It’s been awhile my fellow Nitrohaulics, but to bring you up to date, we just got done at the Mile-High Nationals and a fantastic start to our Western Swing.

On our weekend off before the Swing, we celebrated our son, Anson’s, fifth birthday at the house in Indy. By all means, he had to have a Scooby Doo theme. Scooby Dooby Doo! It’s funny to see how my son is into a lot of the same cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid. It was good times with all the kids and we topped it off with green and purple cupcakes like the Mystery Machine. I have to take my hat off to my wife Billie Jo. The kids had to solve the case of the missing cupcakes. There was an obstacle course of different mysteries and the final clue was a piñata that led them to the cupcakes. It’s just unbelievable how time flies. I can remember when I held my son in the hospital in Indy for the first time five years ago and now he’s my little man with same big eyes that I have.

It was a lot of fun because my older brother “Los” was in town too. Saturday morning on July 4, we got to drag race Hot Wheels cars. Needless to say, I was the king of the mountain. You can buy the same game that we played at the Nitro Mall at the track. Like always, my big brother “Los” finished in second place. It’s no different than on the basketball court bro.

We flew into Denver on Thursday night to the Mile-High City and went straight to dinner with our Matco Tools clan at Old Chicago. The dinner was hosted by Doug Heersink, the local Matco district manager. It’s great to see the support continue to grow from our DMs and distributors in each race market that we visit. Let me tell you, if you’re a Matco Tools customer, don’t forget that you too can be part of our race team. Talk to you local distributor about being part of the MAR team in the Iron Eagle Club, our pitside hospitality area. It’s an awesome experience for any racing fan and the food is right and tight. Brothaman has to watch what I eat because Chef Joe does it up.

On Friday morning, we got up and headed over to see our friends at GoFast! Sports in their new building in Denver. It’s amazing how GoFast! is growing leaps and bounds. They got some awesome new flavors and energy gums coming out real soon, so check out GoFast! It was cool to have a big group from GoFast! at the track with us on Sunday.

We went out to the track and had a fun night by setting the track speed mark at 318.39 mph up on Thunder Mountain. I must commend the Bandimere’s and the Safety Safari for doing a great job on the facility and race track. Also, the fans. The fans were incredible sticking around til Midnight to watch us qualify on Friday night. That’s what dedication is all about and NHRA drag racing fans are the best.

On Saturday, we got real excited after snagging the No. 1 spot from Cory Mac on that last qualifying run at 3.862. I have to give some props to that FRAM team because they’re doing an outstanding job. We left off with the good conditions and Sunday brought a whole new ball game because what we did on Friday and Saturday was thrown out. It was kind of nerve-wracking and called for an entirely new game plan for race day because of the sun and hot temperatures.

Sunday delivered some very tight, close, mind-boggling racing. If you saw the photo finish of our second round win over Morgan Lucas and the Geico team on ESPN2, you know what I’m talking about. The competition was so tough, the only time we had lane choice was in the first round against Rob Passey and the Utah team. It really didn’t faze our team. We didn’t think the lanes were any different and that says a lot about the track and the Safari.

After we won, it felt so rewarding to finally get the win at Denver because there have been so many times I raced there and finished second. It felt so great and was a relief to finally get that “W” after four runner-ups. I just have to give props to my entire MAR Matco Tools team for doing a great job last weekend and all season long. We have an awesome team from all the Matco distributors to Brian and Mark calling the shots for our dragster.

Sunday was a great day for Matco Tools. To see great friends in Chris Lamb, a Matco Tools distributor from Las Vegas, and his son, Justin, win in Super Stock was awesome. Chris has been one of the top distributors for many years and Justin got his second win of the year and fifth national event “Wally.” It’s so cool to sit back and see a young gun in the sport living a dream and having great success at such and early age. I can see Justin driving a Pro Stock car real soon. Here’s a picture of me, Chris and Justin in the winner’s circle on Sunday at Bandimere.

Well, stay tuned because next we’ll fill you in on our epic journey from Denver to Seattle through Wyoming and Montana. Until then, I’m out like shout with a little love, peace and Lucas Oil grease.

Antron