GilbyManiacs rejoice! At 2:10 p.m. Wednesday afternoon at zMax Dragway, the "GilbyMonster" himself hopped into the cockpit of the Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Monte Carlo nitro Funny Car and did what he does best, burn rubber. He's been out of the car for almost a year, and it's the longest he's gone without driving a nitro Funny Car in over 10 years.

As you know if you're a regular here, it's been a long, tough year for Bob, and today was a great therapy for the guy. Due to the economy, Gilby had to park the team, and to get back on track this year was a culmination of a lot of hard work by a whole bunch of people. Please bear with me for a few paragraphs as I take this forum to thank them all.

First off, I've got to mention the core group behind the scenes: Gilby's nephew Chris and our graphics guy/photographer Rich Singer. Between them, they put together what it took to convince Rinnai to return as our marketing partner again this year. Without their effort, we wouldn't be out here again.

Gilby's son Rob... The guy does whatever it takes to get the job done. If I could only get him to answer his phone.

Our car chief Kevin Fenstermaker (yes that's his real last name.) He's been with Gilby since the beginning and knows every part of our race car, knows where everything is in the trailer, and is the best mechanic I know, the dude can fix anything. We were roommates for two years, and I consider him a good friend.

Our returning crew: Nick Morrow, Dan Gieselman, and JepTrammell. Nick has been working at the race shop at Blacksburg for the past two months helping Kevin prepare while Dan and Jep both joined us today to help out. Dan came down from nearby Mooresville, N.C., while Jep drove down from Akron, Ohio, to be a part of the action.

Paul Smith, John "Bodie" Smith, Mike Hennessey, and Randy "Super Cuz" Carmichel. Paul was Gilby's crew chief way back in 2000 when they won the Houston race for Bob's only NHRA win. All of them were part of that crew except "Cuz," who worked for Gilby in 2004, so it was kinda like "old home week" around here.

So anyway we made two laps, both planned 330' runs and everything went a-okay. They're going to make two more today, one to the eighth and one 1,000' pass if everything goes according to plan. I'll fill you guys in on the results on Monday when I return from Kansas City.

Last but not least, the ole mailbox was full of entries for our stupid contest, and we have a winner, who I'll announce in Monday’s blog.

Type at you next week.

BB