A lot has happened since the Dallas race. On Sunday we all watched second round when John Force had his bad crash and shortly afterwards we all knew something had to be done to make the Funny Car safer for everyone. I want to wish John all the best, and he and I now have something in common. I shattered my ankle when I was a kid and had it pinned and screwed back together. It will take him awhile to get back to 100 percent, but he’ll be fine. I’ll get to what’s going on with the car later, but first off I’ll fill you in on what went down in Dallas.

I did get to go bowling when it wasn’t raining. Actually we went twice. Mel and I met up with my guys on Wednesday night to do a little bowling. I didn’t do very well. Not that I ever do, but it had been awhile. Mel and I goofed off Thursday and then went bowling with my guys and Worsham’s team that night. I did even worse until I quit using my own ball and started to use a house ball. So much for having your own equipment.

We struggled in qualifying and was lucky to make it in on Saturday. If you don’t get in on the Friday night run nowadays you are really in trouble. We made a good run on the first session Saturday and got in the 15th spot. We made a good run first round and got past Jeff Arend. We lost a close one to Tony second round and I needed to run a lot better to beat Tony with a .033 light. It was his day and he was definitely on that day.

We headed towards home Sunday night and finally got home Monday evening. Tuesday was spent catching up since we had been on the road for two weeks. I got up early Wednesday morning and drove to the Monaco service center in northern Indiana. I got back into town just in time to attend a little victory celebration for Larry and his guys after their win in Dallas. Now to what is going on with the chassis.

Our car went to Murf McKinney’s shop on Thursday to get fitted for some updates. Luckily I have a great owner and crew chief that really want to make sure the cars are as safe as possible for me. Mike, Neal and Gabe from our team went to Murf’s on Friday to work with Murf and crew to get the updates done as quick as possible. I drove up Friday afternoon to make sure I still fit okay with all the changes and give them a driver's point of view on the new bars in the cockpit. Murf and engineers have done a lot of computer modeling to ensure we have strengthened the cockpit area and protect the driver's legs. They are doing a great job to ensure we make these cars as safe as we can for all the drivers.

I got home Friday night and Melanie and I went to Brownsburg for dinner in a cute little restaurant Melanie likes. I think we must have been tired because we came home and didn’t take long to get into bed. Our Tivo blew up while we were gone so I bought a new one and hooked it up while Mel was sleeping already. If not for Tivo we wouldn’t see very much TV as much as we are gone. Saturday we worked around the house and then went out to dinner with Chad and Michelle. We went to a little restaurant in downtown Speedway. It might have been the best filet I have ever had. On Sunday I went down to the shop for awhile to decal the new Impala body that just came back from the paint shop. That would be Impala number four for the year. I got a few done before some of my guys met me at the shop and we loaded up and headed to the Colts game. Chris Abbott on my team is from Denver so we had a good time harassing him at the game as the Colts beat up on Denver.

I spent most of the day Monday at the shop finishing the decal job. Melanie met me at the shop about three and we took off to go get the motorhome. We had the dogs in the back of the mini and took the scenic drive to northern Indiana and Amish country. While we were gone the guys showed back up at the shop with the car and all the new updates. By the time we dropped off the motorhome at the shop we got home about 10:30 last night. I flipped on the Monday night football game and crashed out. I went to the shop this morning so I could see all the updates done. My guys have worked really hard on the car getting everything to fit. We’ve had to make a lot of changes to everything because if you change one little thing it affects a lot of other things. We had to make changes to the dash in the car, brake lever and a bunch of other changes that I’ve lost track of. I made a trip to Impact Safety to get some padding made to go around some of the new bars in the car. Jimmy at Impact does a great job for me because I usually go to him and need something ASAP.

I worked on getting a few things done on the motorhome today too. I changed the generator oil and checked all the tire pressures. I’m tired of replacing lights on our tow dolly all the time so I bought LED lights and replaced all of them today, too. Hopefully they will last a little longer. We are heading out to Richmond tomorrow afternoon and should be there first thing Thursday. I’m getting fitted for a new Hybrid head and neck restraint on Thursday. My dad has been working with them and I want to try one. Whatever it takes to make sure I have everything to make it not only a fun ride, but also a safe one. Hopefully we’ll have a safe race in Richmond and we’ll have Force back with us soon.

It was also a sad note this week when we lost Wally Parks. He was a great visionary for our sport and is probably the sole reason so many of us get to drag race for a living. Every time I saw him at a race I would say hello and he always amazed me that he would break into conversation about how I had been doing. Not just in general, but in great detail about how our season was going or what had been happening with our team. I think he kept track of what was going on with every team out there because I wasn’t the only person that was amazed by that.

One last thing, I promise. I’ve got to wish my buddy Aaron Rowand good luck this week. He plays centerfield on the Phillies and he and I have become good friends. I met him at the ESPYs last year and we have kept in touch ever since. We text back and forth each week and last Thursday I sent him a text and told him to go out and win the NL East title last weekend. He and the Phillies did just that (sorry Mets fans). When we were in Gainesville this year, on Thursday I drove down to Clearwater to attend Phillies spring training. I had a great time doing batting practice and catching balls in the outfield with those guys. I’ve followed them all season and hopefully for a few more weeks. Aaron and a few of his baseball buddies are coming to the Vegas race to hang out with us, that is if the don’t go to the World Series. If they do, I might just have to fly out for a game or two with him instead. See you in Richmond. I’ll have my Phillies hat on.