Since I started with Doug on the Western Swing I hadn’t gotten to ride in his plane until we went to Brainerd because he flies his plane to races that are closer to the east coast. Doug had me sit up front for a bit, which turned out to be a great time for us to go over work stuff. There were no phone calls, no text messages and nobody coming in to ask questions so no distractions. At one point he told me to take the wheel and let me drive the plane for a few minutes – that was really cool but I was about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Thursday the crew went out for a team dinner then Doug went with some of the guys to ride go-karts and a couple of us went to The Zoo. My first experience at the Zoo, ha! It was pretty wild, everybody had told me that it was really insane and it pretty much lived up to what everybody talked about.

The next morning I went with Doug at an interview at the PowerLoon radio station there in Brainerd. Those guys are great, they have a whole bunch of drivers come by each year and Doug was looking forward to it. They talked to Doug about Snap-on and BRAKES, the season and the win in Norwalk. It was really great – even though it was 7:20 in the morning!

Then we headed over to softball practice at a field right near the track. The guys were getting ready for the charity softball gave which was going to take place in Reading. It was a blast. Scelzi’s team, which Doug was on, was on one field and Antron Brown’s team was on the other. They were talking smack back and forth the whole time, yelling at each other across the fields. Of course it was all in good fun!

On Sunday I flew back with Doug and the crew guys left out from Brainerd to drive down to Reading. On Tuesday night here in Charlotte we went to the Summer Shootout Series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. One of Doug’s buddies, Greg Fornelli, was participating in a school bus race that’s held at Lowe’s each year. He painted the bus up for BRAKES and won the race!

We flew out for Reading on Thursday afternoon and headed to the softball game. It was raining but a ton of fans still came out which was awesome. The NHRA ended up calling the game but extended the autograph session and then had a question and answer session with the drivers for the fans. The folks with the NHRA are trying to reschedule the game for another race weekend so make sure you stay tuned for that.

Reading was cool because we had a whole lot of special guests at the track. One of Stacker’s buddies, Nick, brought a guy named Jim Femino to the track as our guest. Jim is a country music writer and producer and has worked with artists like Toby Keith. We took him down the starting line and he loved it. We also had some Cub Scouts come. Since Doug’s boys were in scouts and he’s an Eagle Scout himself, he likes making time for local Boy Scout troops. He sat around a table and talked to them then took them over and let them check out the dragster. A good buddy of Doug’s who he knows through Snap-on, Butch, also came out and brought like 25 steaks. He cooked for the crew and Brownie got a well-deserved night off!!

So this week the guys are back in the shop in N.C. after being on the road for about two months. I know they were all looking forward to actually being home for a few days. Doug has flown out to Utah for two days to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats for Speed Week. He’ll be back in town Saturday morning and we’ll be out at the new zMax Dragway here in Charlotte for Community Day, which is open to the public so if you’re in the area, make sure you stop by and howdy us. The guys will be working hard this week to get the car ready for Indy. We’re all geared up for the biggest race of the year; everybody is pumped and looking forward to it. If you’re in Indy, stop by the Snap-on trailer for a visit. I’ll check in again soon; until then, y’all keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down!