It is Monday afternoon in Pomona and yes; I am still at the racetrack. Toni and I are spending the day catching up on paperwork, laundry, and e-mails and I wanted to catch all of you up on what has been happening since Jamie wrote my last blog.

As Jamie had explained, I had left our test session in Bradenton, Fla., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, and rolled into the track in Las Vegas on Thursday evening. Talk about a long drive. Anyway, Toni, Jamie, Grump, and Dave arrived early Friday morning and we had the chance to make a few test runs that afternoon to get us ready for the Pontiac Shootout that was scheduled for Saturday morning.

Saturday morning dawned with clear skies, cool temperatures, and the promise of fast ET’s and speeds. We were scheduled to have two qualifying sessions with eliminations beginning immediately after qualifying. Every Pro Stock team registered for Pomona was in attendance so it was just like a national event – only a little less stressful. It would also give us an indication of how we were going to stack up against our competition this year. Since our new GTO only had four full passes on it, we had a very big list of things that we wanted to test.

Well, we tested on the two qualifying sessions and still ended up qualifying No. 12 so I felt pretty good about that. Bill had us put in another engine, Jamie tried a new clutch setup, and we also broke in a new set of tires so you can see that there were a lot of changes taking place. I tried to convince myself I was still going to follow my testing plan during eliminations, but when I pulled up next to V. Gaines for round one, testing the car was the furthest thing from my mind. It was time to race! It’s funny how that competitive nature just takes over. Well, we won round one, took out Jeg Coughlin in round two, beat Max Naylor in the semis and before I knew it, we were getting ready to race Dave Connolly in the final. Unfortunately, we lost lane choice and ultimately the race, but I couldn’t have been happier with the initial performance of our new GTO. It was fun to race without all of the stress of a national event and the “points chase” but still have the top NHRA Pro Stock drivers in attendance.

Our plan was to continue testing Sunday and Monday to get some more laps on our new GTO and then wrap the car on Tuesday before heading to Pomona for the race. Well, we did all right with the testing part, kept our head in the game, and tried a lot of different combinations – some of which even improved our performance. That is always a good thing. Then we get to the wrapping the car thing. Well, the plan was to apply the vinyl ourselves since we couldn’t find anybody in Vegas to apply it for us. It seems that there is a big race in Pomona the following weekend and everyone else had called ahead and scheduled their installation – but not us. Not to worry, Jamie said, he and Toni could handle it.

I don’t know if you have ever tried to put a sticker on a race car and get it straight without a wrinkle, well multiply that by about a million times and you will get an idea of what we were up against. Fortunately, the great people from Fineline Graphics were on hand working on another rig and after witnessing our initial attempt offered to work late Tuesday and early Wednesday in order to get the job done so that we could get onto Pomona. Just take a look at the picture and you will see how awesome it turned out. Jamie did a great job redesigning last year’s paint scheme and with the help of Dennis and Daniel from Fineline, our GTO looks better than ever.

Once at Pomona, we fell into our usual routine – awning up, car cleaned, tech card completed, and all the parts and pieces in their correct places. I love that part. It is surprising how quickly we fell back into our racetrack routine. As you know, qualifying went pretty well. We were as high as No. 4 on the first session but ended up 11th after all the smoke settled. It is really difficult to bring a brand new race car that only had 12 full passes on it and compete with the best Pro Stock racers in the world. Our GTO showed tremendous potential however; we just have to know more about how to adapt to the ever-changing track conditions that you encounter over the course of a four day national event. All good things in time, I’m sure!

We ended up with a tough draw first round – Jeg Coughlin. Well, many of you remember that Jeg and I have had a very healthy, competitive relationship and when we pull to the starting line, we pretty much bring the best out in each other. Unfortunately, when it was all over, my GTO was about four feet behind when we reached the finish line. I hate it when that happens. Anyway, it gave us a good head start in getting the rig loaded and Jamie and Al dropped off at the airport for their redeye flights home.

Today I had the opportunity to attend my first RFC board meeting as the newly selected board member. Over the winter, the RFC board of directors invited me to join the board and after much careful thought I gladly accepted. It was sure an eye opener to see all that was involved in running a successful motorsports ministry. And here I thought that all Larry Smiley had to do was prepare a sermon for Sunday morning chapel service. I was surprised to learn that RFC is involved, not only in all forms of automobile racing, but also boat racing, rock climbing, and some things I still can’t figure out. If someone races it, there is a good chance that a RFC chaplain will be there ministering to the fans and competitors. Last year, RFC’s 216 chaplains attended 1,555 events throughout the United States and conducted chapel services, which were attended by more than 25,000 people. It is going to be a priority of mine in the coming year to try to help RFC raise funds to support their ever growing and extremely important ministry. Anyone wishing to help in this worthy cause can either contact me through my website or just stop by at the racetrack. I would look forward to sharing with you all of the wonderful things that I have seen.

Well, Toni and I are wrapping things up here at Pomona Raceway and in the morning we will motor over to Phoenix where we will park the rig and catch a flight home for exactly one week. Time enough to pay some bills and change all of the burnt out light bulbs in the house. Thanks for checking in and I will touch base when I get back home. Happy Valentines Day to everyone!