Hi everyone, Toni here. Jim thought it would be a good idea for me to write this week's blog because he, Jamie, and Al are already in Topeka getting ready for this weekend's race. If you read our blogs you probably know I usually ride with Jim in the rig to most of the races and I am a pretty active part of our race team so you might be wondering why I'm home writing a blog.

Well, this Friday, our daughter Melissa has to have surgery on her ankle and Jim and I agreed it would be a lot more important for me to be with her than it would for me to be at the racetrack. Of course, Melissa insisted she would be fine and had plenty of friends at TPI to take care of her and couldn't believe I would miss a race for a silly ankle surgery. She is right; of course, she would be well taken care of, but as a mom I feel like I have to be there. You know, even as adults, when most of us are sick or having surgery, there is nothing like having family around to lend a supporting hand. So I will leave on Thursday and drive to New Bern to stay with her until she gets sick of me and makes me leave. I will, of course, keep everyone updated on how everything goes.

Since Jim wrote the last blog about our fuel tank problem, we received a lot of interesting and helpful comments from everyone and all of your suggestions and concerns were greatly appreciated; thanks for your input. I believe we now have locking gas caps and have considered making other changes to avoid future problems just in case more of those little "items" may still be lurking in our fuel tanks.

Since then, we have spent the extra time doing maintenance on the shop, engines, racecar, and tractor-trailer. It sure was a lot easier taking all of that stuff apart than it was putting it all back together and I think everyone was ready to go back to the races. Jim and Jamie sure didn't seem too unhappy to be leaving the shop Tuesday afternoon.

Aside from working hard in the shop for the last three weeks, we did get to take a little break over the long Memorial Day weekend. Since it was my birthday Jim surprised me with a trip to the boat for a few days. Though Jon was busy with his summer classes at Clemson and Jamie was home with Cynthy, Melissa had some time off and joined us for the weekend. Believe it or not, we never took the boat away from the dock, but we had a great time anyway. The winds were high, the seas were rough and diesel fuel at the docks was $3.19 a gallon – need I say more? We stayed at our own free slip in the marina, exercised every day for an hour or more, went to the pool, walked to the restaurants, and just chilled out.

Of course instead of fighting rough seas, low tides, and ever rising fuel prices, Jim got to spend time playing with his electronics and hanging out in his engine room/bilge. Why is it that guys are so fascinated by that part of a boat? Whatever it is, it sure is relaxing to Jim. But, I guess that is what vacation weekends are all about, right? I know I had a great birthday.

Well, Jim just called from Topeka to give me an update. (I think he really misses me). He assures me they will be just fine this weekend. Uh-huh. I think he is more concerned with who will go to the grocery store, what will they eat for lunch, and who will do all of the run data than he is with who will help set up the awning, who will help build transmissions, who will load and unload the trailer, and who will help get the car staged. Gosh it sure feels good to be appreciated! I guess I will get to experience listening to the qualifying and eliminations on the Internet and waiting for calls on the cell phone for an update. Maybe it will give me a whole new appreciation of what most of you go through on race weekends.

I guess I better get this blog finished so I can get ready for my trip this weekend. I will try to update everyone on Melissa's progress in a few days. I am confident she will be just fine and back to her daily five mile runs in no time. Thanks so much for checking in with us and keep your fingers crossed for a successful race weekend for Jim and the crew. Fun times!