Hey, blog readers! LP here with you, sending out a big thanks to our buddy BB for the guest blog last week while we were out in Pomona. He and Andy did a great job on the commercial, and we are looking for a huge turnout at the Super Sale this Saturday. If you are in the area, make sure you come by and say hi. BB and I will be there talking PR stuff and Doug will be on hand, too. It should be a good day!

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for all their thoughts and prayers for Doug and his family. Please keep them coming! He and I have talked about him writing another blog for about a week now, but he has just been so busy with everything he hasn’t had the chance. I know all of you would rather be hearing this from him, but I will try my best to do him justice and catch you up on how and what he has been doing.

Let me go back to the weekend of the accident. Like Doug said in his incredibly heartfelt blog, he and Jon had made plans to go to Outback when he got back from testing. Doug still went to Outback, with lots of Jon’s classmates from SouthLake Christian Academy. These strong young adults are in the process of helping Doug put together a program to help promote safe driving for teenagers. They have been an outstanding source of strength for Doug, and we will keep you updated on the program as it moves forward. It will be called B.R.A.K.E.S. – Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe, and the website is www.putonthebrakes.com, already under construction by Jon’s classmates. As I type, they are in a meeting with Doug, gathering more information and planning the program. What a great group, and hats off to them for all they are doing – for their friend Jon, his little brother James, and every other teen who climbs behind the wheel of a car.

Doug has also been spending lots of time with Jessie. They paid a visit to Discovery Place in Charlotte, and took a group of girls (including Gabby and Olivia from the Hannah Montana blog!) over to the NASCAR Speedpark in Concord. Jessie misses her big brothers, and Doug has been doing everything he can to be her big brother and her Dad.

Before we knew it, the time had arrived to head to Pomona for the first race of the season. Doug always loves going to this race because it’s a kind of home track for him. He used to hang on the fence and watch the races there when he was a kid, so heading to Pomona was maybe a bit therapeutic. He had so many people ask him over the weekend how he was coping, and he would give the same answer every time: “This is what I do. I’m a racer. My boys loved to come to the drags, and this is where they would want me to be.”

On Friday, we had a special group pay a visit to our hospitality area. Tom Contino, a local Snap-on rep and Joy Linehan, a second grade teacher from The Heritage School in Phelan, Calif., brought her class over to pay a visit to Doug and the SnaponFranchise.com team. Joy is a bracket racer herself, and takes advantage of her racing knowledge to work all sorts of racing analogies into her curriculum. Now, I remember taking field trips when I was a kid, but it was usually to a fort or something. These kiddos got to spend the day at the drag races! How cool is that? They were great, asking Doug lots of good race car questions and standing in line to get his autograph. If you look closely at the photo, you will see they all had on a “For My Boys” Tour stick they had specially made. Thank you Tom and Joy, for letting us be a part of your special day, because you definitely made ours.

Later on that evening, Doug headed over to the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum for a “Night of Champions”, with several other current and retired drivers, hosted by none other than the one and only Bob Frey. The crowd was especially kind to Doug, and you could literally feel the strength emanating from them as they gave a standing ovation in honor of the boys. Doug went on to be his candid and amusing self and signed autographs for quite some time at the end of the event.

To paraphrase one of our conversations, Doug had a really good and a really hard weekend all at the same time. Being able to see his extended racing family was a blessing, and who wouldn’t understand needing to do what you love most even as your heart is breaking? He made it through like the amazing man he is, with a round win and a strong car to boot. Yes, every single one of us wanted to win, but it’s okay, because we know we will. Jon and James are going to help us make sure of it.

Until next time,

LP