Testing is complete and we are ready for the 2008 season. The Monster team wrapped up are test session this Thursday with a 1000-foot. 4.89 at 280 and called it good. The team is really starting to gel and I am excited with what I am seeing. We tried a lot of things in our testing and got a handle on all the changes that are in place for this new year in Funny Car. The added nitro percentage and extra 100 pounds changed the way the cars react and it took a few runs for Jimmy and the guys to get a handle on what it likes. I’ve become more comfortable in the new car and the guys have really streamlined their between run routines.

You can’t always judge a test session by the E.T.s on the scoreboards. Every team has a different agenda when you go testing. We never had any intent on running it the full 1320 to make our testing a success. You can tell by the numbers to 1000 feet what kind of runs you had in store without taking a chance on engine damage or worse on a full run. I witnessed a lot of blown-up parts and damaged race cars in testing and I’m happy to say we didn’t hurt a part. That will make the guys service and preparation for Pomona a little easier. We will roll into Pomona fully prepared to race.

Friday Melanie and I took a little leisure time to relax and catch up from testing for several days in a row. We have elected to stay out on the road until Pomona instead of going back to the cold weather in Indiana. We are camped out at the Firebird track until Monday before we head to Pomona. By the time we flew home and had to fly back out we would only have been home for two or three days so why bother. Besides I was able to get a couple of Super Bowl tickets to Sunday’s game. How often are you in the same town as the Superbowl so I thought I would like to go to the big game at least once in my lifetime. I don’t really care who wins the game this year, but I want to say at least I was at the Super Bowl once. I’m not sure who I will pull for Sunday, but I am leaning a little for New England so I can say I was there the day they won the game and had the perfect season. Besides I have a couple of fans who email me that are big New England fans and they were very gracious last year when the Colts won the big game so I am pulling for their team this year. All I hope is that it is a good game and not a blow out.

We went up to the stadium yesterday and walked through the NFL Experience to see what that was all about. The lines of people were out of control. I couldn’t believe how big of an event the whole Super Bowl weekend is. There have been parties and events going on all over the city all week. I think we might try and go downtown tonight to a couple of them and take in the whole experience. The NY Giants are staying across the street from the track and I think we are going to take the shuttle from their hotel to the game. After yesterday's traffic I think that will be the smart move.

The guys did most of their service work yesterday and are working a half day today before some much needed time off this weekend. They will come back out to the track on Monday and do some last-minute cleaning before heading to Pomona on Tuesday. Everybody has to take Sunday off to watch the game. I think it is almost a national holiday anymore. I’ve been cleaning in the motorhome this morning and getting things ready to go so we can leave first thing Monday. We are sitting right at the goal line about 32 rows up so I’ll wave to you if the camera pans our way. Hope everyone has a fun time at all their Superbowl parties.

Finally I want to say how sad I was to hear this week that my former crew member Doug Dragoo passed away. Doug was from Iowa and went to work for us when I started my Top Fuel career back in 1990. He and I spent several weeks together on the road from Pomona to Gainesville. He and I stayed on the road together, just the two of us. We didn’t have a big budget then so it was just he and I traveling from race to race and doing all the service ourselves. After Phoenix we went to Houston and stayed at a house the Gays owned. After we got all of our work done we would spend the day fishing on the lake behind the house. After Houston, Doug and I drove onto Florida and worked on the car at Big Daddy’s museum for a week or so. We had a lot of fun and those will be some times I will never forget. He was a guy that always had a smile on his face and will be missed by many in the pits.