Nope, the 2009 edition of the U.S. Nationals didn’t go the way I would have scripted it. Sure, the Force/Pedregon “confrontation” sure made for good television, but I really wanted to be the one holding the Funny Car trophy at day’s end. Hell, I’d have let John shove me around if it got our team the Wally… I may even have kissed him! And, I will officially go on record here as stating emphatically that we did NOT intentionally lose to Mike Neff in the first round! It was very frustrating to lose a dual tire-smoker, but who would have known that a 4.86 was all that we needed for a round win?

Just your standard 8000 horsepower blender, making up a serving of aluminum-flavored Valvoline with a splash of piston.

With rain falling at times throughout the weekend, we lost one qualifying run Sunday. That still gave everyone four shots at the track and, though we improved on our third and fourth runs, getting behind early cost us dearly. Run one netted us a burned piston, melted cylinder head combustion chamber and deck, and a mid-4.20 run.

We knew that we could really step up for run two, which was Saturday afternoon. What we didn’t know is that our crankshaft developed a severe aluminum allergy on that run, shedding all eight connecting rods in a mass of carnage. The fire was probably the biggest that I have experienced, but fortunately didn’t do much beyond charring some of the front wheelwell paint on our MTS body.

Run three, Saturday night, didn’t give us the timeslip that we had hoped for, resulting in a 4.18. However, that really doesn’t tell the entire story: After hurting the motor twice in a row, we had to do some soul-searching. Run one went bad due to a faulty ignition component, but run two was more of a mystery. We suspect that we just were too aggressive with the “compression ratio” of our motor, so we had no option but to “back it down” for that third session. Also, the fact that the crew was able to patch the body, clean oil off of everything, check all the wiring, computer cabling, brake system, hoses, etc., AND give me a safe and fast car the next run was validation that I have the greatest group of mechanics around…looking after me!

For the last session, we were in a bit of a quandary: not being in the top 12 going into the final day of qualifying meant that our previous runs basically were thrown out. With a bump of 4.29, we knew we shouldn’t have any problem qualifying. However, we couldn’t afford to be overly aggressive to try to get into the top half of the field but risk smoking the tires. We ran a conservative 4.16 that landed us No. 14, but again we had to race a fast car first round and it bit us. From here on out, we intend to be the ones who do the biting!

David probably doesn't have many "successful clients" who want to document their visit on film.

Fortunately, there was plenty of action taking place OFF the racetrack during the event. For one, I again (it happened in Gainesville earlier this year) was selected for the random drug testing that NHRA performs. This time I was on a first-name basis with the good folks over in the lab trailer, and we had a little fun with my screening. After filling out the paperwork, it was time to visit David for my breath-a-lyzer test. No problem…I blew a perfect .000! I was so proud of myself that I insisted that David and I pose next to the tester for a commemorative photo. Like he had a choice! I’m just thankful that he told me what that machine was used for before I tried to pee in it…that probably wouldn’t have gone well for me! The “ladies of the lab” were equally as friendly, and very professional. They nixed the idea of us all drinking apple juice from specimen containers for our group photo, as they thought it wouldn’t portray their objectivity. In fact, they were so nice that it made me wish that I had washed my hands after “donating” to their cause! (You do know that I’m kidding, right?).

My good friends Eric Gates and Chris Stock came out. We all raced brackets, SCEDA, and Super Comp together, and this was Eric’s first Indy trip in more than 20 years. John Gates, Eric’s father, passed away right before the Finals last year, and we wanted to do a small tribute to a man who absolutely lived drag racing for decades. John had brought Eric to Indy many times, and this seemed to be the best place to have our own memorial for a great friend and father.

Ron Deering, who served with me in the Air Force back when planes were made of wood, came out from Kentucky. I hadn’t seen him since February 4, 1988…the day I drove out the gates of Cannon Air Force Base and headed back home to Los Angeles. Thanks to Mike Neff, I had plenty of time to hang out with Ron and talk about how fast the last 21 years have gone by.

My dad flew out for this race and stayed at the house of our bestest UPS pilot friend, Greg Mabe. Greg was a student years ago at the Hawley School, and little did he know how much that little trip would eventually cost him! Brent and Staci Cannon came out (Brad was sick and stayed home. I think he had girls over while his folks were out of town.), and all of us got to hang out. Walt Rhoades was in town, and we spent a lot of time at his daughter Kelly and son-in-law EJ Veenstra’s house. EJ works on Neff’s car, so I sure hope he didn’t slip anything into my dinner just because we had to race them first round! They even baby-sat Jason while Jenna and I got to go enjoy a movie, and Kelly gave Jenna a quick hair-trimming (Jason and I get the clippers…we’re low-maintenance!) 

That catches up on all our goings-on up until the end of “the race”, so stay tuned for my soon-to-be-coming, post-Indy, not-to-be-delayed-again blog. I’ll do my best to make it worth your while!