It’s 7 a.m. on Monday and I am heading back home to the West Coast. Our first event of 2006 is now history, and for the GEICO Motorcycle team, it went okay, but certainly not as I had hoped. The .003 red light in the second round was a letdown. I truly wanted to go rounds for the team. They’ve put so much time and emotion into my healing, and me that I feel I owe it to them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always driven to go rounds, and win, but this first event back was special to me.

We qualified sixth, and it was the first pass on Saturday that positioned us there. I have to say it was a fun pass. Angelle and I ran each other, and we both had identical 7.063 elapsed times. It’s always fun racing, but when you have close good passes, it makes it that much better. Gary said the crowd liked it also. We again lined up against each other for the second pass on Saturday. Angelle ran a 7.11 to my slower 7.12. Again, it was a good pass, except for the red-lights that we both received. Funny, now that I wrote that, it was about the same time of day that the semifinal was run on Sunday where both opponents red-lighted (identically). Hmmm.

I had many fans inquire about my hand and the strength of it, after the race. Just to set the record straight, it was not the weakness of my hand that caused the red-light; it was just me. Counting, I think there were six red-lights in the Pro Stock Motorcycle eliminations on Sunday. Not sure if I am exact on the count; I am pulling it from memory.

Well, with the first race behind us, it’s back to GE for 10 days and then off to Houston. I’m scheduled to do a couple of interviews and a press conference next week. With that, and work, I’ll be pretty busy. Also there will be a short interview on NHRA 2day this coming Sunday, focused primarily on my accident. Oh yes, and thanks to all the fans at Gainesville who stopped by and wished me well. You’re awesome!

On that note, I will sign off and blog again soon.