So, I was sitting at the hotel last night in lovely Las Vegas after a very busy Wednesday when I thought to myself…I said, “Self, we have a ton of things going on at Kalitta Motorsports this weekend in Sin City, I should be able to have ample fodder for some good bloggin’.” Then, another epiphany hit me like a pair of sevens at the Blackjack table, and, again, talking to myself…I said, “Self, there’s probably enough material to do a Wilber-esque blog per day from Vegas!” So, with apologies to my buddy Bob and my other fellow bloggers, I have officially, yet temporarily, renamed our blog to V-LOG for the next few days. I’m sure you realize what the “V” stands for. I did give a few seconds of thought to renaming our little journal, SLOG, with the “S” representing “Sin City”, but SLOG just doesn’t give me a peaceful, easy feeling (apologies to Don Henley and Glenn Frey (No relation to Bob…I think?)). So, V-LOG it is!

All that nonsense aside, hi blog fans! Good to see you again! Welcome to V-LOG I. It kinda sounds like a secret, military satellite project, doesn’t it? Okay, I’m rambling again. Sorry.

As I am sure you all read on this very fine website, we at Kalitta Motorsports have quite a bustle of interesting and exciting happenings going this weekend. The festivities kicked off to a great start yesterday at Nellis Air Force base. For those of you that don’t know, Nellis sits about a stone's throw from The Strip at LVMS. Some of the coolest military aircraft in the world take off and land, much to this blogger’s delight I must add, from Nellis around the clock. Scott Kalitta and Hillary Will from Team Kalitta had the honor of making an appearance with their DHL and Support Our Troops and Families race cars respectively on the base yesterday along with Jack Beckman and his MTS Funny Car.

There was a great turn out for the event and Scott even fired up his 7,000-horspower machine for the crowd that had gathered around to get a healthy dose of nitro fumes. When the smoke cleared and the earth rumbling stopped, Gordon Steffens, DHL Performance’s director of business development, presented a $1,000 check to the VFW Military Assistance Program, which helps families of military personnel send care packages to their loved ones in the armed forces during the Holiday season.

Afterwards, we were all given a very special treat, one that I am still grinning about. We were taken on a tour of the world-famous USAF Thunderbirds hangar that resides on the grounds there at Nellis. SSGT Kristi Machado, who is an aerial photographer for the elite flight demonstration team, gave us the nickel (well; it was worth several hundred nickels to me) tour of the museum and the hangar. As luck would have it, while we were there the government stork had just delivered a new baby to the team. A new F-16 Block 52 had just been rolled into the hangar in front of a gigantic U.S. flag. The Thunderbird team members that were with us in the hangar were giddier than our tour group over their newest addition. It was quite a sight to behold, I must confess. We then go to take a peak outside and see all of the Thunderbirds aircraft lined up on the tarmac. That was really, REALLY cool. Thanks to SSGT Machado (that’s her posing with Scott) again for taking time from her schedule and giving us all something to start future stories with “Remember that time we saw the Thunderbirds …”

Now, some of you, and you know who you are, have probably jumped ahead of me and looked at the photo of the fine specimen of an automobile that is in the last photo. I’m not taking anything away from the fine folks at Chrysler or the PT Cruiser, because it does ride and drive pretty good, but the unique hue that decorates this particular PT has already become the stuff of legends within our organization. Let me set the background for you, if I may. When I, Ben Marshall, (Team Kalitta’s sponsor relations manager), and Scott arrived at McCarran Int’l Airport yesterday, we were in a bit, or a jot, if you will, of a hurry. Scott needed to be at Nellis ASAP for the appearance and we were a smidge, or a skosh, if you will, behind. We grabbed our luggage as quickly as we could and rushed off to the Rental Car Center each glancing at our watch every few seconds.

Since Ben and I are staying on the road through Pomona, one of the requirements of our temporary transportation mode was that it must have California tags. The polite gentleman from Dollar Rent-A-Car pointed out the parameters of cars we could pick from and reminded us about the licensing limitation. There were only a few left to pick from anyway, but only one, to our dismay, had the required state branding. Several colorful expletives about the shade of yellow that this particular vehicle possesses were bantered about, but we begrudgingly knew that this was our only option.

Within moments of departure, Scott decided he would entertain us all with his rendition of Yellow Submarine (many apologies to John Lennon and Paul McCartney!). We all laughed…really hard…and made quick tracks to Nellis. After the display, we took off together again for the hotel. We decided that yellow was just not enough adjective for this particular unit. After some discussion about infantile feces and some other unmentionable talking points, we came upon a new name for our fine ride. Therefore, let it be known that sometime around 5:00 in the afternoon yesterday, we christened our four-wheeled friend…

Buttercup.

In the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I hafta say ‘bout that.”

See you tomorrow for V-LOG II! Todd has left the building.