What a difference a race can make. After Indy I was pretty bummed out and really didn’t think much about racing. It worked out well for me because by the time Memphis rolled around I was ready to go again. I’ve always done well in Memphis so I was looking forward to having a weekend where things go right for a change.

Memphis is only seven hours from Indy so we didn’t leave for there until Thursday morning. I just had the motorhome waxed at Indy and it looked good. That is until twenty miles north of the track in Memphis when it poured down rain. So much for the clean motorhome. It was wet all the way to the track so after we parked I wiped it down and it ended up looking pretty good. We went to Beale Street on Thursday night and met up with a friend of mine who was in town on business for dinner. We didn’t stay too late and take in any of the nightlife down on Beale Street, but I saw a lot of the crew guys having a good time.

Qualifying went a lot better for us this race. We decided that since we aren’t in the Countdown we might as well try some things for next season. So far so good as the cars performance is coming around. We ran an .86 on Friday night session and at the time of the run I didn’t think it was that good but by the end of the session we were fifth. The weather took a turn for the better on Saturday and on the second session a lot of cars improved. I think our .86 was already in the bottom half of the field by the time we ran. The car ran great, 4.81 and we broke up the Force team strangle hold of the top three spots.

On race day we didn’t run as well, but were in the right place at the right time. We smoked the tires all three runs at about the same spot on the track and I was able to outpedal the opponent first and second round. We made major changes to the car each round but it kept coming loose just after some bumps on the track. It really didn’t matter to our team how we got the win just that our win light was coming on. There haven’t been enough of them this year so we’ll take them any way we can get them.

Melanie on the other hand had a great weekend. She made four great runs in qualifying and then put together a great race day. I was sitting behind her waiting to run in the semis. After she left all I saw was tire smoke, but I did see her win light come on so I knew the pressure was on me now to see if we could get to the final with her. It didn’t work out this time, but I did go up and root her on in the final. I was really happy for her and her team to get the win Sunday after all the things they have been through this year. After the finals I met up with her in the winner's circle to congratulate her and gave her and the team a bottle of champagne I had been saving in my lounge for a special occasion. It got put to good use as I think everyone got a little sprayed on them.

Afterwards we met up with her team for a celebration dinner Sunday night. We slept in a little Monday morning and then went over to the rigs. We are staying out on the road this trip and going straight to Dallas instead of going back home. A bunch of people were testing Monday. Mostly the cars in the countdown but not everyone. After Bazemore got done making some runs he and I went for a bike ride. I hadn’t ridden much this summer so he took it easy on me. It felt pretty good to get back on my bike. I’m not sure how far we rode because I haven’t used my bike in so long that my odometers battery is dead. I would guess somewhere between 20 to 30 miles. Last night we hung out in the motorhome with the dogs and didn’t do a lot. Melanie took a nap on the couch while I watched Monday Night Football. We got up this morning and hit the road to Dallas. I’m sitting on the couch writing the blog while the dogs are playing keep away from each other and pestering me. We’ll be at the track in a few hours and plan on spending another night hanging out watching a movie and a little TV. We’ve got our bowling balls with us so I’m trying to talk Mel into going bowling tonight in Ennis. I’ve bowled there to many times while it was raining and couldn’t race so I would like to go once when the sun is out.

With only four races left to go this year we’d like to get that double up win before Mel moves to Funny Car. Next year if we both make it to the finals it might not be as much fun for one of us.