Since we had some down time in the off season, I went under the knife. I had a deviated septum and I couldn’t breathe out of my right nostril and it caused me to have sinus infections. I had a really bad attack at our Charlotte race in September. I had the procedure on Friday morning and the worst thing is that I have to just lie around. I’m not good at lying around. Dr. James Miner did my operation at Methodist Hospital in Indy. It’s no fun being lazy. I’ve been reviewing some race footage from the season and trying to make the time pass while enjoy some home time with the family. I really want to blow my nose, but can’t. I should be fully recovered in about two weeks. I’ll be as good as new and breathing on all two cylinders and have even more energy. I already have plenty of energy, so it’s hard to imagine having more.

In early December, the NHRA invited me to attend the Sports Business Journal Motorsports Marketing Forum ’08. It was an honor to fly to New York to attend the conference in Times Square and talk amongst a motor sports panel about issues in racing and our great sport of NHRA racing. It was very inspiring to see the different ways that people are working to keep racing growing during these hard economic times. It was a great event for us to mingle with some of the biggest hitters in auto racing and talk about the upcoming Full Throttle Series. Tom Compton and Gary Darcy of NHRA also attended.

On December 10, our new team owner Tim Buckley, of 3B Racing, came to the shop to meet with the team. It was great to see how Tim motivates each and everyone of us. He shares the same desires to succeed. When we all sat down as a group, he went around the table and asked each of us what success means. Success starts at the top and we couldn’t have a better leader than Tim Buckley. We’ll all put out 110%, but for Tim you want to give 200 percent and we see that from our entire group at 3B Racing. This is a new chapter for all of us and we’re ready to start this new story of 3B Racing and Matco Tools in 2009. You can check us out online at www.3BRacing.com. We also want to thank David Powers for everything he did for giving me the opportunity to go Top Fuel racing. Without David, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today.

The following week, I flew to Orlando, Fla., with Mike “D” our assistant crew chief at 3B Racing for the PRI Show. Mike and I walked and talked with a lot of people. We met with all the vendors that helped us out in the past and worked new deals for the upcoming season. We’re excited about our relationship with JE Pistons and want to thank them for working with 3B Racing. Also, Joe Pando and all the boys from MSD, A1, Permatex, Bill Simpson at Impact! Racing, Carolyn Ashbee at Goodyear, the people at RCD, the people from Honeywell with FRAM and Autolite, Raymond at Fel-Pro, and a whole bunch of other people I forgot to mention. It was a very productive two days for our 3B team.

We got back on a Friday night and on Sunday we had a get-together at the house. It was the Brown’s Christmas Party. It was a small gathering for our good friends and our team members. Our 3B Racing and DPM family had a good time and some good eats. The highlight of the party was my son Anson doing the “Get down Brown Shuffle” for the group.

This is a quick note from the marketing guy in me. To all the NHRA drag racing fans out there, tickets for the 2009 Full Throttle races are on sale and tickets to our 2009 Iron Eagle Club are available for purchase from your local Matco Tools distributor. The Iron Eagle Club hospitality is a great NHRA experience. It’s like sitting in the dugout of a baseball game or on the bench at an NBA game. If you really want a great NHRA experience, find your local Matco guy and get tickets to the Iron Eagle Club.

That’s all for now. God bless and Merry Christmas to everyone. I’m making my New Year’s resolution now, and that’s to blog at least once a week. God bless.

Antron