just kidding. This is actually the winner and runner-up in the Jack Beckman look alike contest. Okay, I’m still kidding. Tim and Andy took turns wearing my spare equipment in case one of us got into trouble and needed to be pulled out. If you’re wondering, I’m the one with the dirty firesuit-all from Scelzi’s car!

Once we finished testing, it was time to haul everything back to the shop in Indy, about a five hour trip. I road with Terry Snyder, our clutch man. He brought his truck so we could haul the golf cart, which usually rides in the tech trailer, which we share with the Rockstar team, who didn’t test. Long explanation, but they bent their chassis in qualifying due to a wheelstand and had to send the car to McKinney for a front half, so we were down to one trailer. Terry and I stopped in Auburn, Ind., at the shop of John Fink to pick up some stuff. John is the “Fink” of “Worsham and Fink”, whom Terry worked for for nearly 10 years. His shop is very impressive, especially his 100,000-pound British tank. Yep, he has a tank. You’ll have to ask him why, but it is kinda cool to say you have your own battle tank. He pulled it outside to shuffle some of his cars around, and I doubt it will pass smog (it probably won’t pass much, but it sure as heck could drive over just about anything!).

Terry and I got back to the shop around lunchtime on Wednesday and helped the guys unload everything to prepare for Englishtown. It’s amazing how fast the teams can set everything up and then break it down in the shop. It takes longer at the track because of the huge awnings, but the guys are fast. I spent the night at the apartment of Terry, Eddie Otto, and Mark Stewart. Their couch ain’t bad.

Thursday I was up at 5:30 for an early flight. At this point I had been gone for a week, but I still wasn’t heading home. I flew into Reno for a motorsports event promotion. Fallon, Nev., hosts an NHRA Lucas Divisional race each year and took the initiative to promote an entire week of unique events, including dirt track racing and some motorcycle exhibitions. They are calling it “Octane Fest, and it was an honor to be selected as one of the “celebrities” to speak.

My partner in promotion was none other than Jeremy McGrath, an 11-time champion in motocross racing. I had never met Jeremy before, but he knows Del very well and goes to the same gym as Capps. His father is a drag race nut, and Jeremy probably will be at Pomona for the Finals. We did a couple of TV news interviews in Reno before heading to Fallon, and then we took a tour of the Boys and Girls Club and spoke with the kids about our lives.

The highlight was a fundraising dinner Thursday evening where we were the guest speakers. The whole event was very well promoted and executed, and I was tremendously impressed with Ty Erquiaga (promoter) and Rick Grey (Tourism director). Mona and emcee Adam also get high marks. They did their homework and pulled off what bigger towns would be jealous of. I really enjoyed talking with Jeremy, and we drove back to the airport EARLY Friday to head back home. He’s totally down to earth, has two young girls, and a good perspective on life.

Though getting up at 4:45 in the morning has never been my idea of fun, it meant I could be back to Jenna and Jason by 10 am on Friday, as eight days was way too long to leave them alone. (They spent the weekend at Grandma’s and had lots of fun. Jason thinks that his building blocks are some sort of high chair). He looks like he grew about a foot, and Jenna now has red hair........who knew? Though I have to leave on the red eye Tuesday night to head out to Jersey, there is a lot to do between now and then.

Stay tuned.