I actually have taken the long way to Indy. It’s Aug. 24 and we are here testing, along with many other race teams. Today is also the day that “Fast Jack” Beckman drives Whit’s Funny Car. Jack is a longtime friend from Southern California. I may have mentioned this before, but Larry Dixon, Jack Beckman, Steve Johnson, and Gary and myself were all racing buddies from the neighborhood.

Now that Larry is a multi-time NHRA champion, I can tell you that when he was younger, 15 and 16, he would always tell us that he was going to be a professional Top Fuel racer. We would all say, “Yeah, right, Larry”. Sure enough, he made and continues to make his dreams come true.

Well, I have to tell you that Memphis was pretty crazy. We had sweltering heat, lightning and thunderstorms, fires in the staging lanes, and kids swimming in the pits. Yup, swimming. Here is a picture. The rain created a large puddle in many pits, but also in the center of Nitro Alley. These kids didn’t need much coaxing to jump in and have fun.

With all the rain, we were still able to finish the race, albeit on Monday, but it’s in the books. We had changed motors Sunday night, and it proved to be a pretty good move. We were able to go a couple rounds. We lost to Antron in the semi’s.

Right before the Pro Stock car semi, the rain came. It was really just a mist, however, it delayed the round for about 45 minutes. I really felt good about the race. I knew Antron was running his normal stout numbers, but our bike was running good, too! When I left the starting line and did not see him next to me I thought we had a shot at the race. Then, the tire started to spin and the bike began to buck and pull. I watched Antron go by and lifted.

The good news is that we are doing better at tracks that in the past we had not done well at.

After that round, I had to make a quick exit because I did not reschedule my original flight. Call it “Murphy’s Law,” but I thought if I changed it on the presumption that I was going to go rounds; surely, I would not. I also had a conference call I had to be on.

Todd Veney from National DRAGSTER was kind enough to stop by after I lost, and talk about the race, however, I had to cut him short due to my GE meetings and flight. SORRY Todd!

I flew to Cleveland and arrived back at my hotel around 8 p.m. Working out of the Ohio office I had a great day at work on Tuesday and left in the evening for Indy. I pulled in last night around 10:30 p.m.

Oh yeah! It was also our anniversary yesterday, too! Nineteen years of marriage and here we are at the racetrack testing the bike and working in different states. That’s somewhat normal for us though. We will find time soon to celebrate.

Well, that’s it for now.