As I write this blog Melanie and I are driving down the road to Charlotte. I think all the racers can’t wait to see this new Bruton Smith facility first hand after we have heard so much about it and have a chance to compete this weekend in the backyard of so many NASCAR teams. Too bad they don’t have a weekend off to be able to attend, but the Nationwide Series does so I’m sure we will see many familiar faces walking the pits.

One question I get a lot at the races is what ever happened to my sister and her racing career. Wendy retired from racing as she was going to college earning a marketing and sales degree at the University of Northern Iowa. After school she moved to the Charlotte area and took a job with Action Performance working in the motorsports collectible world. She later moved on to Evernham and Roush Racing teams in the licensing and marketing departments. While she worked at Action she became good friends with Kelly Earnhardt, Dale Jr.’s sister. Wendy and Kelly had a good time on the weekends making scrapbooks. This went on for a while before they figured out that they wanted to open up their own scrapbooking supply business.

She has now been running the Scrap Shack in Mooresville, N.C., successfully now for several years. They even designed and manufacture their own line of motorsports scrapbook paper, stickers and supplies for making racing scrapbooks. If you are going to be coming to the race this weekend in Concord it is a short drive over to Mooresville where their store is located and stop in to check out their business. If you are into racing and need to make a scrapbook for someone they will have everything you need. Wendy made Melanie a scrapbook for her first Top Fuel win that turned out very cool. I don’t remember me getting one yet, but maybe she is waiting on me to win a championship. You can check out their website for directions and what all they have at the store at www.scrapshacknc.com

She is still involved in racing as her husband Mike Childers works for Penske Racing as a fabricator building the bodies on all the Penske Cup cars. She has a boy, Gage, now three, who loves racing. With Grandpa and his Uncle Tommy’s help he isn’t going to have much choice to love racing. They come to several races a year to watch Uncle Tommy and Aunt Melanie compete. Hopefully one day we can have a big family picture taken in the winners circle. Come to think of it this weekend would be a good time.

My parents also live in Mooresville now after spending most of their lives in Iowa. They would come visit my sister after she moved to N.C. and ended up liking the area. They were tired of the Iowa winters and move to the Charlotte area about eight or nine years ago. My dad moved his mail-order business to N.C. when they moved, but sold the business a few years ago and now is semi retired. He does some part time work with Safety Solutions selling the R3 and Hybrid head and neck restraints. He also has a new business that keeps him busy building and selling Wireless Alarm systems for your vehicles and trailers along with Wireless Winch Remotes for your trailer winch. You can check out his new business at www.tommyjohnsonjr.com/wireless

The whole family is looking forward to our newest race on the tour right in their back yard. My dad is even throwing a little party Wednesday night. He has met a bunch of the NASCAR world and is having a party to introduce some of them to the drag racing guys.

Having the race Indy last week I was really looking forward to being able to spend three weeks at home. Well needless to say Indy didn’t go the best so the team decided we needed to test before coming to Charlotte. On Tuesday after Indy I spent the day taking our motorhome to the shop and getting things done that didn’t get done during the busy Indy week. Then on Wednesday I left the house at five in the morning to drive to Martin, Mich., again. We had just been there a week earlier testing before the Indy race. We made four runs on Wednesday without the success we were looking for so they wanted to stay for one more day. I knew we were in trouble Thursday when I woke to pouring down rain. Thursday was a wash and the decision was made to stay until Friday. We got three more runs in on Friday but not what you would call a successful test session. We were plagued with numerous problems during testing so maybe we did well by getting them out of the way before the race.

We weren’t alone in Martin. In all there were seven teams there testing and four out of the seven were teams that didn’t qualify for Indy. The other three also had less than successful Indy’s so we were all there trying to get a handle on things. It hasn’t exactly been a stellar season for us so far, so hopefully we can salvage something in these final six races of the year.

I finally arrived back in Indy Friday night about 10. Melanie had to fly out Thursday afternoon to the grand opening of Roger Burgess new R2B2 dealership in Atlanta. I thought I would be home, but after having to stay in Martin we had to scramble to find someone to watch the dogs until I got home Friday night. All I can say is thanks Michelle.

Melanie got home Saturday night and we got to spend a nice relaxing evening watching a movie at our neighbors. I had worked all day on the motorhome getting it ready to head out on the road for the next three weeks. We are staying out on the road from the Charlotte race through the Memphis race. As much as I would like to come for a couple of days it just doesn’t make much sense driving that far out of the way.

I signed up for season tickets to the Colts last year, but I didn’t make the cut. I’m still on the waiting list and they don’t know when I will get them. You get a couple of perks while on the list though. If there are any extra tickets or some turned back in they email me at the last minute. I got an email while testing on Friday so I logged on and bought two tickets to the season opener in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. Melanie I had a great time and we got two seats on the 50-yard line in the front row of the middle deck. If I could have my choice for season tickets I would chose these. After the game I wasn’t so sure I was glad I was able to go. The Colts didn’t look so good Sunday night, but, man, the new stadium is nice. Charlotte and Forrest Lucas were on hand to deliver the game ball. I waved to them, but I don’t think they saw me.

We finished up running errands and got things loaded up yesterday. I helped Melanie finish some valve spring compressors last night so she could get them shipped out before we left. I went to bed about 11:30 since I knew I would be driving first. I don’t remember Melanie coming to bed, but it must have been late. She has been sleeping on the couch most of the morning while I was driving so she must have worked late getting stuff ready for shipping.

Hope to see a lot of you this weekend in Charlotte and if you have extra time stop by the Scrap Shack and visit with my sister.