Hi, everyone

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with my blog here on nhra.com. The 2010 season has been pretty busy and working on the farm back in Christiansburg, Va., has also taken up a lot of my time. But I have no complaints.

Coming off of our first win in Houston, the DieHard Dodge Funny Car team had a lot of momentum going and it was really cool to watch Tommy DeLago and John Medlen work together since March.

Route 66 Raceway was so hot out there on Sunday that when a rain storm came in it really evened the playing field for everybody. It was really a one-lane race track up until it rained, so the Safety Safari had to go back up and glue it and drag it and they really made it an even playing field. Well, the weather came around where it cooled the track down and the air temperature was just right, and we were able to go out there in the semifinals against Ashley (Force Hood) and set the national elapsed-time record and then back it up against Robert Hight to win the race.

It was just a great weekend for us. The DieHard people, who are based in Chicago, were there, so it was huge to be able to win that race for them. On Monday, I took the Wally to their offices, and it felt great to hand it over to them. And, with Don Schumacher being based out of Chicago with Schumacher Electric, it was big. A very, very exciting weekend.

Now after that second win, we're rolling with the season and trying to make the Countdown. We’re still kind of pluggin’ away at it. We’re qualifying well and we’re getting points for qualifying. The DieHard guys are doing such a great job getting the car ready to go and making sure it goes up to the starting line with everything good to go.
 
Right now we’ve been really busy on the farm. It's hay-baling season and we put up 778 round rolls. That’s what the counter said the other night when I got off the tractor, and we’re only halfway through, as far as how much hay that we have to put up. We’re trying to work back home as hard as we can around the weather and I’m just trying to spend some time at home with the family. That usually consists of about 30 or 40 minutes at night time before I go to bed just to see the kids real quick and get back up and into the fields the next morning. Then I fly to the next NHRA event and get ready to go racing. So, it’s been a pretty busy last couple of months.

My wife Rachel and the kids came to the Bristol race, because it’s only about a two-hour drive away. So, it was great for me to have them spend the weekend with us. I know they enjoyed it. We got to spend some quality time with my sister-in-law who has a home on Boone Lake in Johnson City. We tubed and even jet-skiied and my dad David rented a Greyhound bus to bring a busload of friends to the race for the weekend. It was a lot of fun.

As of this week, John Medlen has moved over as crew chief of the NAPA team and will still continue to help us when he can. The NAPA team has had its ups and downs like we have. I think that Don Schumacher saw an opportunity, since we’re doing well and we’ll continue to do well, to put another set of eyes over there on the NAPA team. It can’t hurt anything.

The biggest thing is that we don’t want to lose any of the momentum and what we’ve kind of gained and learned from John. He’s going to still be here next door, so I’m still very confident that our pace and the things that we’re doing are not going to change. It’s just a matter of keeping the ball rolling.

I can’t say enough about Tommy DeLago. Tommy’s a good guy. He’s grown a lot as a crew chief and he's becoming a seasoned crew chief. He and I sat down at the beginning of the year and he said, 'Hey, kid, we’re going to grow together. I’m new at this, you’re new at this.' So, it’s not Tommy’s first rodeo, but it’s the first time that we’ve been able to grow as a team and come together. I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Tommy that he’ll keep this deal going, and the car qualifying well and running well.

Hi, everyone

Well, it's been a couple of weeks and a few races since our win in Houston and we are starting to get into that hot-weather part of the season. I know we have a great cool tune-up and we are still looking for that hot one.

We stayed over in Vegas to test some new things on the DieHard race car. We ended up making six laps and learned a lot of new things. So, we went to St. Louis with an open mind and a new bag of tricks. And, although it did not go in our favor, it does not mean that they are not going to work. A lot of these things take time and lots of runs to figure out. And I know Tommy and John are smart and when you have brain power like theirs it's just a matter of time.

We stayed second In points after the St. Louis race and I have all the confidence In the world that we are going to stay up there, but, to tell you the truth, it does not  really matter as long as you stay in the top 10, because it starts all over in a few races and then it really counts. So, for now, it's just bragging rights.

On another note, the guys from DieHard, George Kurkowski and Pete Flemming, were in St. Louis and I got to meet their families. They're really wonderful people. I had a great time and it's always great to see those guys get out to some of the races. We had a terrific dinner on Saturday  night and were able to meet with some of the marketing folks and do some brain storming. I am really excited to see what these DieHard folks are able to come up with. I am sure it will be great. 

I haven't gotten to tell you much about the farm and home life but everything is running smoothly. The kids are healthy and getting bigger and my wife Rachel is running around chasing them all the time. We have the next weekend off so I am looking forward to spending some time with them. 

As far as the farm goes, it couldn't be any better. The grass is green and the cows are through having babies and everything is healthy. We are just finishing up fertilizing the hay fields and soon we will be laying down some hay. I haven't quite figured out how to work the hay season with our new race schedule this year, but we will get the hay up one way or another. 

So, that's it for me. I will see you in Atlanta.
 

(Auto Imagery photos)

Hi, everyone

Well, we finally got our first big win in Baytown. We started off the weekend struggling a bit. On our first lap of qualifying we put a hole out at about 200 feet and the car did not run strong. So we came back and thought we had an easy fix for the next round. We went up there and it rattled the tires and the 'chute came out on the run so after that I was thinking that this is going to be a rough weekend.

The next day we put the DieHard car in the No. 5 spot and were able to keep lane choice for the first round of eliminations. What a difference a day makes. I knew that would be very important because when the sun comes out on this track it can get really tricky. But Tommy (DeLago) and John (Medlen) worked their magic and we got that first round win.

That was a huge move for us because everyone that was ahead of us in points went out first round. After that, we ended up in the finals and, let me tell you, I was very excited to get a another chance to take that trophy home. I kept telling myself it's just another lap, but when it comes down to it, you know in the back of your mind it's not.

Everyone has worked so hard to get to this point and you're telling yourself, Let's go out there and win this thing. And that's exactly what we did. We turned the win light on. That was one of the greatest moments in my life when it all came together. The next was getting to celebrate it with all the guys and my teammates. 

I was so proud of all the guys. They have worked so hard and it finally all paid off. I was really glad to get my first win for DieHard. Hopefully we can bring more wins in. It's still really early in the season so I look for a lot of great things in the future for this DieHard team. 

Another great group of guys is Jeff Arend and his team. They are a real class act and straight-up racers. There's no games played up there on the starting line. It's a 'let's just line them up and see what you got' attitude and that's really cool because I feel like we race the same way. So, congrats to those guys and I am sure we will see them in the finals against us again soon.

Well, I can't wait to get home and share this win with my wife Rachel and kids Colby and Penny Louise and family. We will see you all out there soon.
 

Hi, everyone!

Well, it's been a great start to the season, and we have a really fast race car. We have set the track record just about everywhere we have been and we still hold the national speed record at 316 mph. So far, we are tied for fifth place, so, all in all, it's been good. We still have to put four solid runs together on Sunday, and I need to have some killer lights to start winning some races. I know it is not to far off; I can almost feel it.

We have recently added a new crew chief to the race team. He is John Medlen, and I think he is going to bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the program. Tommy and John seem to be working great together, and Tommy has proven that he can make a car haul. So, it will be cool to see what John can bring to the table.

On another note: At Gainesville we had a chance to meet with the folks from DieHard. All the guys from there are great and really easy to work with. I am really looking forward to spending some more time with them, and I am really glad that they are activating the sponsorship. I look for a lot of good things to happen here with them.

What was great when we were in Gainesville was we got to flex our muscles a bit because we pulled down the No. 1 spot while the DieHard folks were there, so that was really cool.

Someone else that I want to acknowledge is Tony Schumacher because he has been helping me with some driving tips, and, even though we are in a different class, we still stage these cars the same and leave the line the same. So, he has been working with me on some of that. When a seven-time world champ offers up some advice you listen, and so far it has helped. Maybe he can teach me how to win some races. Just joking; that is something that is going to happen with teamwork and persistence, and, trust me, it will happen!

ESPN is headed to the farm this morning, and I guess I will get a chance to get those guys muddy like I have to get when working on the farm. I hope they have some fun. We don't want to do anything too crazy, so we can get them to the race in one piece.

The Four-Wide Nats are this weekend, and I am not real excited about it, but I will not go into all of that. We have to race that format and someone has to win, so it might as well be us!

I will see you all out there. Have fun and be safe!