Hello again all my NHRA.com nitrohaulics. We’re back in Indy where the weather is beautiful and I’m enjoying being outside along with driving my new sharp new white Toyota Sequoia. We left off on our last blog in Las Vegas and that’s where we’ll pick back up. We’ll go back a few weeks to April 20 where we got up early and headed over to Nellis A.F.B. right across the street from the track in Las Vegas.

We made our morning stop by Starbucks on Craig Road for my strawberry banana smoothie because the brothaman had to eat light. We pulled into the visitor’s lot at Nellis and met up with TSgt. Randy Redman. Randy was the man who helped make my dream become a reality. I was going to fly in an F-16 with the Thunderbirds just like our DSR teammate Jack Beckman did last fall.

We started by taking a tour of the Thunderbirds museum and learning the history of the famed flight team. TSgt Redman really knows the history of the Thunderbirds dating back to the 1950s. The Thunderbirds recently did the flyover before the NBA All Star game in Dallas earlier this year at Cowboys Stadium and they’ve done a few Super Bowls too. That’s got to be awesome to be involved in such big sporting events.

After the museum tour, we walked through the Thunderbirds hanger and then I met with Flight Equipment Technician TSgt. Sang Lee. Lee showed me how to get dressed up and fitted for my flight. Then I was introduced to Flight Surgeon Thomas Bowden who did my pre-flight physical to make sure I was fit for the 8-9 G-forces my body would endure in the F-16. I’m pretty fit, so I passed with flying red, white and blue colors. The toughest part was the breathing process they taught you to handle all the Gs, but I picked it up pretty quickly.

Then, it was time to meet my tour guide for the afternoon. Capt. Kristin “Mother” Hubbard, Advance Pilot/Narrator of the #8 Thunderbirds F-16 came into the VIP room to brief me on the flight. “Mother” is cool people. I first have to thank her for coming in on her day off to take me on my flight and make my dream came true. When I was a little kid, I always dreamed about flying a fighter jet and driving a Top Fuel dragster and I’ve been lucky enough to do both. After meeting with “Mother,” it was time to head outside into the windy Las Vegas afternoon to climb into the #8 Thunderbirds F-16.

The flight with “Mother” was unreal. It almost made me speechless. No, I didn’t throw up. I know that’s what everyone wants to know. I did get a little naseous, but didn’t lose my breakfast smoothie. My Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster reaches nearly 5 G-Forces during a 1,000-foot blast, and we hit 9.5 Gs at one point during the flight with “Mother.”

When we took off, the F-16 didn’t launch as hard as our Matco/Army dragster, but when we went three miles straight up in the air, the feeling was unreal. The sensation is so much different than the straight-ahead feeling of a Top Fuel dragster. When we did the 90-degree, banked turn and pulled 9.5 Gs, I did everything in my power to stay conscious. I did all the proper breathing techniques they taught me and it worked. It really felt like I did 500 straight sit-ups. Later on “Mother” asked if I wanted to do that again, and I was like, that’s ok, I’m all good. After the flight, she said she was glad we didn’t either.

Our flight got a little interesting when we were running low on fuel and tried to land at Nellis. Like I mentioned, the winds were very strong and they wouldn’t let us land at Nellis, so we were re-routed to Creech A.F.B. about an hour north. I had three or four people tell me that’s never happened before, but it was ok with me because I got two take-offs and landings. It was a bonus for A.B.

My boy TY was waiting patiently back at the VIP room at Nellis and I know he was sweating because we had a 4 p.m. flight on Southwest and McCarran Airport in Las Vegas is at least a half hour from Nellis. At first they thought we’d get back about 2:30 or 2:45, but we didn’t end up landing until 3:30 p.m. By the time I got out of the plane, TY had changed the flight until Wednesday morning and got us a room for the night at New York New York, the home of DSR in Las Vegas.

After the flight, “Mother” presented me with a certificate and TSgt. Redman gave me an awesome Thunderbirds poster that’ll look great in my new garage at home in Indy. Before we left, we ran into a couple fans at the Thunderbirds museum who recognized the brothaman. Then we cruised back to NYNY and then walked across the street to MGM Grand to have a nice dinner at Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House. After three weeks on the road, I was exhausted. It was an early night in Vegas. No cocktails or blackjack tables, just sleep as we had a 6:45 a.m. flight back home to Indy. When we got to Indy, my beautiful wife and three kids were there to greet me with loving hugs and smiles.

I really want to thank everyone with the Thunderbirds, including Redman, Lee, Bowden and, of course, “Mother” Hubbard for the hospitality and showing me an awesome time both on the ground and in the air. I would have to say that it was one of the best experiences in my life. That’s the closest thing that gives me the same type of rush as racing our DSR Top Fuel dragster. It’s right up there with jumping out of an airplane with the Army’s Golden Knights. I did that a few years back, and that was awesome too. TY has already been hitting me up about getting our Matco/Army TF team to jump with the Golden Knights when we go to Pomona for the Finals in November. Could you imagine riding with the Thunderbirds and jumping with the Golden Knights in the same year -- now that would be awesome.

With that, it’s love, peace and hair grease time, and I’m out like shout.

God bless.