Yes, I am fully aware it has been some time since I did a blog update. I even contemplated about not doing the blog anymore. I’ve been doing the blog on NHRA.com now for over two years and I have a little burnout factor plus I wonder if people still care about what is going on with us. That is until I go to a race and have people come up and tell me to keep up the blog, they love it. At Indy I had a ton of people come up and say they love the blog, and keep it going, (no kidding probably close to 100 people over the weekend told me that.) It’s that kind of support that I decided I had better do an update and keep things going. So here goes with a little of what has been going on. I won’t be able to pick up from were I left off because there isn’t enough space on the website server for that big of an update.

Indy is such a big event in so many ways. From how many people attend to the history and prestige. It also is filled with so many things going on that you don’t do at any other race throughout the year. On Tuesday of the week we had a dinner at our shop for about 30 USST employees that were in town for business meetings that week. It was a great for me and the guys to get to spend a little time with them in a relaxed atmosphere. We are always so busy at the track we don’t get much time to talk. It was also nice to give them tours of the shop and let them see what we do while we are not at the track.

That night I also presented my guys with a plaque of the cover of National DRAGSTER when we won the race in Englishtown. Chevy had given Mike Green and me one for the win on how great of an example that day was as teamwork. I wanted the guys to have one because they were the biggest part of the team that day rebuilding the car from the ground up between rounds. We haven’t had the year we had hoped for, but even through it all they have been a great team.

I did several interviews through the week, plus the press conference downtown that kept me busy. My grandma had some heart problems on Tuesday. My parents drove up to Indy on Tuesday so I bought my mom a plane ticket Tuesday evening and took her to the airport early Wednesday morning so she could fly back to Iowa to be with her mom. Thankfully my sister and brother in law were in Iowa visiting my grandparents so they took care of everyone until my mom was able to arrive. She is doing better now and is back home recuperating.

On Thursday Melanie I did the party scene. We attended the Lucas Oil function first at the Colts training facility. Then we left there to attend a Mac Tools function in downtown Indy. After that we headed back out to Brownsburg to attend the Torco Race Fuels party at the Mike Ashley team house. It was a busy night and we weren’t able to attend them all very long, but we made the best of it. By Friday I was ready to get to racing.

Friday was Melanie’s birthday so I started my day by making her breakfast in bed and then giving her some presents. Bob Frey made fun of me for getting my wife a portable hard drive for her computer, but, hey, I would have rather got her something she can use and needed instead of something she didn’t really want. I was a romantic, too, I bought her some flowers and a bracelet she wanted to remember Spike who passed away last fall. I wasn’t all practical and boring.

Race weekend at Indy didn’t go quite as planned for our team. We had several problems throughout the weekend and after Sunday afternoon we found ourselves on the outside looking in. The only highlight we had was beating John Force in the first round of the Skoal Showdown. At least we got a little revenge for the final round loss to him in last year’s showdown.

On Friday Melanie and Mike Ashley’s team made the announcement that she will be competing in Funny Car next season. That should be interesting with the both of us racing each other next year. I would have preferred to be in separate classes, but it really isn’t that big of a deal. She will just be another competitor in the other lane when we pair up. I think everyone else try’s to make a bigger deal out it than we do.

My sister, her husband Mike, and my nephew Gage made it back to Indy on Saturday so on Monday I got to spend some unexpected time with them. Gage and I cheered on Aunt Melanie as she made it to the semi's. He is two and a half now so he is starting to figure out this whole racing deal. After we where all done Monday we took Aunt Melanie out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. Mel, her mom, my dad, Wendy, Mike, Gage and I went to Los Rancheros to have a little Mexican.

My family all left Tuesday and Mel’s mom flew home on Wednesday so after all the company and activities the week before it came back to normal this week. It is amazing how worn out the Indy week can make you. We have taken it pretty easy this week trying to catch up so we are ready for Memphis and Dallas.

On Wednesday I thought I would check TicketMaster to see if there where any last minute tickets to the Colts game released. To my amazement I got two great seats. Mel and I went to the game on Thursday and had a great evening. Looks like the Colts are going to be tough again this year.

Last night my parents stopped by on their way back to North Carolina from Iowa. Melanie and I made Mexican food (can you tell what are family's favorite food is) and watched the Busch race on TV. They took off this morning headed for home and Melanie and I are hanging out at home. We are going to get a few little projects around the house done and maybe go to the mall. We’ve been so busy this summer that we aren’t even sure what to do when we get some time off at home. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

It’s off to Memphis this week. I’ve had some good success there so let’s hope we can get our team turned around. I’ve won in both Top Fuel and Funny Car there so it has a special place in my heart. Let’s just hope that since they changed the date this year that it is a little cooler. Hopefully I can write a blog about how big of a comeback we made from our Indy DNQ to get a win in Memphis. It would be great for Mel and I to double up before the year is over and she switches to Funny Car.