(Gasp)…Howdy…(gasp)…blog…(gasp)…fans! Yeah, so, I’m being a tad overdramatic about the lack of oxygen up here at beautiful Bandimere Speedway, but for a sea-level dweller, it can be a bit of a shock to the senses and, more importantly, the lungs!

As you faithful Team Kalitta blog readers know, our team has been fortunate enough in the past couple of years to get to know Kevin “Tater” McCarthy, currently a touring sound engineer for the rock band Linkin Park (the kids love ‘em!). Those often pesky travel gods gave me and Ben Marshall a slight reprieve Thursday when we landed in the Mile-High city. Tater called and said, “Hey, I’m in Colorado Springs checking out some new gear for the band. Why don’t you boys drive down and join us for lunch?” The rental car was south bound and down! (I could make a cheap Smokey and the Bandit/Coors reference here, but, nah!)

After the hour jaunt down I-25, we met up with Tater and two other men that he works with on the Linkin Park tour at a place called Audio Analysts. Paul and Pooch were there with Tater testing out some brand new audio equipment for the tour. The boys were there for a few days making sure everything was up to snuff with their new toys because the LP Projekt Revolution Tour in the U.S. starts in just a couple weeks. We all went out to grab a quick bite to eat and do some rockin’ vs. racin’ b-sing over some burgers. If the travel gods are gracious enough to accommodate us again after the race in Sonoma, this will be a pre-blog of sorts for what Ben and I (and possibly a devoted LP fan that drives that other “Big Red” TF car) hope to be a revolutionary rockin’ good time at the concert in Mountain View, Calif. Stay tuned! Tater, Pooch, and Paul came out to the track Friday to hang out with us and they had a great time. It was Paul’s first drag race and I’m pretty sure he’s hooked!

While we’re still rockin’, we had a chance this morning at Bandimere to meet up with another good friend from ours, Willie B., from KBPI, the station that does indeed Rock the Rockies! They were just getting here setting up a live remote in front of our pit area when Ben and I grabbed Grubby and went to chat it up with Willie and the guys and gals from KBPI. Willie is a gearhead, so it’s always cool to hang out with him and talk racin’. Grubby went on-air for an impromptu interview and to “waffle on”, as he likes to say, about the Zantrex-3 car and team. Thanks to Willie for being his normal cool self and allowing us to get the Aussie on the airwaves!



That’s all for now. I’m out of breath! (not really, just for literary effect)

See ya at the drags!

Todd has left the building.