With Jim Oberhofer (Jim "O"), KB Racing Top Fuel dragster crew chief

The other day Hillary and I were talking and she told me anytime I wanted to write a blog for her I could. So I started to think what to write about, maybe I could write about our KB team or maybe I could write about how I spent the weekend before Gainesville watching all of the Star Wars movies for whatever reason and how my 11-year-old daughter Ashley started calling me a nerd while watching these movies or maybe I could write about the new Powerhouse Gym that opened up down the street from the shop and how I have been making my way there in the evenings torturing myself. After thinking about this I decided I wanted to write about my buddy Eric Medlen and one of his biggest fans, my daughter Ashley.

Ashley is a fan of Eric Medlen because he would always spend the time to talk to her whenever she would make her way to the races along with my wife Tammy. The first time Ashley met Eric was at a restaurant in Columbus during a race in 2004. Tammy, Ashley, and I were sitting down eating when Eric, John Force and others came in, Eric saw us and sat down and started flapping with Ashley like they were old friends, needless to say Eric left a lasting impression on her. Anytime I saw Eric at the track he would always ask me how his girl Ashley was doing, every now and then we would call her from the track and Eric would talk to her, which made her day. Whenever Ashley would come to a race the first thing she always wanted to do was to go see Eric and one of the first things Eric would ask her is if she was doing well in school and being good to her mom and dad. One of the biggest dilemmas we have had in my house lately was when Scott Kalitta made the switch from Top Fuel to Funny Car in 2006, Ashley wasn’t happy because she didn’t know who to cheer for if Scott raced Eric. I told her she could cheer for whomever she wanted, sorry Scott but I think Eric won out but you were a close second.

After Eric’s accident during testing Monday at Gainesville I wasn’t sure if or how to tell Ashley about what happened to Eric. Ashley had a friend of hers staying over for a couple of nights and I didn’t want to tell her while she was having so much fun with her friend Cassie. On Wednesday night I decided to tell her what happened and was not surprised by the tears and crying that came afterward. Later that night I found Ashley in her room in tears looking at a picture of her and Eric from last year, it about brought me to tears which is not an easy thing to do. I told her to just keep Eric in her thoughts and prayers and that he will be okay.

On Friday we received the bad news about Eric. Words can’t describe how we all felt, it was just the most empty feeling you could have. I made my way home and both my wife and I told Ashley about the passing of Eric, it was one of the toughest things I have had to do in my life as a father. We spent the rest of the weekend looking at pictures that we had of Eric and also on the internet, it brought smiles to our faces.

Drag Racing is a tough business in many ways but it is toughest when something like this happens. I know that after watching Hillary’s accident during testing in Las Vegas I was devastated to say the least. One of the most amazing things I saw afterwards was Hillary standing there saying she was okay. I know that accident took its toll on Ken Black, myself and our team because Hillary is like family to us and we don’t ever want to see anything happen to her. Hillary reminded us afterwards that this is what she wants to do. Eric would tell us the same thing.

Right now our thoughts and prayers are with Eric, his father John and the rest of the Medlen family along with everyone at John Force Racing, I can only imagine how tough the last week has been for them and how upcoming months will be. I am going to miss a lot about Eric, his goofy text messages, his goofy phone calls, how he would call me “Pop” and I would call him “Son” but most of all I am just going to miss him because of the good person he was. Thanks for being my friend Eric and thanks for making Ashley feel special when ever you talked to her. Rest in peace, Eric.