Atlanta was great, but it would have been a little better if we had gone one more round, but that’s racing!

It all started out on Friday, dad ended up driving down to help me out before going to race at Coastal Plain Dragway in his Pro Mod car. We ran great numbers on Friday. We were the quickest bike in both sessions, including being the first bike to make a six second pass in Atlanta. We were elated. We ended up No. 1 Friday night and we liked our chances of staying there throughout the weekend.

Dad drove back home Friday night after qualifying was over and hit the road running Saturday morning headed to Jacksonville, N.C., to his race, so we had to work a little harder that day. We went into Saturday’s morning session knowing it was going to be about the same as the Friday night session. The conditions just as good, so we knew we had to be on top of our game. Angelle ran in front of me during qualifying on Saturday, so I watched her take the No. 1 spot from me. I knew we could take it back if we ran a good 60-foot time, but we ended up spinning the tire a bit and ended up second. We set low elapse time in the last qualifying session as well, so even though we were not on the pole, we liked our chances on raceday.

Dad made it back Sunday morning, along with my mom, and Amanda’s son, Rex. One of my sisters was already there, but my other one flew in that morning from her race, and, of course my son, Tristan, was there as well. I think it was the first time that literally my entire family was at a race all together, which makes things much more exciting.

Dad ended up winning his Pro Mod race and set a new track record during the process, so I guess it was a good thing he went. He ran a 4.023 in the finals to take the win and set the new record. He is leading the points in the Quick 8 Pro Modified Association Series, so I was hoping he brought some of his luck back to Atlanta Sunday morning.

We had to face off against Chris Rivas first round, which is always tough. We ended up as the last pair of bikes to run first round; therefore I got to watch Angelle, the No. 1 qualifier go red. After watching her go red and knowing that I had gone red the last time out in Houston, I held the clutch a little tighter than normal. I definitely did not want to go red, so I ended up being a little late, but my bike made it up by half track and we ended up setting low elapse time for the first round.

Pumped up and ready for second round I knew I had to be great on the tree against Antron. Antron ended up going red, but I cut a great light and ran such a good number that I actually beat him to the finish line anyways.

Even though we ran a good number, we were expecting to go faster than we did, so we had to evaluate everything when we got back to the trailer. We ended up finding that we had cracked the crank in our motor. However, after finding it we realized that we did not have enough time to change motors before the semis. We told ourselves that if we made it to the finals than we would change motors then.

I had to run my former teammate Chip Ellis in the semi’s, so we ended up betting a dollar before we ran. I knew he was good on the tree and had a fast bike, so I was just praying that the motor held together and I could nail the tree. We ended up getting the holeshot win and we were off to our second final of the year.

At the top end of the racetrack we were told we had 30 minutes to get back to the starting line. I tried telling them we have to change motors, but they said 30 minutes. We had no choice to just go with what we had. I was so frustrated, but I was hoping maybe we had some luck on our side. But evidently we did not. As soon as I let the clutch go, the crank broke. I didn’t even move a foot. Man, was I mad. I feel like we had the bike to beat, that’s what is so frustrating. Karen is great though; she had a good bike all day. But mark my words; I am going to catch that lizard.

We have worked real hard the last few days at the shop tearing down the motor and getting it put back together. Charlie Buck from Buck Racing engines has helped us, Sonny Leonard, S&S, I can’t even name them all, but without them it would not have been possible to get it back together and I can’t thank them enough.

We are headed to St. Louis with our heads held high and looking to win. We have got a hell of a bike and we want to keep on proving that this weekend.