Hello again. I went straight from the airport in St. Louis to the track at Gateway last Thursday afternoon. Linn State Technical College was on our car last weekend at Gateway. Carla McDaniel is in charge of the Linn State program, and she’s a real good friend of the team and played a big part in us securing our deal with CAT. I spoke to some of their guests at the track, and then a group of us went to eat at the Mexican restaurant next to the hotel. I had to speak at the Army YES program on Friday morning, so it wasn’t a late night.

I woke up on Friday morning, and it was storming out and raining. I was flying solo this time at YES. Antron and I are swapping YES events at the next four races, so it was just Schu, Jack Beckman, Sergeant Crister, and me. It was a good program ,and there was a really pretty gal from WyoTech. I was flirting with her and Tony was egging me on and pumping me up. Schu was talking me up to help me find “the One.”

That leads me to “the Dark Side” comment I made to ESPN2 on Sunday. It has some people all worked up. There was no malice meant with the comment. I was trying to have fun and drum up some interest in our sport. Tony and the Army team beat us for the championship, so there’s a natural rivalry there. I believe we have two of the best teams in the sport and should compete for the title again, so why not make things interesting? When I grew up watching drag racing there were drivers with nicknames and plenty of rivalries. Tony and I are a couple of drivers with nicknames, so why not try and create a modern day Snake vs. Mongoose. NASCAR has rivalries, and I believe NHRA needs that help the sport grow. There you have it. On to the race…

From our first run on Friday afternoon, I knew we were going to be good, especially after how strong we ran at Atlanta. We were No. 1 out of the box, and we lost a spark plug on our Friday night run, which slowed us down to a 4.54. Rob Flynn wasn’t feeling well on Saturday and had to leave for the hospital, and that cost us much of the day with him being gone from tuning the car, so we really couldn’t go after low qualifier. Rob missed the entire first session while they were running tests at the hospital. They said he had vertigo.

Sunday was a beautiful day after two lousy days of weather. Saturday was miserably cold and windy, but Sunday was great. I had a good feeling about the day. David and R.J. Powers were there. Both of my parents were there. We went out there and ran low e.t. of the first round. I was really nervous. Cory Mac has been just as hot as Tony and Antron, so to get by them was big, and it didn’t get any easier from there. Grubby was the No. 1 qualifier and after him it was our nemesis Doug Kalitta. I consider Doug the best, and he’s always been a tough match-up for us. To run against Tony in the final is always fun. To be the best, you have to beat the best, and that’s the Army dragster. A lot of fans said they wanted to see us run in the final round. They edged us for the title last year, and we both put on a great race in the final round. To run low e.t. of the event was awesome. Anytime you can outrun Alan Johnson’s car, you’ve accomplished something. I have to give a shout out to Rob, Mike Guger, and my entire CAT crew. They did an awesome job. We’ve been down the track 14 straight runs and have really improved our consistency.

It was so great to have my parents there. Most of my Sportsman national event wins, my mom was there, but I had never won a Top Fuel race with my mom, Cathy, at the track. That meant a lot. When I got out of the car, I looked around and saw my mom, and it was pretty awesome. My dad, Bob, also went to the semi's in Super Gas. It would be cool to double-up with Papa Fuller some day. The win was the 20th of my career, 13 in Super Comp/Gas and now seven in Top Fuel.

It also was the fourth anniversary of Darrell Russell’s death, so I was happy to dedicate the win to Darrell and his family and give the trophy to Chris Russell. They called me Sunday night and said it meant a lot for me to dedicate the race to them and Darrell’s memory. That was nice to hear. Another great thing is that Pat Lavery from Caterpillar was there. He and his family are big supporters of our program, so anytime you can win with the sponsors on hand is very cool. I know Brandon and Matthew Lavery had fun being in the winner’s circle with the team.

We didn’t celebrate too late because I had an early CAT appearance in St. Louis on Monday with our show car. After the appearance, I drove to Indy, and we had our team dinner at Boulder Creek on Monday night with both teams. It’s great to have two teams that work so well together. That’s a big reason of our early season success. Having great chemistry is so important. David Powers Motorsports has been in four straight finals with three wins. We have a lot to look forward to down the road too. I think back to a few years ago when a big team owner referred to us as some “mom and pop team.” Well look at us now!

Tuesday morning was an even earlier morning. We all met at the shop at 4:30 a.m. and drove to Lafayette, Ind. We had the race car and hauler on display at the plant where CAT builds its engines. We got to tour the facility, which was the highlight of the day. We got to see how the engines go together. It’s amazing how intricate they are. A crankshaft that weighs more than a ton and a rod and piston that weigh a few hundred pounds -- now those are some really big engines. On top of that, the excitement level was high coming off the win, and it’s great to meet new CAT employees in person. That afternoon after the appearance, I drove to the airport in Indy and flew home to Vegas.

My next blog should be exciting. My little brother, Tony, is getting married this weekend in Vegas, so it’s a busy week for me. I’ll leave with my fashion tip for the day: you’re better off buying something you really want, even if it’s expensive, rather than something you don’t want and won’t like very much. I haven’t done much shopping lately. I’m outta here.