Alright to all my friends and fans. I’m back on the scene, crispy and clean. LOL Atlanta was definitely a good outing for us here at MAR. We wanted the win again, but it doesn’t always happen that way. We had a very consistent car in qualifying running 3.86 three times and had one of the cars to beat on race day. Things happen and that’s why we live to race. We’re back at the shop working on our Matco Tools dragster getting it right and tight for St. Louis and we’re going in there with our heads high and take things one run at a time this weekend at Gateway.
Before the race, I went on a tool truck ride with my boy Steve Granby in Georgia. He took me to some cool garages near Buford and Frazier’s Harley-Davidson too. It’s so cool to get personal with the customers and see how big drag racing fans these techs really are. It’s always great to meet all the Matco Tools customers and talk drag racing before many of the NHRA races.
The highlight of the weekend for me was getting to spend some time with my older brother, Carlos, aka Los. He flew in from Philly for the Atlanta race and we had an awesome time hanging out and catching up. I also want to thank Clay Millican for stepping in on Monday when we were doing a tire-test for Goodyear. Clay is an awesome dude and a very loyal member of the Matco Tools family. It was a hard time for me to step away, but I also need to thank all our friends and family for the well-wishes for my mom. I couldn’t have a better team and support group to allow me to be with my family in a tough time. My mom is doing very well and thanks for all the kind wishes from everyone.
Now, we’re back in Indy for a few days before St. Louis. My good friend Carlo came up from Louisiana with his family. They came up for the christening of our baby son Adler. Carlo and Kelly are now the god-parents of the little man. We just hung out and chilled at the house this weekend. Big daddy brought out my Bob Vila skills and painted a bathroom this weekend. Someone normal would have painted it a lot quicker than me. It took the brothaman a long time, but it turned out perfect. My momma is back at it and Ms. Judy even came over to fry some wings for everyone. It was a nice weekend to chill out at the pad with the nice warm weather here in Indy.
I need to give a few shout outs before I go. First to Jeg’s. We’re going to have the in-car camera on our dragster this weekend at St. Louis, so thanks to Woody and everyone at Jeg’s for hooking up the in-car cam. Make sure you check out ESPN2 this weekend for the cool shots of our DirecTV/Matco dragster. Also, remember to sign up and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MARnews. We’re going to start and do some trivia and prize giveaways before each race. And, did you know that the brothaman and Mike Ashley hold the track speed records at Gateway? We set the TF speed mark last year at 331.94 mph and Mike in 2007 at 331.77 mph in FC.
With everything said, I’m out to Linn State Technical College to go out there and enlighten students on careers in racing and more and talking about using the best tools in the business, Matco Tools. If you’re in central Missouri, we’ll be at Linn State from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday. Until next time, make sure you have a little love, peace and hair grease. I’ll update in a few days with a couple of cool stories that are sure to interest you.
Antron