We just completed our first set of back-to-back races of the 2008 season. We went to Georgia and then to Missouri. I took a picture of the Gateway Int’l Raceway in St Louis when we flew in. I wish I was going to be flying to a race this weekend, but it’s an off weekend for us. I feel like our team is on a roll, and we have good momentum going. Personally, I would love to have a third race in a row. From a team standpoint, I’m sure it will be good for everyone to spend this week at the shop getting everything refreshed and hopefully have some time off. We will keep our momentum going for Bristol, which is not this weekend but the next.

I think this last race at St Louis has been our best this season. We qualified number three and went the semifinals. Our car ran a 4.502, which is the quickest official elapsed time I have ever recorded in a race or qualifying. We moved up a spot in POWERade points, and we won the Full Throttle award for the first time this year. Our KB Racing crew chief, Jim O, has made some excellent calls, and my team has been really diligent and hardworking. We have a great race car, and everything seems to be coming together for us.

The previous weekend, at the race in Georgia, we had a decent weekend but lost a very close race in the quarterfinals. We ran a 4.58 to Tony Schumacher’s 4.57. I was really disappointed. All losses are tough, but this one was just really frustrating. I knew that if I just had a little better reaction time we could have won. I can shoulda, coulda, woulda myself until I go insane. Been there, done that, and it doesn’t do any good. Getting frustrated doesn’t help my driving a bit. I know that from experience. Thankfully, my team, from our team owner to our crew chief to our assistant crew chief, stays positive. Our assistant crew chief, Troy, got our KB team together after that race in Atlanta and reminded us that things are going well for our team and we all need to keep our heads up and move on. He was right. Things are going better for us this year, in many ways, than in the previous two years, so we needed to remember that. It was really helpful to have that meeting. We then went to St Louis expecting good things to happen, and they did. I’m so thankful to have the team that I have.

Our team owner, Ken Black, is always supportive and remains positive too. He never comes in and tells us what to do, and he never gets down on us. He just remains supportive and makes sure we have what we need. Ken goes to all our races. At this last event, he brought his friend, Cliff Findlay, and Cliff’s brother, Ed. I took a picture of them in our pit: from left, Ed, Jim O, Ken, and Cliff. Cliff owns Findlay Automotive dealerships throughout Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. He sponsored us our white van that tows our dragster to the lanes and back to the pits. The van also crisscrosses the country going to different races. We always talk about how great our dragster runs, but we forget to mention how great the tow vehicle runs too. Findlay dealerships offer a variety of different makes and models of vehicles that are even cooler than our big white van.

That big white van is at the shop here in Michigan, as is our entire team. We are working hard on securing a primary sponsor for our team. I feel like we are seeing more interest from companies than ever before. I believe it’s just a matter of time before our car has a major sponsor. I am trying to be patient. Everything about this sport requires patience. Thankfully, the people around me have it.

I happened to run across two notes that I had saved from fortune cookies over the years. One said, “You don’t have to be perfect to be successful,” and the other said, “Endurance and persistence will be rewarded.” I think both are very true and applicable to our situation.

I’ll be watching Dancing with Stars results tonight. No one was perfect last night, so it will be interesting to see which ones are successful and stay on the show.