The Western Swing is probably my favorite time of year. These three tracks are some of my favorite towns, not tracks, but towns that we visit. We’re all aware of the “Darkside” stuff, and then Tony called me a circus monkey after they pounced us at Chicago. I thought it would be fun to come up with a shirt, so we came up with a picture of a monkey with a red hat and a light saber. On the back of the shirt, it said “Beware of the Darkside.” One of my best buddies from high school, Chris Dubell, made these shirts in less than a day and shipped them to Denver. I thought we’d have some fun and wear them to the Mopar Block Party in Golden. When we showed up a lot of people saw the humor of it, but a few people took offense to it. When I thought about it, I could see their point. We didn’t mean any disrespect to Don Schumacher or Mopar or any of the DSR sponsors. I’ve owned many Dodge/Mopar vehicles over the years, including my yellow Viper. We’re sorry and hope people didn’t take it the wrong way.

If you look up the definition of the word rival, we’re all rivals. We’re all out here competing for the same goal, and that’s to be the POWERade champion. The sport needs rivalries and competition. The John Force and Al Hoffman rivalry was great, so was Force and Whit Bazemore. The Beer Wars in Top Fuel were awesome. I don’t want people to think this is manufactured. Tony and I aren’t buddies, and we don’t hang out, but we respect them. They are the best team in NHRA Drag Racing, have a great crew with guys like Jason McCulloch, a great sponsor in the Army, and the best tuner in history in Alan. They have what we all want, and that’s race wins and championships. We’re all fighting for second best right now, and that’s a credit to the entire U.S. Army Top Fuel team.

On to racing. The Denver race was a difficult one for us. Being the defending event champion, we had high hopes. It’s so hard to get the car to run up there at Bandimere. We dropped a cylinder on each qualifying run this year. We were matched up against our teammate again at Bandimere but not in the final round. We finally got the Caterpillar car to run on all eight cylinders, but when it did run on all eight, we smoked the tires. We spent the rest of the day cheering on Antron and the Matco team. They came up just short against Tony in the final. Antron and Lee Beard continue to do a great job.

After a few days at home, it was off to Seattle on Thursday. It was brutally hot in Vegas, more than 110 degrees. I didn’t look at the forecast, so when I flew here on Thursday morning, the plane landed, and the pilot said it was 54 degrees. When I left Vegas at 10 a.m., it was already 100. That’s a big temperature swing. Luckily, I packed a couple long sleeve shirts. The cool weather felt great. We were backed by N C Machinery for the Seattle race, and we visited their headquarters in Tukwila on Thursday afternoon. We had a meet and greet and signed autographs. From there, Don Linn, our main guy at N C, took us, including Pat Lavery from Caterpillar, to an awesome restaurant called Daniel’s on the water in Seattle. Being from Vegas, we’re used to good food, and Daniel’s was awesome. It was one of the best steakhouses I’ve been to. We had an awesome view of the boats and water planes. Up the coast is the boathouse where they filmed Sleepless in Seattle.

We’ve needed a new fashion tip, so this makes sense. PR Ted and I have a yearly Seattle tradition. Nordstrom’s anniversary sale begins the Friday of the Seattle race, so we were there bright and early on Friday morning. It’s the best sale ever. Nordy’s first store was in Seattle. I bought a few pairs of True Religion and William Rast jeans along with some shirts and shoes. True Religion has always been a favorite of mine, but Ted told me about William Rast. I really liked how they fit, so I got a pair. I guess William Rast is owned by Justin Timberlake, who hosted the ESPYs on ESPN last night. You can find stuff way cheaper than normal. The sale ends August 4, so hurry to Nordstrom.

The weather was great all weekend. We didn’t have any rain or wind, and it was perfect for NHRA racing. The fan turnout was great. I couldn’t believe the traffic on 18 driving into the track each morning. We got qualified a lot better, at fourth, which made us feel good coming off of Denver. When I saw the bracket on Saturday night, we noticed Tony and the Army team were on our side of the ladder. As a racer, you never want to look ahead. You have to win each round, but on Sunday morning all the fans were talking about us racing Tony in the semi’s. By the way, thanks to all the fans who brought me, the circus monkey, bananas. I know ESPN2 had fun with that. I guess we got a case of that old saying, beware of what your wish for. LOL We felt like we had a car to win the race. We had low e.t. of the second round at 3.924, and the darn dropped cylinder plagued us again in the semi’s. Rob Flynn assured me that they’re working hard to figure out this dropped cylinder issue. Hats off to the Army car for again winning. Those guys are pretty much flawless.

Tonight, Rob Flynn, and his son, Paul, PR Ted, and I are going to the Mariners/Red Sox game at Safeco Field. I’m not a fan of either team, but I’m a big sports and baseball fan. I’m excited to see the ballpark and a great team like the Sox. I’ve heard Safeco is one of the nicer ballparks.

Oh, I thought the Scelzi Sez segment on ESPN2 this weekend was really funny. I know I’m short, and I’m way OK with it. God didn’t bless me with height. I joke that I’m built for speed. LOL But, Gary, I don’t use phonebooks to see over the windshield, I use sand bags. I’m off to a CAT appearance at Halton CAT in Portland tomorrow and then on to Sonoma. We have a busy Wednesday with the press conference and charity dinner at Fior d’Italia on Wednesday evening.

Take care,

Rod