Hey everyone, a very exhausted Double-B here today after one of the busiest weeks in my life.

First off I want to apologize for not updating this blog since the 4th. I've got a good excuse as I was WFO 24/7 and you'll read about here in future blogs.

There's so much to tell you guys I'm going to spread it out the rest of the week and my goal is to post a blog every day to set a new record. Okay... Let's get started.

The week started out on Monday when our new crew chief Mike Kloeber flew into town, I picked him up at the airport and took him to the race shop in Blacksburg. He spent the rest of the day and all day Tuesday going over every inch of the car and we even started it up four times inside the shop, something any nitro junkie would love to experience.

Tuesday evening the car was race ready and we loaded it up in our show car trailer as Cousin Mike and I were taking it up to downtown Charlotte early Wednesday morning to display it at the NHRA press conference right in the center of town.

It was a pretty cool deal. All the Pro drivers who are in the Countdown to 1 were there and along with our new Rinnai car, Matt Smith had his bike there and so did Mr. Zilla with his Top Fueler. The city blocked off a street for us and we all pulled up, unloaded the cars and put them in the center open courtyard at the Wachovia Center. Now dig this, Charlotte is a big banking town, lots of tall office buildings and at lunch time literally thousands of folks were on the streets for lunch checking out the cars. To kick off the festivities Herbert fired up his car. The sound of the motor at idle reverberating off of the buildings was incredible. Then the nitro fumes started hitting the air and the crowd started stepping back. If you've ever taken a newbie to the drags you know what happened, everyone freaked out. What I dug was the sound echoing off of the office buildings, a lot more intense than the echoes at Bristol.

After the press conference was over we loaded the car back in the trailer and headed to the track where the team was in the process of setting up our pit. We had a hospitality spot for the Rinnai folks with a motorcoach and a big tent so there was a lot to do to get ready.

Thursday we spent the day at the track and the tech guys passed everything except our body which needed a new coat of fireproof paint so my good friend Capt Edzo, who flew up from Florida for the race, volunteered to do the messy job and we passed tech no problem.

Then Thursday evening we loaded up the car again in the show car trailer and hauled it six miles to our host hotel, the Homewood Suites by Hilton, for a meet and greet with Gilby and a good time was had by all. They had a drawing for a pair of tickets and passes to our hospitality area and they were really pleased with the turnout, I'd guess a few hundred fans showed up and free food, wine and beer made for a fun time.

Then we took the car back to the track and were done with our sponsor obligations and it was now time to race. We'll cover the rest of the weekend in tomorrow's blog but there's a couple of things I want to close with.

First off, I've been to over 200 dragstrips in my career and there is not a nicer drag strip in the world than zMax. Period. The photos don't do it justice, you have to see it in person to appreciate it. I told everyone that I was at the site on Valentine's day and there was nothing out there but dirt and just seven months later here we were at, as Bruton calls it the "Bellagio" of drag strips, and it lives up to the hype.

Last but not least, and remember where you heard it first, a good friend of Gilby's, NASCAR driver Mike Wallace will be making licensing runs in the Rinnai Funny Car next month. He spent a lot of time in our pit over the weekend checking out the car and getting fitted for the seat. He's serious about this and look for a TV show about the deal over the winter, I'll let you guys know when and where.

That's all for now, type at you tomorrow.

BB