Hi everyone, Toni here. Jim is still driving the rig home from Phoenix and wanted me to get a blog out just to catch everyone up on what has been going on. It is an understatement to say that we have had a couple of hectic and frustrating weeks that netted both good and disappointing results. After working so hard on our new Wiley X GXP after the Pomona race, we were so excited to get to Speedworld Dragstrip in Northwest Phoenix, Ariz., to do some testing and see if all of our hard work paid off.

We didn't leave Pomona until Thursday, and we drove straight to Speedworld, parked the rig, and headed to the hotel. Because it was Valentine's Day, of course all of the restaurants were booked up so we settled for a couple of appetizers and watched a basketball game at the lobby bar. How romantic!

Anyway, our test session wasn't scheduled until the following Wednesday, so Jim and I had plenty of time to work on the car and the rig. Every day we would drive to the track and tackle another project on our "to-do" list. Bill, Victoria, Jerry, and everyone else at Speedworld made us feel so welcome. Not only did they offer to help us out in any way that they could while we were there, but, more importantly, they gave us an awesome race track to race on. As it ended up, it was just Jim and Tom Hammonds testing that day. We were just running to the eighth-mile, but Tom went to the finish line a couple of times and clocked some quick ETs. The track conditions were great, and we were both running awesome 60- and 330-foot times all day.

Jim and Jamie were pretty excited with the results of our test session. Our GXP finally seemed to be feeling much better. The electrical gremlins were gone, and the race car was finally responding to the changes that were made to it. Finally, we were seeing some positive results, and everyone on our team was excited to get to Firebird Int'l Raceway and start qualifying on Friday.

Unfortunately, Friday's qualifying sessions never happened as it rained out both sessions. Not a downpour type of rain, just one of those slow steady drizzles that never let up. That of course left only two qualifying chances on Saturday, and, though our Wiley X GXP made some awesome-looking runs down the racetrack, the posted ETs left us one spot short of the show on Sunday. Hence, the disappointing results.

Well, since Jim couldn't race on Sunday, he did get to participate in his next favorite Sunday pastime – announcing with Bob Frey in the announcer's booth. I am sure that many of you listen to the race coverage on NHRA.com and hope you enjoyed Bob and Jim as they shared stories and analyzed the Pro Stock eliminations. Jim did tell me that Bob Frey has warned him that he cannot announce a Sunday race any more this year - Sunday is for racing. Thanks Bob, we couldn't agree with you more!

By the way, we have been getting a lot of attention with our wild new Wiley X paint scheme on our Pontiac GXP and hope that everyone likes it as much as we do. I have been getting a lot of questions about Wiley X and where to buy their eyewear, so I think that will be a good topic for our next blog. In the meantime, be sure to check out the new Wiley X Web site (www.wileyx.com). After you find your closest Wiley X dealer, you can then check out the new racing site and learn about all of the Wiley X drivers! Let us know what you think. Thanks so much for checking in with us.



Toni