Hi Blog fans,

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated. Luckily my PR lady extraordinaire Lisa Powers does a wonderful job of keeping the blog updated.

Let’s see where do I start?

We went to Reading with “only a mathematical shot” at getting in the Countdown to the Championship (as reported by all the media). We ended up running great winning the race and getting in the Countdown. The week following was nothing less than crazy. All of a sudden all of the people that didn’t know me last week wanted to interview me about winning the race and making the countdown.

The interview that was the most fun was my visit to Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. He’s a great guy and I cannot believe how much knowledge he has about all of motorsports. That was a fun show, and we had a great time watching the video of the Reading win and seeing my buddy Marty do his little dance on the starting line after our win light came on. We decided to name that the Marty Shuffle!

After the Reading victory the entire Snap-on team really got a huge shot of confidence and we started preparing for Indy. We actually had one of the most consistent cars at Indy, making it down the track with respectful runs during every qualifying session. In the first round my little buddy Fuller, still stinging from us spanking him at Reading, pulled out a great run and sent us home early. I hated it, but one thing that did was make my team mad. We are determined to have a strong car that will win races and get us into the Countdown to One, and even though we lost first round we moved up a spot in the Countdown so it wasn’t all bad.

The one thing that I did not like about Indy (other than losing first round) was that my sister Heather got married on Saturday to her longtime boyfriend Mike and I missed the wedding. I did send them a wedding gift; actually a couple of them. They got a complete set of Ralph Lauren bedding and a trip for two to the Jeff Gordon or Mario Andretti racing schools as well as an invitation to come visit my place, “The Herbert Hilton” at beautiful Lake Norman, N.C., at any time. They are a great couple. I love them and I wish them eternal happiness.

This week has been fun too. My friends Bill and Karen Gillissie came to visit from California. I took them to my favorite places to eat and have had a great time doing some visiting with them. Bill owns a company in Southern California Called Mister T shirt, and has helped me over the years with some of my screen printing stuff. Karen works for Jay Payne, the Top Alcohol champ, at his trucking company. They are both a bunch of fun and great people. Last night we had a pool tournament and Bill whipped me, so I am going to do some practicing so I will be ready for him next time!

Today we had the opportunity to visit the GIANT Snap-on Tools distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss., just a few miles away from the Memphis race track. This warehouse actually supplies a majority of the Snap-on franchises across the country by shipping thousands of tool orders out each day to Snap-on tool customers all over the country. The operations manager, Dwayne Napper, put together a great employee appreciation day for the hundreds of employees. The entire Snap-on race team was able to take a complete tour of the facility and then enjoy lunch with all of the great workers at the warehouse that actually get the tools into the customers hands. After lunch we fired up the dragster and gave ebveryone a chance to smell some nitro! I still love the look on a person’s face the first time they hear a Top Fuel engine run, especially when I hit the throttle! I am sure that at least a dozen people jumped a foot or more off the ground, it was great!

Now its time to get ready for Memphis; we need another win!

Doug