I’m bummed that Nadia Comaneci will no longer be on NBC reality show, The Apprentice. My childhood idol got kicked off. I don’t think the Donald wanted to kick her off, but she kind of deserved it. She didn’t stand up for herself at all. I’m sure she is a lot tougher than she acted. I guess her biggest mistake was that she didn’t give them any reason to believe that she could lead a team.

Someone who is leading a team is Rachel Brunner. She was named team manager at Kalitta Motorsports last fall. She is helping us all rebound from the 2007 season that we would rather forget. It seems as though morale and positive attitudes are on the upswing around here. I think our whole team is going into the new season with some renewed confidence.

Today, Rachel led a Kalitta Motorsports team meeting. It’s the last time we will all be together before we start the 2008 season since some guys are leaving for testing on Monday. The meeting began with us recognizing that we are all very fortunate to have the jobs that we do. And we have all the resources we need to perform our jobs to the best of our ability. We are fortunate that we have team owners like Connie Kalitta and Ken Black. Then Rachel gave us some motivational things to think about. I think the meetings are very beneficial for a number of reasons, and especially help with motivation, inspiration and communication among the team. Also at the meeting, Tammy Oberhofer was given the “Team Player of the Month” award, so congrats to her!

The person who does the public relations for our entire team is Todd Myers. I’m sure you all already know that if you read the Kalitta Motorsports blog. Mickey Schultz used to handle the PR for our KB dragster but he retired at the end of last year. Now Todd is going to be responsible for the KB public relations in addition to the PR for the other three cars. Todd writes all the press releases that go out. He always tends to add a little creative flare to his writing. He is also in charge of the KalittaRacing.com website. Todd is a pretty talented graphic artist as well. Maybe there’s something to working in the dark because Todd leaves his light off and the shades closed all day. Besides dark, he also keeps his office extremely clean and organized. My office is right next to his so when he needs a quote, I can just yell it out to him. I think it will work out well having him do our PR this year, and I’m looking forward to working with Todd. He was begging to take over and write my blog, but I just can’t part with it…haha.

Besides a new PR rep, our KB team will also have a new look on our dragster. The paint scheme is a Coby Gewertz design that will be solid black with accents of red. The dragster will be a little plain but very classy looking. Our intention in doing this is that we want to be clear that there is a lot of space available for a potential marketing partner to advertise. We are diligently seeking a primary sponsor. I would like nothing more than to bring a new company into the NHRA. I would like nothing more than to be able to help our team owner, Ken Black, out with the bills. I think you will like the look of our new car. Pictures and details will follow.

I’m really itching to go racing again. I can’t wait to be back in the car. Two weeks from today we will begin testing in Phoenix. I’ll fill the void by watching some other sports this weekend. Tonight I’m going to the first University of Michigan gymnastics meet of the year. I’ll definitely be watching some football playoff action this weekend. Go Tom Brady!