It’s been a few days, so I thought I’d check in. In need to start with a few milestones that I forgot to mention last week. Chris Abbott, who does the bottom end on our Skoal Racing Funny Car, had to leave testing last Tuesday to fly to Florida for the birth of his daughter. We missed him at testing, but some things are more important that racing. So, congratulations to Chris. Also, Steve “Zelman” Zelem celebrated his 46th birthday last Saturday. So, a belated happy birthday to Zelman, the elder statesman of our team.



Last weekend we did some sightseeing around Indy with the Kiwis. We saw a lot of stuff that we wouldn’t normally see. We went to the top of the monument at Monument Circle downtown, visited the botanical gardens, and did other tourist-type things. On Monday, we gave them a tour of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Chad Head, of the IRL, took care of that for us.



Tuesday, we got up around 5 a.m. and hit the road at 6 a.m. to make the five-hour drive to Norwalk, Ohio for the press conference announcing the NHRA national event in 2007. I’m excited to go racing there. It’s a nice facility and the Bader family are a great bunch of folks. That should be a really big-time event. We finally got home around 6:30 Tuesday evening and I came right to the shop and worked until about 9:30. I needed to get things done since I missed the day.



I came back to the shop on Wednesday morning and went and fueled up the motor home and parked at the track, and then headed to the press conference at Monument Circle in downtown Indy. We did a live shot with Rich Nye of the local NBC affiliate. After getting filled in on the new Countdown to the Championship, I think it will bring some added excitement to our sport. It adds a fresh, new look and will keep everybody interested until the last round of the season at Pomona. I asked if they’ll institute that this season because it would help our Skoal Racing team. We’re the perfect example of a race team that will love this new system. After the presser, I stopped and picked up Mel’s birthday present on the way home. She turns 34 today. Make sure you all wish Melanie a happy birthday this weekend at Indy. I got her tickets for the Broadway show Wicked up in Chicago. I did a phoner with Ron Martin of Focus on Racing Radio on the way to the track and took care of some things at ORP. Last night, our families got into town, so we had a cookout at the house.



Today, I got up and went to the track and worked on coordinating tickets for the weekend. Soon, we’re all going to West Chase Golf Club for a team golf outing with Jody Deal from UST. It should be interesting, since Warrior has never played golf. I’m sure it will be fun though. I have a Lucas Oil party tonight at 6:30 p.m., so Kevin and Gretchen are helping me plan a surprise dinner for Mel at Los Rancheros afterwards. I stopped and picked up her birthday cake today, so I’m good to go.



I can’t wait until the race starts because I’m worn out from all the pre-race hoopla. Like Bob Frey says at 10:59 every Sunday morning, “Let’s go racing!”