Man, look at the calendar. The Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline is only two weeks and two days away, which probably explains why I'm too busy with all of the assorted Winternationals accoutrements to even breathe.

Between the History of the NHRA Winternationals book, the 50th Winternationals Web site, the special expanded event program, and various featurettes here and in National DRAGSTER, in the last six months, I've written tens of thousands of words. And we haven’t even started on the Winternationals preview issue of ND yet! And I know that in the course of covering the event for National DRAGSTER and NHRA.com, I'll write even more. As much as I can’t wait for the event to get here, I also can’t wait for it to be over.

OK, so that's a lie, but you get my drift.

Columnwise, thanks for all of the input for our Top 10 lists – I was besieged with your votes, and y'all only confirmed what I already knew: You're a bright and knowledgeable bunch – and your submissions for the Your Heroes column (coming soon!) as well as all of the feedback on the new deal around here. I'm trying to keep it fun and nostalgic while not crossing swords with the ND column.

Candida and Marc were in Phoenix this weekend to cover the National Time Trials there, and although the car count was a little light (OK, a lot light), Marc took advantage of the downtime to set up some possible cover shots for the Pomona preview issue, which is also our annual Season Preview. I know you've seen our trusty ND photographers covered in tire rubber after a brutal day on the starting line, but it's clear from this photo, snapped by John Force Racing publicist Elon Werner, that Marc was getting down and dirty for us to get the shot. (Man, that's a low-angle shot!) I'm not saying this is going to be the cover, and I've yet to see the actual photos, but I like the way it looks.

For those of you keeping score, that will be Issue 4. Issue 1 was our What's New: Top 10 issue that most of you who subscribe should already have. It includes Tommy Ivo's great recollection of his 1974 crash and a lot of other cool stuff. Yesterday, we received office copies of Issue 2, which has a huge – and I mean HUGE – Don Prudhomme retrospective. If you're a "Snake" fan, you're gonna love this one. In addition to a four-page interview I did with "the Snake" about his decision to retire (I still think he's not done), the Pure Nostalgia column is the second half of the interview, called Snake's Take, for which I fed him subjects and let him share his feelings, covering topics such as Tom McEwen ("It's like having a brother that you don't get along with, but they're still family.") and his take-no-prisoners attitude of the 1970s ("I was a jerk. I recognize that, especially now."). That covers three more pages, then there's Little Bradfield's four-page photo tribute to The Man, and I have to say he picked some great shots, most of them color keepers.

We're working on Issue 3 right now, and I'm very proud to say that Senior Editor Kevin McKenna landed an interview with Al-Anabi team owner Sheik Khalid Al Thani, who doesn't grant interviews very often. K-mac had to do the interview Sunday, but it was worth it. This issue also includes Phoenix testing results, a tribute to Dick Wells, a look at overdue champs, and the What's New combo of the first installment of our all-class new iron and new products. Issue 5, the one between the Pomona preview and results issues, will be our Top 10 special.

I'm pretty excited about the Top 10 lists, but there will be some hard choices to make. Internally, we've been compiling our lists and sharing them, and I can guarantee there will be some heated discussions Thursday when we reconvene to decide the Top 10. Everyone has an opinion (including you guys), and there are bound to be hurt feelings and busted jaws before this one is done. Candida has a mean right hook.

Back to the Winternationals: The Golden 50 is shaping up to be really something, and even with some last-minute dropouts, it's already at about 80 cars (you can see the current list here) because we keep adding great ones. Just yesterday, I added to the list the Drag-On-Lady SS/BA, the Mooneyes Dragster AA/D, the Syndicate Scuderia AA/D, Don Grotheer's Cable Car SS/BA, the Teixeira & Son B/G, the rear-engine Warren, Coburn & Miller Top Fueler, Roger Gates' AA/FD, and the Leland Kolb/Scorcher AA/FD.

Some of the cars on the list will be Cackled, and there's a lot of excitement about one entry in particular, the Smirnoff AA/FD.

The car, which was designed by the talented Steve Swaja, built by master craftsman Roy Fjasted of Speed Products Engineering, and surrounded with a body from the equally prodigious Bob Sorrell, was tuned by the late, great Dave Zeuschel, who had coaxed speed-crazed Darryl Greenamyer to Lions Drag Strip for a look-see and before he knew it found himself building engines for his pal.

The car made its debut in 1967 and ran its last race at the 1969 Winternationals, but the original owner held on to the old gal for nearly four decades before she was resurrected.

Sure, I know, the car has been seen around since it was restored in 2006 (there's a great recap of the car's history as well as its restoration here), but the big news is that Greenamyer will be back at the wheel. Greenamyer was a famed test pilot and air racer (he flew both the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird) and original owner and driver of the car, which Larry Dixon Sr. drove when Greenamyer’s duties at Lockheed kept him from racing.

According to Steve Gibbs, "It took current owner Joe Passalaqua years to talk Greenamyer into selling the car, and it is a beautiful restoration of what was one of the most beautiful cars of the era. To get Greenamyer back into the car is a big deal in our little corner of the sport."

Greenamyer's name also may be familiar to people who saw the documentary Frozen in Time, in which Greenamyer attempted to fly an abandoned B-29 out of Greenland in 1994.

The plane, the Kee Bird, was on a secret mission over Greenland Feb. 21, 1947, when the crew became lost and, out of fuel, crash-landed. Miraculously, the plane suffered little structural damage. Although the crew was rescued, the plane was left behind and sat on the edge of a frozen lake for nearly 50 years. The Air Force released ownership of the plane to anyone who could fly it out of there.

After months of work replacing vital components on the plane, including all four engines, and after the death of the project's chief engineer, who literally worked himself to death, the plane was finally ready to fly and had taxied to a takeoff position when fire broke out, and the plane, heartsickeningly, was consumed in flames. It sank into the lake the next summer, gone forever. (You can read more about this ultimately sad but definitely Herculean effort here.)

The plane is gone, but Greenamyer is still here to tell the tale and I'm sure will share racing tales with his old buddies in Pomona. I think I'd like to shake his hand.