I'm at the Seattle airport (in the World/Sky/Crown Room place) and only have a few minutes before I board my flight for home, but not only do I want to get a little blog written and some photos posted, I'm also suspecting that a lot of you are waiting to see that Team Wilk blog "update" thing change to today.

I've probably got enough material to write two or three more blogs this week, so I'm not going to try to cram it all in here, and I don't have time anyway, but I think I can give you the gist of it and maybe just a little taste of what Sunday was like.

First of all, they say you need one lucky round, or one break, to win a race. Usually, that's very true, but this time we did it the hard way. Four huge rounds, four enormous opponents, four side-by-side laps, and four win lights. The last one was the best. LOL...

I'd like to say that I had "the feeling" when we got out there on Sunday morning, but I'd be deceiving you in a couple of ways. First of all, the fact we had Robert Hight in the first round had all of us simply focused on that. Yes, we are all watching points right now, and Robert has closed the gap to be right outside the top 10, while our last two races had left us "exposed" to the teams behind us, who all closed the gap on us. Basically, we came into Seattle with a very uncomfortable cushion for the Countdown. I saw the qualifying show on Saturday, and Mike Dunn was talking about how the teams from 8th to 12th were all so close the last few spots in the Countdown were really up for grabs, and my initial reaction to that was "Mike, look at us in 7th. We're in that group, too..."

When you out-qualify Robert's team, but get them first, all you're hoping for is to get out of round one, and you know you're going to have to be nearly perfect to do that. THAT was about as nervous as I can be before a first round... We went through all the routines, got everything ready, Rich and Jeff walked the track, and Tim got very focused. It seemed to take forever until driver introductions, and then it seemed to take forever for us to race. Fortunately, Tim picked the first pair as our slot (his favorite slot, and mine too) so at least we weren't stuck up there in the lanes for the whole round, which only missed lasting "forever" by a technicality. It was a MARATHON of a session, but we got to go first and get it over with.

Beating Robert was huge. From that point forward, you know you're playing with house money and it's all gravy, but the most encouraging thing was that we stepped up and ran not only our best lap of the weekend, but also set low e.t. and top speed of the day on that run. Talk about hitting a bomb of a home run; we didn't just get the win light but let everyone else know we had what it took. It was a 4.18 at 297, and the "feeling" was starting to grow.

Now keep in mind, the "feeling" isn't exclusive to days you win the race. I get the "feeling" a lot, and just as I'm beginning to think it might be our day, things go against us. So it's not a perfect predictor, but it's fun to look back at the end of the night and remember the inkling you had, the slightest tickle of excitement, way earlier in the day, and then recall how it all played out just like you hoped.

We had to beat Mike Neff next, and we did. We had to beat Ron Capps next to at least get past the semifinals (we'd been to five this year and lost all five), and we did. That semifinals win is the first real emotional one, because up until then you're simply having a better and better day, but when you win the semifinals, you know you're going to the final round. That's the first real celebration, but you have to get right back to work...

Working out of my temporary office over at Tasca's, I was doing my best to keep the world updated as we won rounds, via Twitter, Facebook, our website, and every other means of communications. Unfortunately, my printer is in the hospitality support trailer, as are the dry erase boards we always keep updated in the pit, so I took it upon myself to simply tape the latest updated ladder sheet to the transporter door, just so everyone could see who we had next and all the other details.

I don't think any of us were really nervous for the final. It's more of a contained excitement, and real HOPE, more than anything else. You've gotten that far, and you know losing is just as real a possibility as winning, but you're just hoping to see the right result at the end...

Let me tell you, it was so hard to watch those two cars go down the track side-by-side. All day, it had been "winning by inches" and we never got a break, never got a freebie. Even in the four seconds it takes for the race to happen, you can have a million thoughts and hopes go through your head, and in my case I still had to concentrate on keeping the camera steady.

The win lights in Seattle are not easy to see, and all day we'd been talking about how hard it was to tell who won each round, but you couldn't miss them in the final. We all went nuts. Nuts, I tell ya! It was bedlam of the best kind, with lots of hugs and massive high-fives, not to mention enough yelling and screaming to make anyone hoarse.

That was fun. Going down to get Tim was fun. Going back to the winner's circle was fun. Meeting with the media was fun. It was ALL fun, and it feels like the weight of the world is off your shoulders. You're not floating on air, but it sure feels different than what you've been feeling all day, and man it feels good.

Tim told the guys to just put the car away and button everything up, and then we'd go out to dinner, so I dashed over to Tasca's to write my post-event story. And hey, major thanks again to the whole Tasca team for letting me camp out over there. They were tearing down and stowing their stuff for much of the afternoon, but they always left room for me and my stuff up in the lounge, and that allowed me to not only work, but work in peace, and that really helps.

Once everything was done, Dave and I were the "dinner scouts," and we left first to find a restaurant. We scored by finding a nice Black Angus Steakhouse about 15 minutes from the track, so we pointed everyone in our direction and by the time the whole team was there the manager had arranged a whole back room for us.

Then, by the time we were about done with dinner, the ESPN2 show had progressed to the final round, so we all went out to the bar area to watch. The earlier topic of humorous conversation was the Twilight Zone possibility that we'd watch the race on TV and watch ourselves lose! LOL… That would shatter the illusion that the world has order and consistency, wouldn't it! Fortunately, we won on TV just like we did at the track, just a few hours earlier... It was all good.

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Rich and Jeff walk the track on Sunday morning

 

Now, time to get this fired off and then get on my plane and go home. Barb and her mom are in Pittsburgh for a big Doyle family reunion to celebrate the high school graduation of her nephew Colin, and she won't get home until tomorrow, but I'm sure Boofus and Buster will be happy to see me. And, if you live in the eastern time zone you know how late the final round finally played on TV, but the whole Doyle clan stayed up and watched. Barb only told them we'd made it to the final, but kept the outcome a secret, so they all went suitably bonkers when we got the trophy. Thanks to all of you guys, too. And to my siblings, who all reached out last night or this morning.

My brother-in-law Lonnie, down in Sarasota, actually gets the prize for "First Relative To Contact Me" after the race. Thanks, Lon. And yes, I will give you 100 percent of the credit for the win since you had the foresight to get up on Sunday and wear your Wilkerson T-shirt all day. Way to go, Lon!!!

Thanks everyone. More later this week. Can't wait to get home now...

Wilber, out!