Monday went by fast at work. I was originally scheduled to fly to Indy on Wednesday, however, the opportunity to do an autograph signing in downtown Indy with NHRA and Mac Tools, demanded a change of flight. Coming from the West Coast I was a little concerned of flight delays and cancellations from Hurricane Katrina. Flying through the northern route, everything was on schedule.

On race weekends we stay at the racetrack in place of a hotel. We found that it is easier from a traffic standpoint.

Wednesday I woke up and began work right away. I had to be downtown by 12:30 and I needed to have about four hours for work. I completed everything I had wanted to, just in time for Debbie to knock on the door and ask if I was ready to head into town. See, I told you she kept everyone on schedule.

Downtown was great. We pulled into the mall across the street and parked in the underground garage. Making our way over to the circle, NHRA and Mac had the area filled with transporters, racecars, and simulator games.

I immediately sat down with a stack of hero cards. “Aussie Dave” was on my right and Eric Medlen was on my left. I felt special to be placed between two fuelers.

After about an hour of signing autographs, we went and had a wonderful lunch on the 10th floor of the nearby private club. After that we walked around town for a while and took in the sights.



Back at the racetrack, the rain had passed and pairs were racing down the track. Like many of the other teams here, we had some new merchandise prepared for the weekend. When Debbie and I arrived at the transporter, we had our new shirts and the production run of our GEICO Motorcycle diecast bikes. That was pretty exciting.

I remember when NHRA and ESPN ran a compare and contrast episode with John Force and myself; we were excited because we had just brought out our first piece of merchandise, a t-shirt. Now we have six different styles of t-shirts and a diecast.

I’m pretty excited. I’m looking forward to a great weekend.

The U.S. Nationals has begun. I better get back to work. I will post again soon.