I left Ohio Wednesday evening and flew into Jacksonville, Fla. Debbie met me at the airport and we drove to South Georgia Motorsports Park for a final test session before the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle season starts.

Arriving at 11:30 at night Debbie and still had about a two-hour drive to arrive at the track. I usually keep in touch with Gary when I am traveling, so he knows if any of my flights were changed or delayed for any reason. Wednesday’s flights were slightly late, but not enough for me to miss any connections. When I called Gary he asked if I would be able to do a radio spot for the South Georgia Motorsports Park on Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. “Sure, as long as they provide the coffee after a couple hours of sleep,” I said.

Debbie and I met up with the team about 2:30 that morning after having a delay trying to exit the parking lot at the Jacksonville Airport. We weren’t exactly sure what the problem was, but at 12:30 a.m., it took us 40 minutes to get through the pay toll from the parking lot. (I think they can use some Lean Six Sigma in their process.)

A couple hours of sleep and a large cup of robust coffee and I was on my way to the radio station with Top Fuel competitor Bruce Litton.

I’ve done radio interviews before, but never at the radio station. In the past they were all done via cell phone.

We ended up doing two interviews and then headed back to the racetrack, arriving somewhere around 9 a.m. The timing was perfect and allowed me to get back in time for my GE meetings that were scheduled. We didn’t make our first test pass until late afternoon, so I was able to have a productive day on both fronts.

Just to update you on what this particular test session is about; South Georgia Motorsports Park owner Shad Dean provides a great opportunity for both the drivers and the fans. He invites the pros from IHRA, NHRA, and other associations to come test and prepare for their upcoming events and season openers. Then he has a Chicago-style race on Saturday for the fans to come and watch as well as meet the drivers. This is now the second year we have participated in this test session and it really is a great plan. Not to mention it’s very close to what the conditions will be like in Gainesville.

I have also been busy working on the Speed Dawg apparel design. Chris, the owner of Speed Dawg apparel approached me with the idea of a Karen Stoffer signature line for 2007. He asked for my input and thoughts, and after many days of scrapped ideas, I realized that I am not the expert in style. I thought that it would be easy to come up with a couple of shirt styles, colors and designs, however, I found out that I it is not, so, I have relinquished all design ideas and layouts to the professionals. Speed Dawg has a great line and great logo and Chris has proven that he knows what the fans like, so I’m sticking with his ideas. The new line will not be available in Gainesville, but I will keep you posted on when it will come out.