It’s been quite awhile, but I’ve had some crazy stuff going on lately. That’s no excuse, so I’m going to try and update at least once a week. You fans need to keep me up to that promise.

I got home from Houston late Sunday night, and I was really excited that my teammate, Antron, had won the race. I had a tough weekend, but it was great to see him win. I kind of feel like a mentor to him, so to see him in the final made me proud but nervous. I never get nervous in the car, and I was really nervous watching him race. I only get nervous when my dad and brother race. It was so exciting to see him win a close race. It proves that he is going to be a great Top Fuel driver, and he’s one of the best leavers in the class already.

Most everybody knows about me and the car fire. I kept the Lamborghini secret. After we doubled-up at the fall Vegas race, I bought the car after that. It was a dream car for me. From watching Cannonball Run in the '80s, I always wanted a Lambo. I had a poster of a black Countach when I was a little kid, and it’s still in my room back home in Arkansas. I was going to drive it to the track for this Vegas race. It was not just a Diablo, but it had twin superchargers that made 550 horsepower. With the exhaust modifications, it made 800 horsepower. It was fast! Paul Page and Mike Dunn were razzing me about it on TV, but I don’t have a fancy house or motorhome. Many drivers have expensive Prevost or Newell motorhomes; I don’t. That car was my motor home.

My normal thing is to take the car for a ride after a race. It was a beautiful day on March 31, and I took the car to Red Rocks. I don’t even turn the radio on. I just listen to the motor. I drove for a few hours and fueled up about a mile from my house, and after that is when I saw and felt the flame and bailed out before it exploded. I was real close to my house. It was the night before April Fools' Day, and I went called PR Ted and Rob Flynn and people on the team to tell them I was okay. It took some major convincing and pictures of the car. The car is a total loss. The next couple days, I was pretty beat up. I scraped my head and backside, but I’m fine.

PR Ted does call me “Soap Opera” Fuller. We could have a fun reality TV show! By the way, I haven’t met “the one” yet.

After that, I had an appearance for HOLT Cat in San Antonio, Texas, during the IHRA race. I flew in Friday night and it was Final Four weekend in San Antonio. It was crazy. There were a ton of North Carolina fans at my hotel. I remember falling asleep, and around 2 a.m., there was a commotion and people banging on my door and it was a bunch of adults partying. I thought it was college kids, but it wasn’t. Grown-ups can have fun too I guess. Our Caterpillar show car was on display at San Antonio Raceway, and I signed autographs the entire day. It was neat to meet folks who can’t make it to an NHRA race. HOLT was doing some technician recruiting, so they got to sign up a lot of potential CAT employees. Remember, www.cat.com/dealercareers. That night, I went to dinner with Aline from HOLT. We ate Thai food. I got to my room and watched Memphis beat UNC and flew home on Sunday morning.

Sunday evening, I went to a charity benefit. I got to meet a lot of important people from Las Vegas and the state of Nevada. It was a good time. Later that night, I had an in-studio TV interview with Claudine Grant of KVVU, the FOX affiliate in Vegas. It was the typical race week for me, a lot of radio and TV interviews. PR Ted and Jeff Motley from LVMS kept me plenty busy all week long.

We checked into the hotel at The Golden Nugget on Wednesday afternoon after the autograph session with Antron at Freemont Street. My room was awesome -- it had a big flat screen and a TV in the bathroom. Plus, my room overlooked the pool at the Nugget. It’s one of the coolest pools in Vegas. There’s a big shark tank and a water slide. The Golden Nugget is a great hotel.

We qualified okay, but we’re in a slump on race day. We don’t seem to have any luck. We were in the dreaded right lane on Sunday morning, and it got us. It helped out the Matco team because they switched lanes and went back to the final round. It was a good weekend for our DPM team. There were a lot of friends and family there. It was cool to have Traffic Control Services and Allied Trench on board all weekend. They’re a great group of folks and we got to visit their suite at the track on Saturday and Sunday. I was hoping to see Antron make it two in a row. Those guys are doing awesome.

We tested on Monday all day. It was cool to see Lee and Rob working together and both crews helping out on the Cat car. We made four runs, and it was productive and should benefit us at Atlanta. We had the pole there last year, so hopefully we can repeat that. I’m off to the airport to fly to Indy for an appearance with MacAllister Cat tomorrow. I promise to blog before April 23.

Take care.