Happy New Year to everyone!

In the off-season I've remained busy, most recently with a great opportunity presented to me by Jim and Denise Reed, the owners of Western Sydney International Dragway. In December, I was able to travel to Australia and experience the wonderful city of Sydney. The sites were amazing along with the people I had the pleasure to meet. I have to admit that through all my years of traveling I've never been in a country where they drive on the opposite side of the road and the wrong side of the car. It was hard to get used to but I got the job done.

You might recognize some of the people in my pictures. Wes Cerny, Gary, Adam, Dana, Jason along with folks from some of the Australia teams -- Jeff, Dennis, and Lucy -- and all the others that worked behind the scenes to make sure we had the pieces and parts to run a three-car team down there.

One of the cars was driven by Australia's own Top Fuel champion Phil Reed along with myself and Martin. After qualifying third we had to match-up against eventual winner Phil Reed in the second round. Mike Dunn did advance to the finals which kept it as a USA vs. Australia race and Phil got the win. Good job!

Another familiar face is my dear friend Andrew Cowin from Australia. It was great to see him and his wife Jenny and catch up on things.

Special thanks to the folks at Fram. The continued support they have shown has been overwhelming. Chris Stephens Jr. with Honeywell was able to attend the race along with some other business associates. I would like to thank Don Schumacher and all the folks at DSR for giving me the time and flexibility to take advantage of this offer.

We'll talk again soon.

Cory Mac