Well, let’s just start off by saying the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield was awesome. My dad and I spent three days with him going down memory lane of how it used to be. I heard story after story from my dad about many of the racers who were in attendance during the Reunion weekend.

It was really cool to see the Cacklefest Saturday night. There were over 60 cars and the smell of nitro was awesome. It even made me feel a bit homesick if you know what I mean.

I ran into a few friends during the weekend. I am betting you know this guy named Phil Burgess who leads the National DRAGSTER team throughout the year, along with his ND Photog guru Marc Gewertz. I saw Bob Meyer of Bob Meyer Race Cars. I had the honor of meeting Dave Tuttle who builds Nostalgia Top Fuelers. I even hopped in the one he had on display. That looked like fun by the way. I had a chance to visit with Les Davenport, too. He really had that AA/Gas Corvette from Canada flying. That was no surprise considering who was tuning it. I ran into Jerry Darien and Gary Ormsby Jr., as well as Bobby Rex. All in all, it was a fun-filled weekend of visiting history for me and a reunion of sorts for my dad as he relived moments of his 54-year racing career.

I saw my buddy, Jim Tyson and got to meet his boss, Kevyn Major Howard. They were there displaying their “Fueled By The Fallen” racecars paying tribute to our fallen heroes. It was cool to see the number of people who would come by and thank them for what they were doing. Check out their website at www.fueledbythefallen.com. It has a lot of neat stuff on there about our war heroes and the events where their cars will be on display throughout the year.

Out of all the cars that ran throughout the weekend, I have to say that the Junior Fuel A Dragsters were most impressive, given the fact these cars have injected small-block Chevys on nitro and running in the sixes at almost 200 mph. I remember the not so long ago day that Top Alcohol Dragsters were running those numbers with a blower on methanol. All of the cars were amazing considering the rule restrictions placed on them but there was just something about a small-block Chevy running in the sixes that got me.

My dad and I got to check out an orange tree and for those of you who grew up around these; this probably doesn’t mean much to you. But for those of us who live in West Texas, it was pretty cool to see these orange trees bearing fruit. Speaking of West Texas, Bakersfield looked a lot like home to me. I saw pump jacks and oil field equipment everywhere and thought I was back in Texas.

As far as the upcoming 2009 season, I am proud to announce that I am working on a couple of solid deals in the Top Fuel ranks. I wish I could tell you more but there are so many issues of “letting the cat out of the bag” and I don’t want to jeopardize what I have in the works so just bear with me and when the time is right, you can bet that Mr. Burgess at National DRAGSTER will be the first to know.

AB out!