I'm not exactly sure when this blog will get posted, even though I'm writing it on Tuesday afternoon. The reason for that is the fact most of the NHRA.com staff are traveling today, and are no doubt as tired and worn-out as the rest of us, so all I can do is write it and send it in. When they have a chance, I'm sure one of my colleagues will actually post this, but we all need a little rest, and some sleep.

Barbara and I flew back home last night, enjoying one of those rare moments where we were actually traveling together, and finally walked in the door to a couple of purring boys just before midnight. This morning, I think I could've slept until this afternoon. Indy will do that to you. Instead, I allowed myself the reward of sleeping in an hour or so before dragging myself out of bed, and now I will admit to having "messed around" as much today as I've been seriously working. Truth is, though, that the work never stops so you can't avoid it completely. That's the thing with having a job that "happens" on weekends. The rest of the work still has to happen during the week, even if it's your first day home from the Indy marathon.

Anyway, I'm not going to waste time talking too much about our disappointment on Monday, after we dropped a cylinder and lost in the first round. It was our first truly uncompetitive lap in a long time. Probably since Denver, I guess. If there's good news, it's that we're headed to the playoffs and if we get hot now, our timing will be just fine.

We were all frustrated, and a bit angry, I think. But, because we work for Team Wilkerson and we take our cues from the guy at the top, it didn't take long for all of us to file it away, put it behind us, and start to look forward to Charlotte. It's easy enough to look forward to Charlotte, just because the track is so amazing and the fans are unreal, but with the Countdown starting and the playoffs upon us, it has even more buzz going for it. Speaking of buzz, I think I'll just ramble on with some Indy reflections...

We were back in the pit and already beginning to tear down the circus when the FC semifinals ran. Most of us heard about the drama at the top end secondhand, from those who did go out to watch or saw it on the big screen, because at the time we were more focused on folding up tables and chairs than watching what was going on out there on the track. It didn't take long, however, for word to begin to filter in about all that went on, and before long we felt like we were pretty up- to-speed on everything.

Since Team Wilkerson is not involved, and we really have no horse in this race, I don't have anything to say in any official way, about what went down, what happened after that, and all the yapping that was going on. Therefore, anything you read here is simply my opinion (for whatever that could possibly be worth) and is not meant to be reflective of any official TWR views.

My opinion: Buzz is good. In the PR world, the old saying is "The only bad news is no news" and it's hard to argue with the absolute fact that people are talking about us. Good or bad, right or wrong, our sport was the fodder for water cooler conversations this morning, and considering the people involved all have legions of fans, who are extremely loyal, just makes it all more feverish. That's not a bad thing. Just ask NASCAR. Just ask Vikings fans and Packers fans. Or ask Yankees fans and Red Sox fans. While you're at it, pick up the phone and ask any sports fan whose team has a bitter rival. Controversies, disputes, and rivalries can be deep-seated, and they can be heated, but they also inject real passion and life into a sport. I have good friends who live in Vancouver and support the Canucks, but I'm happy to admit that most of Minnesota gets pretty amped up when our Wild beat those guys. When the White Sox come to town, there's nothing better than to turn their traditional "Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey... Goodbye" song around on them and send them home defeated. It's the difference between simply appreciating a sporting event for what it is, versus getting deeply and emotionally invested in the outcome. And that difference is huge...

Now, the only caveat is this: The buzz has to be generated by something real. This isn't wrestling, and you can't fake a rivalry by acting out a script that has good guys and bad guys. First of all, most of our drivers aren't very good actors. Secondly, the public may not all belong to MENSA, but they're generally smart enough to spot a phony uproar (well, at least the part of the public that doesn't watch wrestling...) This was real. It was emotional, and it was strongly and vividly played out by players who meant what they said, said what they meant, and weren't willing to back down.

Let the buzz continue. Let the participants use the open forum to express their thoughts, or even trade barbs. There will be a time when the people involved will have to face each other, side by side with a lot on the line, and you can't tell me that moment won't be bigger, badder, more intense, and far more interesting, because of all this.

Plus, if they all want to get distracted by the name-calling and the rivalry, that's fine by us. We'll just go about our work and try to win rounds... Go at it boys!

Other Indy reflections...

You should have seen Tim, cooking up some bacon for breakfast BLT's, wearing an ever-so-stylish apron with the word "Mom" stitched on the front. He pulled it off nicely, and the bacon was great...

Fun to see the real live honest-to-goodness Goodyear blimp at the track! You know you're somewhere important, somewhere on the real sports radar screen, when the Goodyear blimp is gliding overhead.

With all the improvements made at O'Reilly Raceway Park, the joint looks better than ever, and far more befitting of its status as a special race. For too many years, it was simply the history of the U.S. Nationals that had to carry the banner of importance. Now, more and more, the track itself is beginning to fit the role as well. I'd be happy to introduce any potential new sponsor to our sport at O'Reilly Raceway Park now, but I couldn't say that about the place a few years ago.

And since NHRA has invested so heavily to make ORP a special place, it's time for the folks at Verizon, AT&T, and the other wireless carriers to step up, as well. Our signal there was so bad, for both phones and internet air cards, I was nearing a certain level of insanity a few times. After moving around our pit area for nearly an hour on Saturday, trying to find a spot where I could even upload my work, Annette finally fashioned an "old school" way for me to boost my signal. LOL... Check it out in the gallery...

It was neat to watch Jim Greenleaf, from Summit Racing Equipment, work with the ESPN2 guys to find good spots for their logo in terms of the in-car cameras we carried for them. At one point, they brought in a small monitor and turned on the cameras, moving small decals around to see how they'd look on-screen before they stuck them on. We were honored to do it for Summit, and would be willing to do it again, anytime they want to make it happen.

How about the weather... It was a dodgy challenge all weekend, but it looked the bleakest as we nodded off to sleep on Sunday night. I clicked around to a couple of different local Indy weather people, and their predictions for race day ranged from depressing to bleak. In the end, the rain stayed away and Monday ended up being a fine day. This is also why you don't jump right in and believe the forecasters when they tell you the next day will be beautiful. I think about the best you can do, as a weather forecaster, is to take the old George Carlin approach, in his classic role as the Hippie Dippie Weather Man. "Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely scattered light by morning..."

Back here in Woodbury, despite how tired I was when we arrived home late last night, I was also ever so pumped to see a small box waiting for me on the kitchen island (Alexa, from next door, came over throughout the weekend to watch Da Boyce and get our mail). You may recall when, back in June, Barbara bought a set of fantastic mini- guitars for me, for my birthday. At the time, I firmly stated that if the company in question were to ever produce a miniature set of Neil Peart's drums, from any era Rush has gone through, I'd be the first in line to buy them.

Well, I don't know how close I was to the front of the line, but I went to their website as soon as I heard they had produced his "Snakes & Arrows" drum kit (most of it) and it arrived over the weekend. To be fair, it's actually just the front part of his fully-circular actual kit, which contains a second set of electronic drums behind him (the whole kit is on a riser that spins around when he plays the back kit, so that he's still facing the audience no matter which part of the enormous set-up he's banging away on) but that was still fine by me.

Earlier in this blog I mentioned that I'd been "messing around" for a bit of the day, today, and my first order of business was to unpack, assemble, and set up my cool new drum set. I rearranged a bookshelf just for this occasion, putting my Geddy Lee bass and Alex Lifeson guitar next to the drums, while carefully arranging the toms, snares, and cymbals into something close to the actual kit... It even came with a miniature set of sticks, foot pedals, and a stool... Too cool... Now, if I could just shrink myself down to about 1/24 scale, I could go to town trying to play "Far Cry" or "Workin' Them Angels" from the brilliant "Snakes & Arrows" album and tour...

Guess that's about it for this one. Since blogging is working, technically speaking, maybe it's time for me to go mess around a bit more. After five long days in Indy, a guy needs a little R&R before he dives right into the Countdown...

Wilber, out!