Our Memorial Day weekend was a fun, but a busy weekend. Melanie and I went to the speedway on Friday for Carb Day. We got out to the track about 10:30 so we could watch the final practice at 11. We met up with Chad Head and he took us out next to the pylon between pit road and the track during the final 30 minutes of practice. That was a pretty cool view as the cars where coming by a few feet away at over 220 mph and others where going by you coming down pit road. It wasn’t the straightaway speed I was impressed by, but watching them turn down into turn one without lifting that was neat. I had a chance to ride in the two-seat Indy Car last fall and that is what I liked the most about the ride. I didn’t think we where ever going to get to the corner, but man it is a pretty good ride when they turn it left. We weren’t even going that fast so I can only imagine what it feels like at 220-plus.

After that Melanie and I walked around the garage area and then ventured out into the mob of people to get something to eat. I was impressed with the amount of people there, but most of them where just there for the Kid Rock concert that afternoon and to party. After the Indy Pro race they had the pit crew competition out on pit road. We watched it from out on the track. That is about as close to drag racing as those guys get. They raced down pit road, changed four tires, and then raced to the finish line. After watching that for awhile nobody should complain about our oil downs. They took way too long in between pairs. It was pretty hot out Friday so we decided to walk around and head over to the turn two suites to visit some people.

On our way over to the suites we made a stop by the Oakley trailer and visited with our drag racing friends. After that we where walking by the Chevy display and I looked over to see Joe Costello from the XM radio show Powershift broadcasting live from Indy. Joe always comes to Gainesville every year and this year we got to hang out a little bit together in Gainesville. I gave Joe a wave as he was broadcasting and he waved Melanie and myself over. We jumped up on stage with him, put on headsets and joined their live broadcast. Nothing like a little airtime for drag racing by accident. After about 15 minutes on air with Joe we headed on out to the suites. We watched a little of the Kid Rock concert on the big screens at the track then got out of there so we could beat the traffic. We got home, took a shower and then headed downtown to the Omni hotel to do a meet and greet dinner for all of UST’s guest they had in town for the 500. I think we finally made it back home about 10 Friday night.

Our neighbors, the Knocks had got us tickets to go to the May Day concert on Saturday so we headed out to the concert about 2. They had some good bands at the concert, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Chris Cornell. It looked like rain all day but luckily it held off for the concert. It was another long day with us getting home around 11.

We got up Sunday morning to rain and I wasn’t in any hurry to get to the speedway and sit in rain. We where going to the races with the neighbors and we all decided to head down to the track about 11. Traffic wasn’t too bad and our neighbor Freddie had us a parking spot close to the speedway. Thanks to Freddie we had good seats to watch the race. We where true race fans on Sunday. We even sat through the rain delay with everyone. I couldn’t find the rain ponchos we had so I took a couple of trash bags instead. Good thing, we needed them a couple of times. It was fun to go with a group of friends to the race. It was our first time going to the 500 and it was a pretty good race. After we got home we had to change our wet clothes and then went over to the Knocks house for a cook out. I watched the Cup race then went to bed around midnight.

Needless to say we slept in on Monday. Then we worked around the house cleaning and playing with the dogs. They had been neglected for a few days so we did some catching up. On Tuesday I mowed and fertilized the yard getting it ready for us to be on the road a bunch in the next few weeks. Fertilizing it probably wasn’t a good idea, but it had weed killer in it.

I’m getting ready to go get the motorhome in a few minutes and bring it home to load. Our guys left this morning and we are heading for Topeka around 3 today. I can’t wait to get back to racing again. It almost seems like it has been our off season since we haven’t raced for so long. When I started getting things ready last night to go in the motorhome I could hardly remember what to pack. I’m sure I will forget a few things until we get back in the swing of it. So long for now and hopefully we’ll see a few of you in Topeka this weekend.

TJ