Indy is finally over, so I guess it’s time to blog again. We’ll go back to last Thursday. We got rained out during our golf outing with Jody Deal from Skoal. We played seven holes and called it quits because of the rain. Only Zelman stayed and waited out the rain and finished his round. The rest of the team went to Brickers Pub in Brownsburg. Later on, I went to the annul Lucas Oil party at the Colts Pavilion with Larry Dixon, Snake and Skip Allum. Melanie met me there, and then followed me to her surprise party at Los Rancheros. She was semi-surprised, but we all had a good time. My sister, Wendy, snapped this picture of us at Mel’s b-day party.

We got up at 6:30 a.m. and left the house at 7 to do an in-studio interview with WIBC-AM 1070 in Indy. I stopped by the chiropractor on the way home. After, I swung by the car wash and went home for a little while to relax. I tried to take a nap, but they’re building a house next to ours and all I could hear was hammering and pounding. So, I headed out to the track around 11:30 a.m. I actually beat the guys out there. I wanted to get some things done before the Skoal Showdown press conference and we also had a meet and greet with some folks of Lincoln Welding. The Showdown presser was at 3:30 p.m. and then we waited to go racing. We made a good run on Friday night at 4.74 and that took some of the pressure off knowing that we were qualified. After qualifying, we went and hung out at my parent’s motor home and finally got home around 12:30 a.m. It was a long day.

I slept until about 7:30 until they starting beating hammers and building that home next to us. I was hoping to sleep in a little longer. We made a couple good runs on Saturday in both the sunny and night conditions. The 4.701 was nice on Saturday evening. We were shooting for another 4.60, but just missed and qualified third. We got out a little earlier on Saturday and swung by the neighbor’s house. They were having a party, so we wanted to be neighborly and say hi. We got home around 11 p.m. and went straight to bed.

I got to the track earlier on Sunday because we wanted to start the car earlier than normal because of the Skoal Showdown. Plus I had a fraternity from Purdue at the track and I wanted to show them around the pit. It was a pretty good day of racing for us. We didn’t get the win, but we gave John Force a great race in the Showdown final. It was nice to get the Skoal Racing car into the final round. Considering two years ago, we didn’t make the Showdown, the runner-up finish was nice for our car. As soon as qualifying was over, I went to the Mac Tools tent to sign autographs. Force and I were the first two drivers there and we probably had the busiest day. We left the track about 7:15 and went to Boulder Creek to meet Snake, Mike and some of the folks from UST for dinner. We went to bed early again. The U.S. Nationals is a long race; it really wears you out. Like PR Ted jokes, it’s the race that keeps on giving.

Yesterday, I headed to the track expecting a good, long day because we had such a strong car all weekend. We earned the Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge award and the team voted to let Warrior accept on behalf of our crew. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out like we had hoped. The car shook and spun the tires, something it didn’t do all weekend.

Gavin and Christine had their last night here in Indy before heading back to New Zealand, so they joined our family for dinner at the house. We grilled out and relaxed. We all got to bed around 11 a.m. My parents left the house around 8 a.m. and Wendy and her husband Mike left around 10:30 this morning. They both have long rides back home to North Carolina.

I’m not moving very fast today. I brought the motor home back to the shop from the track. Mel went to lunch with her mom and I went with my guys to Sal’s. Not too many of us are really motivated today. It’s a good thing this race isn’t any longer. I’m about to head off to the chiropractor. I hurt my neck in the first round of the Showdown, so I’m going to get a little relief, and I think I’m going to be lazy and mow the lawn tomorrow and just lay around the house. We’re off to Chicago on Thursday to watch the Wicked show and looking forward to an off weekend before the Reading and Dallas races.

One final thing. Thanks to our neighbor Freddy Bear for hooking PR Ted up with some great seats to the Steely Dan concert in Cincinnati last Tuesday. Remember, if you ever need good tickets to a concert or sporting event, check out www.ticketsupfrontusa.com