Well, it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the past couple of weeks but the swing is in the final stretch. These few weeks are grueling ones as I remain on the road for the entire duration, but there is a consolation prize; my family is on the west coast and I get to spend some quality time with them while I am here. Don’t get me wrong, I miss being home in Indy but making the best out of my travel situation makes it more bearable during this portion of the racing schedule. My daughter, Courtney, and I, have been having a blast!

We hit the batting cages, play miniature golf, do the “mall thing,” and, of course, go out for dinner to top it all off. Yeah, I long for a home-cooked meal after so much time on the road, but time with my kid makes it worth it! By the way, if you think you’re going to see pictures of me in the batting cage —you’re nuts! So after being hit by a few baseballs and having my tail kicked by my daughter in miniature golf, it’s getting to be that time again. Time to head to Northern California and do some drag racing!

There’s only one race bigger than this one for me during the season—Indy. Nothing is bigger than “The Big Go,” but this is my sponsor’s race so it is an important event for me and my crew. This is the one where everybody shows up, especially the people who write the checks! We always do some cool things during this event. One of my favorite things is when everybody gets together to race down the quarter-mile in street machines. It’s a great opportunity for people to experience staging a car and racing down the track. It’s fun for me because I get to be the official starter. I keep waiting for an extended staging duel so I can kick somebody out of competition! It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m hopeful. I remember one time when a particular lady driver was under the impression that everything would be done for her and that all she would have to do was hit the gas and go straight. No, she didn’t think that she would even have to apply the brakes at the end of the run. She was right, she didn’t have to do anything at all, the kitty litter was there to stop her...yada yada yada...this is gonna be fun!

The fun will continue with a Children’s Charity event that features drivers playing poker and the proceeds going to a good cause. Saturday is the big Fram dinner and it is always to see everybody who is involved with the racing operation gather together to have some fun and great food. I have to be careful though, the food is so good that the temptation to over-eat is there...remember, I have to squeeze into that car on Sunday! Have you ever tried to get into a top fuel dragster? That’s a chore all by itself, then it gets even more fun when working against gravity and trying to get out of it at the top end! Okay, the bottom line is that I have to watch it and not eat too much at the dinner. I hope they have that cheesecake again....

Hey, it was fun to be in the booth with Mike Dunn and Paul Page during eliminations on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather have been on the track going rounds but it was fun to be in the booth with those guys as a consolation. By the way, my hat goes off to Troy Buff in the Bill Miller dragster for stepping up with his best run in the first round. That was a tough race to lose. Not only did Troy make his best run, but the Fram dragster made its best run of the weekend as well. Troy made it to round three and I made it to the booth. No more of that!

So, on to Sonoma with hopes of hoisting a Wally. If you are going to be there, stop by the pit and say hello. If you won’t be there, see you on ESPN 2, in the fast lane—it’s the one we choose!