Hi everyone, Jim here. We have been here in Bradenton, Fla., testing for the past couple of days and I finally have a few minutes in between engine swaps to write a quick blog. It seems like I just got home from Phoenix, got the car unloaded and it was time to load it back up and hit the road again. Toni and I left last Thursday and headed south thinking that we would have a nice relaxing drive to sunny Florida. Thursday night was ok but Friday was a little more exciting. Between the torrential rains, 60-mph wind gusts and dodging tornados it was anything but a relaxing drive. Nevertheless, we made it safely to Bradenton on Friday night, parked the rig and since we could not race until Monday, decided to go to the boat for a couple of days.

It has been several months since we have seen our boat but it was nice just to spend the weekend working in my bilge and fixing up things. You see, a boat is no different from a motorhome. It doesn’t matter how new or old or how much you maintain it. It never fails, you drive across country and everything runs fine. You park it in the driveway for a month and when you go to use it again, there is always something that isn’t working. How does that happen? I drive the boat from Key West to Cape Coral and it runs like a charm. I dock it, come back a few months later and stuff isn’t working. Of course it is always something small but at least it gives me a challenge even on my day off.

Speaking of challenges, the first part of this racing season has been somewhat of a challenge to me this year. I love my new Pontiac GXP and I am having so much fun promoting the new Wiley X Eyewear, but as you know our performance has not been what it should over the past two races. We have worked on every part of our program that we can during the past couple of weeks and I am confident that we will have our program back on track for the Gatornationals this weekend.

Gainesville has always been one of my favorite races on the circuit. Maybe it is because of all of the great memories I have of spending time with the kids at the Gatornationals. Because of my auto parts business, I never knew until the last minute if we could get away, but if we could work it in, Toni and I would load the kids into our motor home and drive all night to get to the track. We would enjoy the races and then always tried to surprise them with a trip to Disney World before we returned home. Even after I started racing Pro Stock we always tried to take a week before or after (depending on the spring break timeframe) and have a Florida vacation.

I have to admit that things have changed a little bit since then, I am still lucky to have my entire family (except Jamie’s wife Cynthy) with us once again for Gainesville. Jon and his girlfriend Alli will be here on Friday and I can’t wait to see them as I haven’t seen them since Christmas. Melissa will be here on Thursday and of course Jamie, Toni and I will get to Gainesville on Wednesday night after our test session here in Bradenton. I am so excited to have everyone together but wish that Cynthy could have been here. Unfortunately, with her position as a high school counselor her spring break doesn’t start until next week and it just wasn’t feasible for her to make it this time. Anyway, I am excited to be able to see everyone and I know that Jamie loves to have Jon here to help him out with his crew chief duties.

Well, the track is almost ready so I better get my firesuit on and get ready to make a hit. We only made a couple of runs yesterday but I am happy to report that we finally broke the 204-mph barrier! We actually ran 206.89 mph yesterday with one of our test engines and clocked a 6.69 e.t. We have changed engines for today and have a couple of more engines to run tomorrow and I am really excited about our opportunities.

Well, Jamie has called for me a second time so I best close. I will try to update everyone on how our testing goes but so far; I like what I am seeing. I will write to you soon!