Okay all. It’s time for part two of the delayed blog. We came home for a few days after Topeka and I got the wife and scooped up Arianna and Anson and headed to Joliet. It was the first race with the family back on tour. Adler stayed at home in Indy with my mom. The kids were excited and Billie Jo was smiling, so AB’s home was a happy home. We got in on Wednesday and I hopped on the tool truck on Thursday morning with my boy Chuck and his wife Cindy. We had some really good conversation. He gave me some really good background info on Matco. He took me to a cool shop where I met Matt and Mike from A1 Precision Auto. We had some good times. Matt had a Matco tool box with the top signed by numerous drivers, including yours truly. Matt is what NHRA drag racing is all about. He’s an awesome fan. I signed a bunch of Matco tool boxes at Matt’s shop. I didn’t have to sign the box top. I had signed it way back in 2000. You can see my signature to the left of my head.

After the tool truck ride, me and Ted headed to downtown Chicago to Mike Ditka’s for the NHRA media luncheon. We had some awesome coverage from all the Chicago TV stations. There were six TV cameras and I was giving them my Chuck E. Cheese smile. I have to give props to Lachelle of NHRA and the PR staff at Route 66.

After the lunch, we cut out early and headed back to the hotel to freshen up for our big dinner with NHRA and some cats from IMG. At least that was the plan. We got stuck and traffic and decided to bum around Chicago for like three hours. Chicago traffic is out of this world bad. We needed a change of clothes, so we dropped into Nordstrom. I’m not a big shopper, my claim to fame to shopping is the Guess outlet. This is my first time in Nordstrom and the price tags are spendy. When you go in there, you find yourself a nice looking lady sales person and say, “make me look good, baby girl.” The gal at Nordstrom’s hooked me up with a nice shirt and a pair of jeans, then we boogied over to the shoe department cause I can’t wear sneakers to N9NE steakhouse.

I picked out a pair of normal Steve Madden’s like I have many of in my closet. The salesman does what he does and brings out like five pair of shoes for me to try on. He brings me these Michael Toschi loafers. They were tight with blue piping and the most comfortable thing ever. Right when I’m about to take them to the cash register he tells me $395. I know he didn’t say $3.95 and I told him they were nice, but at that price, nice to stay on the shoe rack. That concluded my Nordstrom trip. I got dressed in the dressing room and wore my new threads to N9NE steakhouse. We were looking right for the occasion and the setting at N9NE was unbelievable. I sound like Hot Rod with the fashion tips!

We had a few cocktails and the steak was all right. Now I see why it’s one of the best steakhouses in the country. Dinner was fun. My boy TY and Jerry from NHRA were going at it. We cut out early, like at 10:30. It was a long day that started at like 7:15 a.m. I must say, my battery was running low. TY popped the top on his Honda S2000 and we enjoyed the Chicago breeze while strolling back to the hotel. While were cruising and listening to a little LL. I was lying back, but the wind got the best of the brotherman. It got the “itis.” I ate and fell asleep in the car. My boy Ted was talking and all he got in response was some Z’s.

That brings us to Friday qualifying. It was a good day at the track. We put the throw down on in the second session. We set the tempo and ran 4.516 at 331.53 as the first pair on Friday night, but the U.S. Army boys pimped us by three thou for the pole at 4.513. All and all, the weekend ended on an early note, but our race team still did a great job. You have to take the good with the bad. We stayed second in the points and our DPM team did good with Hot Rod going to the final round at a really big Caterpillar race. A runner-up is always a good weekend.

Sunday night before we left the track after Hot Rod’s runner-up, we were cleaning up in the trailer and my boy Lee broke out with his white Matco Tools robe and busted a pose. He broke out to all the boys about how serious he was about this season and winning the championship. He was taking matters to his own hands and broke out the Bruce Leeroy fists of fury on everybody. Everybody thinks Alan Johnson is no joke with his G.I. Joe kung fu grip, but A.J. ain’t got nothing on Bruce Leeroy. It was some funny stuff.

I got back home to the heavy rains in Indy to find that my roof got damaged again. It made some wet spots in the ceiling in Anson’s room. The rain tried to put me in a bad mood, but I wouldn’t let that keep me down. I found myself up on the roof fixing it myself. I patched it up with some shingles and wasn’t gonna let a rainy day steal my sunshine.

So this weekend, we’re gonna have a laid back weekend with the fam. I’m gonna burn a little rubber in some go-karts and I will catch you guys next time. Peace up, A-Bomb down, which leads us to a little love, peace and hair grease.