Thursday was a huge day for BRAKES since we had a charity golf tournament and a charity dinner and auction. Matt Ray was the captain of our golf team; his mom is Representative Karen Ray. My golf game was alright, I actually had a couple good shots. I can’t hit it that good but every once in awhile when I do actually hit the ball, I hit it pretty good. The guys in my foursome were good golfers so I was a little out of my league but it was still a lot of fun. Really the only time I get time to play golf is at these charity tournaments so I guess it’s just a great excuse to take off work for a day. We had a lot of supporters come out to help or play in the tournament. A bunch of my buddies and a bunch of my friends from the NHRA came out to play golf, which meant a lot to me. Speedway Children’s Charities really did an awesome job putting everything together that day. One of the coolest things was the check presentation with Windstream Communications. They’ve developed a partnership with BRAKES and presented us with a check after the golf tournament. There are so many people that want to help us move forward, a lot of people that believe in what we’re trying to do and it’s awesome to have so much support.

The charity dinner we had that night at the Speedway Club was incredible. We had some great auction items including the 1964 Cadillac Convertible that Marty the Party and LA Exoctic MotorCars donated. My buddy Roger Comstock from MTS ended up buying the car. The coolest part of the night was having all my friends up there to share stories about Jon and James. John Force, Dave Grubnic, Tony Schumacher, Gary Scelzi, Cory Mac, Gary Densham, Steve Johnson and Kenny Bernstein all got up there to talk about the boys. Each one of them had cool stories, personal stories about Jon and James. There were a lot of people at the dinner that knew the boys but these guys gave it a personal touch. I think several of them cried with me. I think it was hard for everyone there to not be emotional. It meant a lot to me that these guys got up there and discussed their personal stories, and let everybody know what great boys Jon and James were and that they believe in what we’re trying to accomplish with BRAKES.

So then it was finally time to race. It was a huge weekend for the team being the inaugural event at the new zMax Dragway and racing in our hometown for the first time. It was an emotional weekend for me. I had a lot of friends out there which was great but I felt guilty because I didn’t have time to spend time with everyone that was out there. Having Jessie there was so special, we had a lot of fun. The track is beautiful and I love racing there, at home. On Saturday Connie Kalitta and Kalitta Motorsports presented me with a check for a $50,000 donation to BRAKES from half the proceeds they made from Scott Kalitta merchandise. When I think about all the donations made to BRAKES last weekend, it’s awesome. With all of the support we’ve received we’re going to be able to accomplish so much and save some kids lives. Thanks to everyone.

It’s awesome to be in the Countdown to 1 and be one of the top-10, that’s special. We qualified decent, fifth. On Sunday it felt really good to go a round but it was disappointing to lose in the second round. I go to every race and plan on winning but it was just a really tough and very emotional weekend. One thing that was so special to me was having the BRAKES wrap on the car with my boys’ pictures on it. That Monday morning when I walked into the shop and saw that car sitting there for the first time, it took me to my knees. It made me cry, especially once I started really thinking about the reason we were running that car. I hope it brought awareness to BRAKES and what we’re trying to do. The reason behind all of it is Jon and James; they cared a lot about other kids and other people. BRAKES is their legacy and I hope that everything we’re doing in their memory will help make a difference in other kids and parents lives.