Hello again. Since I forgot to talk about Tony and Apple’s reception, I’ll fill you in, but I’ll keep it brief. The reception, at The Rio, was the highlight of the wedding. The room looked great. It should come across very well on the Platinum Weddings TV show. Being the best man I had to have my speech and toast ready. I wasn’t nervous at all. I’m glad that I have to do a lot of public speaking. The maid of honor said it was a tough speech to follow. I guess that’s a good thing. I felt like I was John Force working the room and shaking hands and kissing babies. It also was really neat to see my parents out there dancing and having a good time. I was proud that I didn’t compete for the drunk award. LOL You can have a good time and not drink a lot.

Bristol didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. It’s been a long time since I lost the race for our team, but it was my fault. My crew guys did a great job of pumping me up afterwards. What happened is that my foot, somehow, came off the throttle pedal. It maybe came off an eighth of an inch, but what that did was set off the timing triggers and that made it drop cylinders. It acted like I pedaled the car, and it should have run 4.54 or 4.55. I got a big piece of humble pie with all this talk of the “dark side.” We didn’t walk the walk, that’s for sure. I need to try and make it up to the CAT team in Topeka this weekend. The Army team was fantastic at Bristol, but we’re not going away. We’re in this fight to the end. They’re the best team in the class, have a great driver in Tony, and the best crew chief in the history of the sport in A.J., but we’re shooting to outgun those guys. I know it’s cliché, but you have to beat the best to be the best.

We had been on the go, so I needed a good R&R weekend at home in Vegas. I had some good lazy days at home; it was great. AT Dave pumped up my workouts, that’s for sure. My knee feels really good. I still have a bit of swelling, and it will be good when that goes away, but the rehab is doing great.

The highlight of my off weekend was going to The Police concert at The MGM Grand last Friday night. I’m a big Police fan and always wanted to see them. When I found out they were coming to Vegas, I got tickets. When I got into the arena, the seats were great. Then we found out that it was one of their final concerts in the U.S. before going to Europe, and they aren’t going to tour again. I then realized why it was such a tough ticket. During the concert I called PR Ted and held the phone up to a few songs. He likes “Message in a Bottle,” so I called his cell when they played that song. It was one of those concerts you didn’t want to end. I had a great time. I was impressed by how in good shape they all were. I hope I can look like that when I’m in my 50s and 60s. Here are a few photos I snapped during the show.

I love Memorial Day weekend. It’s full of great racing. I watched 12 straight hours of racing on Sunday. I love watching the Indy 500 and the Coke 600. I was bummed that Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart were doing well and didn’t win at Charlotte, but it was cool to see Kasey win one. Growing up, I was a big open wheel fan, so the merger made Indy a lot more interesting. I had to root for Townsend Bell since my assistant crew chief, Mike Guger, was working on the No. 99 car. I hope you all enjoyed reading Mike’s Indy 500 blog. I know I enjoyed it. No more IRL races for Guger because we need him! I was bummed Graham Rahal went out early, and Danica’s stomping temper tantrum was cool. I’d be mad too if I raced for a month at one place and went out like that. All that work and to get bumped off on pit road, that wasn’t cool.

We’re excited about Topeka. It’s the closet track to Northwest Arkansas. We’ll have Crossland Construction back on the car, and that’s good because they’re from Arkansas and have a big association with CAT. Also, the track owners, the Irwins, are really great people. They’ve done a great job with Heartland Park. I’ve had a lot of success there in the Sportsman rank but haven’t done well in Top Fuel. I’m ready to go some rounds on June 1. It’s PR Ted’s birthday, so hopefully we can give him a good present.

Oh, one last thing. I want to congratulate my pops, Bob Fuller. He won the D5 Super Comp race last weekend at Brainerd. He’ll try and make it two straight this weekend at Heartland Park. We’re still looking for that double Fuller win. Maybe at Heartland Park on Sunday.

TTYL,

Hot Rod