The holidays are supposed to offer a little "slow down" time but I can’t help but feel I'm still going a million miles per hour. A lot of the NHRA staff has taken great advantage of NHRA's very generous holiday time off and some have been checked out since the annual Holiday Party two weeks ago. With a little careful applying of vacation days here and there, you can turn a three- or four-day credit into more than two weeks off, and many have taken advantage of that.

Me, I'm a bit of a workaholic, so unless there's an auto race or a hockey game on TV, I'd rather spend the quiet days in the office trying to catch up and getting prepared for 2010.

I'm actually quite proud of myself because, for the first time since I can remember, I took a trip without my laptop, driving up the California coast to see my parents and my sister and her family, meeting up with them in scenic Morro Bay in the shadow of the enormous rock that is its signature. (Well, it's not actually a rock; it's 581-foot tall volcanic plug and one of the "Nine Sisters of San Luis Obispo County," a series of ancient volcanic plugs that line the Los Osos Valley between oceanside Morro Bay and inland San Luis Obispo. Cruising down Highway 1, I sighted several of the other sisters, curious huge rock heaps jutting from the landscape, but didn’t connect them with their more-famous, most westerly, and waterbound sibling until later.)

Anyway, in the spirit of holiday giving, I vowed to devote this time solely to the family. The folks are getting up there in age and you just never know when you might lose them, so I went without a net, hopin' and a-wishin' that no major news broke in the span of those two days (not that I didn't stealthily scout out the nearest cyber café upon arrival, just in case). I returned home Sunday night, checked the email and saw that the drag racing world didn't miss me ... not even a Wilber blog waiting in my Inbox. (I was extremely glad that pre-Christmas rumors of Tom Hoover's passing proved untrue, though the veteran Funny Car driver did lose his brother and, just this morning, we lost Jim "Happy" Harrington, just three days shy of his 49th birthday. Bummer way to end the year.)

The week before Christmas was crazy busy with a number of projects. Job One for all of us has been whipping the new-look National DRAGSTER into shape for its 2010 rebirth, complete with new graphics, columns, and sky-high expectations. I've written so much about our plans and hopes that I'm thrilled to be seeing it all finally taking shape. In addition to that, we finished up production of the 50th Winternationals Web site, which will launch Jan. 4, and I did a fun interview with Joe Castello for his WFO Radio show (you can listen to it here; be patient while it loads) on Tuesday as part of his regular NHRA Tuesday programming. Joe was the longtime host of PowerShift on XM Radio and has a regular lineup of quality guests on his show. Although he covers all forms of motorsports, he's a big NHRA fan, and it's obvious when you listen to the interview that he knows his stuff.

The highlight of the week clearly was the unveiling of the Golden 50 lineup for next year's 50th anniversary Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals, a list of awesome historic hot rods that quickly has exceeded the target number of 50. Steve Gibbs deserves a huge hand for helping coordinate what's going to be the all-time greatest drag racing car show. "Big Hook" and myself are part of a six-man "steering committee" for the golden anniversary race – along with Vice President-National Event Marketing Glen "Hat Trick" Cromwell, Director of Advertising & Promotions John "Hook 'em Horns" Pesetski, Director of Broadcasting & Video Communications "Corvette Jim" Trace, and Director of Public Relations Michael "Facebook" Padian – who have worked diligently the past six months to shape the event, which will include the Legends Dinner, also announced recently on NHRA.com. And, hey, don't forget: Voting for the Most Memorable winternationals Moments ends when 2009 does, so, if you haven't already, VOTE NOW.

The "Golden Fifty – Plus" list includes some of the great machines from Winternationals history including Don Garlits' Swamp Rat 5, his innovative winged dragster that won the 1963 event (his first NHRA win), the fabulous twin-engined Freight Train gas dragster, and the Kohler Bros.' King Kong AA/Gas Supercharged Anglia sedan, which Gibbs, in his notes, calls "one of the most recognized supercharged cars of the late 1960s." Ed Kohler drove the car to a Super Eliminator win at the 1967 Winternationals and it's a true find. The car was lost for years, and when found had been converted to a street rod. Carlos and Mary Cedeno, of Lockport, N.Y., had the car fully restored and Kohler, who now lives in Newberry, S.C., will be reunited with the car in Pomona.

Of course that decade's other legendary gasser, the Stone, Woods & Cook BB/GS Willys that the Insider Nation crowned as “Favorite Race Car Ever” back in September 2008 will be there as well. The late Doug Cook drove the car to Middle Eliminator honors at the 1963 Winternationals, and Gibbs reports that, "like the King Kong gasser, the car was converted to a street machine for many years, before being discovered by owners Joe Troilo and Mike Wale. It has been faithfully and fully restored to its original race condition. All of the original team principals are now deceased, however Doug Cook’s son. Mike, and Tim Woods’ son. Lenny, will be in attendance. Owners Troilo and Wale are bringing the car to Pomona from their Chicago, Ill., base."

It wouldn't be the Winternationals without the famed Dragmaster Dart AA/D and Dragmaster Two Thing AA/D, a pair of revolutionary machines in their own right. The Dragmaster Dart, which for years gtreeted me in the lobby of NHRA headquarters in North Hollywood as I came to work each day, won the 1962 Winternationals and was the first car to be donated to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports museum. Driver Jim Nelson. who also served as one of NHRA’s original technical directors during the formative Safety Safari events of the late 1950s, and partner Dode Martin will be in attendance. The dynamic duo built hundreds of their “production line” Dragmaster chassis at the Carlsbad, Calif., shop, just about an hour south of Pomona.

Hugh Tucker's Ventura Motors AA/Street Roadster also holds a wonderful place in Winternationals lore as the supercharged roadster won Little Eliminator at the 1962 event, Junior Eliminator at the 1963 race, and Super Eliminator at the 1966 event; in fact, Tucker was never defeated in individual class competition, according to Gibbs. This car also was “lost” for many years, but has been fully restored to its original glory by Tucker and his son, Hugh, Jr., both of whom will travel from Hansville, Wash., to bring the car back to its famous stomping grounds.

Winternationals fans can also see some of Funny Car's earliest machines in Bruce Larson's USA–1  Chevelle, the 1969 "Jungle Jim" Liberman Nova, and the factory Dodge Charger formerly driven by the late Jimmy Nix. Larson's car, which is now owned by the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, was the first all-fiberglass Funny Car to appear in NHRA national event competition, even before there was an official Funny Car class (the car ran in the B/XS class). Larson will be on hand with the car in Pomona. The Liberman car, now owned by Dave and Sally Bany, of Wilsonville, Wash., was driven to victory at the 1969 event by Clare Sanders, who also will be in Pomona. The Charger, which was built as a Chrysler “factory” project by the aforementioned Dragmaster Company, was one of the first supercharged, full-bodied, late -model drag racing vehicles. Although the car never used nitromethane as a fuel, it truly was forerunner to today’s Funny Cars, The car is currently owned by Frank Spittle.

Another great piece of restoration magic will be unveiled with the debut of the Howard Cams Twin Bear twin-engined AA/Gas Dragster. Again, according to Gibbs' notes, the car was one of the most dominant machines during the NHRA fuel ban years and was driven by the late Jack Chrisman (who won the inaugural Pomona Winternationals Top Eliminator title in another car), "The Twin Bear went through many changes before being destroyed in 1968. Many of the original components are still in use."

Fuel Altered fans will get their socks knocked off by a quartet of Awful-Awfuls as "the big four” -- Pure Hell, Pure Heaven, the Winged Express, and the Mondello and Matsubara Fiat -- which campaigned on several national tours and raced at NHRA national events -- will all be on display together at the event.

According to the countdown clock on the NHRA.com home page, it's only about 43 days – six weeks – until the Winternationals rocks us into the 2010 season but National DRAGSTER 2010 begins production in less than a week. I've been trying to get as far ahead as I can because a week from Thursday I'll be headed to Lake Placid, N.Y., as a guest of JEGS to attend the the fifth annual Lucas Oil Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge. Jeg Coughlin, Morgan Lucas, Shawn Langdon, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Melanie Troxel will be representing the NHRA against NASCAR in this great and worthwhile even that benefits the Team USA Olympic bobsledding efforts.

The plan calls for a flight to Columbus Thursday with an overnight stay with the Coughlin clan, then off to chilly Lake Placid early the next morning for a full weekend of action. Hopefully we'll be avoiding any great blizzards, but I'll be all geared up for the cold anyway. I'm sure these northerners will have a good laugh at the California boy freezing his butt off.

And, yes, I'll have my laptop.