It’s over. No, despite all the rumors that have been going around, I did not lose my job, at least last time I checked. The last paycheck cashed, and Don still talks to me on the phone, so I feel secure ... mostly. Truth be told, there is no “for sure” in nitro racing, unless you have access to unlimited funding, which most of us do not. The “over” part I’m referring to is the 2010 NHRA season, and it didn’t end well for us, at least the dragstrip part of it. Losing first round at the Finals is never what you envision for your team, and dropping from third to fourth in the points didn’t give any of us a warm, fuzzy feeling either. There is, however, always a silver lining (silver-plated zinc in some cases), and it’s hard to feel too down about this year.

My weekend at Pomona actually had so much good in it, that losing early Sunday wasn’t nearly as devastating as it could have been (am I fooling any of you with that one?). To begin with, my Air Force roommate, (interesting word, “roommate”, having consecutive repeating letters in it ... but it doesn’t even come close to “bookkeeper” for originality!) Jim Gies, came down from his home near Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is a few hours north of us. Jim and I last parted company on Feb. 7, 1988 when I took my final drive out of Cannon AFB in New Mexico, and he continued his 25-year career in the USAF. We lost touch for 23 years and, through some serendipitous events, I ran into a mutual friend while doing an autograph session two years ago on Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. After that, Jim and I spoke a couple times on the phone, exchanged some e-mails, and that was it. When he said he was going to make it down for the Finals, it was hard to fathom that so much time had gone by for two guys that were so close for several years. Anyway, Jim stayed with us at home (my dad also came out and graciously took the foldout couch, giving Jim the guest bedroom) and we got to hang out extensively throughout the weekend.

Having my dad out was also very cool, as I know Jason missed seeing him. Also, it appears that “Slow Bob” actually has more fans than I do at the track, so his “contingent” was very excited to see him on one of his rare west-coast appearances.

When I do media appearances and press conferences, NHRA will credit us with ticket vouchers. No, I did NOT say that we get free tickets, as that deal went the way of the dodo (big, flightless, smelly bird that wasn’t smart enough to avoid predators) before my time. Anyway, I do as many events as NHRA needs me for, and use the credits for my relatives who attend the races. I had to use the rest of my balance for Pomona, and the timing turned out to be excellent. If you sat in section 23 during the event, you were amongst my family and friends (my apologies if any of them spilled beer on you, used excess profanity, or suffered from persistent flatulence). It’s just so awesome having so many people that care about you screaming when we towed back up the return road following a pass. And let me tell you about my favorite pass, and why I call it that. First, I must digress:

Butch Maas was a driver, and a damn talented one. He drove many different cars, in different classes, for different owners, and that wasn’t unusual in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. During his stint driving for Roland Leong, he won Funny Car at the 1971 Winternationals. (This is all relevant to my story, just humor me while I ramble and get through this). Butch had been very ill for several months, and I know Phil Burgess did a great job on his NHRA.com blog writing about Butch, both before and after he passed away (Butch, not Phil. Phil is very much still with us, probably proofreading something right now and wondering why I don’t just get to my point). Okay, so ... Thursday evening I went to a memorial dinner for Butch, organized by Leigh Buttera, daughter of the late “Lil John” Buttera (not Burgess). The legends in attendance truly attested to how well Butch was liked. Jeep and Ronnie Hampshire, Steve Davis, Lee Beard, Tom Hanna, the “Greek”, Steve Gibbs and many others came to honor a fallen friend, and that’s where my story comes together:

Many though it would be fitting to get Butch a 300-mph pass at the track where he enjoyed perhaps his greatest moment, and I was honored to be asked to assist in this. Butch’s son Matthew brought over his father’s ashes, and I carried some with me in my firesuit for all five runs that I made. Now, it’s really not “kosher” to spread anything on the racetrack, so don’t think for a moment that we would do a “parachute tribute” during qualifying. And certainly, since I would never do anything like that, I wouldn’t intentionally NOT deploy the LEFT chute after a tire smoking run on Friday, and wouldn’t NOT wait (this is a lot of double-negatives for one paragraph!) until Saturday’s first run, where we were the quickest and fastest car in that session. IF we had given Butch a final “send-off” on THAT run, it really would have been a bitchin’ deal!

My other nightly activities included attending a function for the Henry Ford (Though I think “Henry Mopar” actually has a better ‘ring’ to it) Museum in Detroit’s upcoming auto racing exhibition, and an appearance at the Wally Park’s NHRA Museum as part of a discussion panel. Ron Capps, Melanie Troxel, Larry Dixon, Bob Tasca and I had lots of fun answering questions from the crowd and from emcee Bob Frey.

Friday morning I again participated in the Army YES program for area high school kids, and Saturday night may have been one of the coolest half-hours in my life ... period. Let’s back up a bit and take you guys through this deal:

Being such a historian of the sport, I feel so privileged and blessed to have rubbed shoulders with so many of the men (and women) that put our sport on the map. What’s just as special is how much they appreciate that a few of us “contemporary” drivers speak so highly of them. Because of this, I’ve sort of been adopted into the fraternity of pioneers. While at the Butch Maas memorial, the Hampshire brothers and Rick MacDonald told me that sometime during the race weekend it was time for me to hop in the “Magicar” of Bill Pitts and make some noise. We set it up for Saturday after qualifying, and Rick came and got me just as the sun was setting. For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to watch these vintage front-engine cars being cackled, you really don’t know what you are missing! It’s like throwing the switch on a time machine, and I am so lucky to have friends like I do, people who trust me with their “babies”. It’s amazing how much pleasure these hot-rodders get out of showing the current generation what drag racing was like in the GREAT old days. Anyway, in the interest of full disclosure, that Magicar (along with Rick’s uncanny ability to adjust the barrel valve for just the right amount of flame) was probably the baddest sounding car that I ever had the privilege to cackle. I truly got lost in thought several times during the 3 minutes that it was running. It’s tough to describe, but imagine staring through those header flames and going back 45 years in time, before burnouts and reversers, before the starters replaced the pushcars.

Though I regret not being around during what I think were the most awesome years of our sport - where innovation and creativity had produced so many different combinations of cars, powerplants, transmissions, and clutch/tire combos – I couldn’t help but be transported back to those days for a brief period of time. Thanks, all of you guys! Oh, did I tell you that it didn’t end there? Nope, apparently this was my lucky night. Yep, parked right next to Kent Fuller’s masterpiece (Kent was one of the star chassis builders in that day, and he built the Magicar) was the recreation of the Yeakel Plymouth AA/FD that Tom McEwen drove. The Baney and Rossi boys (sons of the original team members) recreated this masterpiece, and I nearly went into a trance staring at the reflection of header flames off the back of that polished injector scoop! Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, up walks Ron Johnson and asks me which one of his recreations I would like to sit in: T.V. Tommy Ivo’s ‘Barnstormer’, or Chris Karamesines’ ‘Chizzler’. I deferred my choice back to Ron, as that was an impossible question for me to answer. Ron then did the democratic thing and let me cackle BOTH of them! Yep, I did more in 20 minutes than I thought I would get to do in a lifetime. If Phil Burgess was writing this, even he couldn’t put into words how (insert your favorite adverbs and adjectives here) incredible a night this was for me. Keep in mind, I also got to make two hits earlier that day in a pretty badass Funny Car, so Saturday was one of those “good to be Jack Beckman” days!

Unfortunately, Sunday was more of a “good to be Bob Bode” day, and it definitely was a, “Great to be John Force” day. History will show I lost on a BIG holeshot to Bob, but that doesn’t accurately portray what happened. I’m not making any excuses, and I know I’m being fair and balanced because I defended Ashley Force Hood earlier this year when I beat her on a “holeshot.” In the right lane, at Pomona, on this weekend, I went .093, .103, and .101 in the first round, all staged as shallow as possible. That’s all I had in me, so I’ll hold my head up. Bob will be the first to tell you that his right foot was moving and the tree just happened to come on before he redlit, but it sure did make me look bad!

Though we were one of only three Funny Cars to win more than 30 rounds of racing this year (we won 36, and Hagan and Force were the other two), we just didn’t excel during the Countdown like we had hoped. Ashley actually got around us, pushing us to fourth for the season. I’d be less than honest if I didn’t tell you how disappointing that was, but that really just underscores how good our team is. In my four full seasons in Funny Car (you ever notice that “Funny Car”, “fun”, and “funeral” all start with the same three letters?), I’ve finished 5th, 3rd, 5th, and 4th, so you know Don Schumacher has always given me the best parts and people around, and for that I am grateful.

Monday Jenna and I attended the banquet, along with Rodger and Karen Comstock, and Brent and Staci Cannon. Banquets are great ... if you won the championship. Otherwise, it’s an obligatory event that requires a tux, uncomfortable shoes, and sitting through several speeches that you wish you were making! I would like to congratulate John Force, Greg Anderson, Larry Dixon, and especially LE Tonglet for their championships. Four very deserving champs, and four more reasons why I want to be the last one standing next year!

This may sound odd, but all of you are pretty loyal and diehard fans of the sport, and I need help. Without going into a lengthy description, our car is not funded for the entire season of 2011. Valvoline gets everything they need marketing-wise with the 10 races where their paint scheme is used. That means that, at the moment, we have anywhere from 7-10 races without a sponsor commitment. I’m saying this is the most sincere way I can: If any of you are involved with, or know, any companies that may be interested in being involved with my team, PLEASE get a hold of me, pronto, and I’ll personally follow up on all legitimate leads. Hell, I’ll even throw in that Dixon/Prudhomme cardboard life-size cutout that sitting in my weight room!

This by no means catches me up on my blog ... but it does close the gap considerably since my last entry. Again I apologize for being so inconsistent, it’s just tough finding the motivation sometimes to sit in front of the keyboard and try to tap into my memory cells. Heck, I started this one over a week ago!

I shall try to be better next time ...

Stay tuned!