After three weeks on the Western Swing, I finally got to spend some time at home. That off weekend between Sonoma and Brainerd, one of my favorite bands, Motley Crue, was playing at Mandalay Bay. I was really excited and went with one of my best buds Austin Goddard. It was a great concert. They had Papa Roach and Buckcherry playing with the Crue. We got to go in a back area. It was sort of like backstage, but not the real backstage. We got to meet the go-go dancers and talk to the roadies. It was an awesome time. I’ve never seen that many potential “the ones” in one spot in my life. There were so many beautiful women there, but I wasn’t talking because I think I really did find “the one,” she just doesn’t know it yet. She makes me feel like a giddy 13-year-old with my first crush. I’m excited!

My buddy Austin owns a local Mercedes-Benz service center in Vegas. They only work on and do warranty work on Mercedes. He wants me to help him build a Mercedes drag car, something like an E55. It would be fun to do something different like that. We’ll see after the season. That could be a fun winter project.

The rest of the weekend I spent cleaning. I went through each room of my house and really did a good “summer” cleaning since I didn’t clean in the springtime. I delivered a lot of stuff to Goodwill. I hope mama Fuller doesn’t read this blog. She hates when I give stuff away, like clothes, cause she thinks I waste too much money. LOL. The hardest part was parting with some of my drag racing memorabilia. I had so much stuff stored away. When I started racing Top Fuel a few years ago, I saved everything.

Then it was off to Brainerd and the infamous Zoo. The highlight of the Brainerd race was softball practice on Friday morning. I think a lot of people were surprised that I could run. I think we showed everyone that I could run. Antron had me move to the outfield so I could be more active. The coolest part for me was hitting the farthest ball of the day with Bob Vandergriff. Bob can really play ball and I still have some power left in me. The scrimmage against the Scelzi team was a lot of fun for us winning 22-2. We were glad they practiced more because you want to beat them, but you want a competitive game for the fans.

For the third straight race we lost to Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army team. All my friends and family and fans are getting on me about losing to them, but I don’t know what to tell them. We’re giving it all we have, but that car is unstoppable. We gave them a great race at Brainerd, but came up just short this time. We all want things to change, but it’s going to be hard to beat them. They’re hitting on all eight. They’re the best. Tony is driving great, Alan is the best tuner ever, and they have a great team. We all thought this 1,000-foot racing would benefit them and that has held true. We’re still the last car to beat them way back at Norwalk in June.

After Brainerd, I stayed on the road and flew into Philly and drove to Reading. I had an appearance at Ransome CAT on Wednesday and earlier in the week I just relaxed for a few days. I went to see The Dark Knight. What an awesome movie it is. I was blown away by Heath Ledger’s performance in it. The coolest part of the movie to me was his Lamborghini.

We got to spend Wednesday with the folks from Ransome CAT again. Ransome sort of got things started with us and Caterpillar, so we’re forever loyal and thankful to them. Ron Moser and Bree Rutherford really took good care of us. We got to drive some CAT equipment and had a good time. It’s always cool for our crew guys to get some time to enjoy some fun activities like that. At the end of the day, we started the car for all the Ransome employees.

The highlight of the Reading weekend was the softball game. Bob Vandergriff went all out and made these awesome jerseys for our two teams. We looked like major league players. We were all excited leaving the hotel and it starting raining when we drove to the field. Rain in Reading, what a surprise. LOL. We thought it would let up, but it didn’t. We felt bad for all the fans. There were a few thousand people there. So many people that we ran out of autograph cards. So, thanks to all the fans for showing in the weather and supporting us. We joked that Scelzi’s team was praying for rain. We hope NHRA reschedules the game because we want to play, help support DRAW and put on a show for the fans.

Now I’m back home in Arkansas doing some radio interviews before my big first pitch at the Arkansas Naturals game tonight at Arvest Field. My buddy Chad is playing chauffer driving me all around. He makes me feel like a big star when I come back home to AR. I’m excited about throwing the first pitch, I’ll do my best to get it over the plate. I hope everyone enjoys the off weekend. I fly into Indy next Wednesday.

Take care,

Hot Rod