We loaded up last week and headed to Englishtown. Me, Angie, Tristan (my little boy) and my two crew guys hit the road in the motorhome. I am used to traveling in tight quarters, but sometimes I want to pull my hair out. It is definitely a special, but unique experience.

We got to Englishtown, unloaded and set up for the weekend’s event. I have tons of memories from that track. I hit the wall there in 2005 and crushed my foot. I was sidelined the rest of the year, which was extremely tough. I have never had to sit out and watch everyone else race. It was a very emotional time for me. I did what I had to do though and came back the next year and won my very first NHRA race there. I did it on Father’s Day with my dad there and my little boy there. It was awesome! So needless to say I have had my ups and downs at that track.

When we went there this year I was looking for new good memories and I guess you could say we left with some. We ran well there right out of the box. We qualified number three and were running great times all weekend. We had Pippin first round, Treble second round, and Chip third round. I had awesome lights and awesome track numbers the first two rounds. I had a great light in the semifinals as well, but since I lost lane choice I got stuck in the right lane and it was crap. It was so much slower than the left lane, so as you all already know I lost that round and so did everyone else in that lane for that matter.

Even though we were running well and not having many problems with our Buell that weekend, our minds were definitely elsewhere. When Scott Kalitta’s accident happened I was shellshocked. Just when you thought things were getting better safety wise the unthinkable happened. I can’t express enough sympathy for the entire Kalitta organization. I pray every night for his wife and his two little boys. He was an incredible guy and a great racer. He will truly be missed!!!

We made it through a very emotional weekend just as everyone else did and headed to Norwalk for the next race. We hope to gain more ground there. I qualified No. 1 there last year, but lost in the finals. I still hold the track record there, so hopefully we can keep it and maybe win the race this time around as well.

As for an update on Dad, he is recovering well from shoulder surgery. He has wasted no time and has already gotten back in the racecar. He ran last weekend at Mooresville in the Quick 8 Series and qualified No. 1. He won first round and then the rain came and ended the race. He was flying though. He has been testing a lot here lately during his few months off from racing in Bahrain. It gets so hot over there in the Summer time that they only race in the Spring and the Fall, so he has a few months before he has to go back over there again. In the mean time, he is racing as much as he can here in the states. He will run Farmington this weekend in the Quick 8 Series again and then the Fourth of July weekend at the Shelor Motor Mile in Virginia in the ADRL Series. So if you guys are in either one of those towns you should go check him out.

Well, I gotta get back to it. We are getting ready for the first qualifying session today in Norwalk. See you all soon!