Hi all from Huntsville, Alabama! Now I am sure you are asking yourself what I am doing in Alabama when I am supposed to be in St. Louis. Well, after a rather disappointing outing in Atlanta we decided that it would be a good idea to do some more testing before going to St. Louis. Tom Hammonds also wanted to test and recommended that we come here to make some runs. It is a very nice eighth-mile track, the weather has been perfect and we are learning with every pass we make. Since I am waiting for some new carburetors to arrive from FedEx and waiting for the track personnel to prep the race track, I decided that I now would be a great time to catch up on my blog writing.

Like I stated before, the race results from this past weekend were not what we had hoped for, but the weekend was not a total disappointment. On Thursday night I was able to attend the Motorsports Hall of Fame induction ceremony held at Talladega Motor Speedway. One of this year’s inductees was Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins and I was so honored to be a part of such an awesome event. Bill has dedicated his life to the sport of drag racing and has more accomplishments than anyone else I know.

I have been really lucky to be able to work with Bill over the past few years. You may laugh when I say this but if I only knew the things that Bill has forgotten I would be one smart pro stock racer! The guy is one of the most focused, analytical and determined individuals that I know and no one is more deserving of the Hall of Fame than Bill. A word to the wise; don’t go head to head in a game of Solitaire with him; the man knows how to play his cards!

On Saturday, at the track, Bill was once again honored and this time I was a part of history and didn’t even know it. That is why we have guys like Bob Frey who know all of racing’s fun facts. Anyway, the Summit Nationals marked the 600th Pro Stock race in NHRA history and in attendance at the race were the winners of the first, 300th, 400th and 500th NHRA national events. Bill Jenkins had won the first NHRA race in Pomona, Bob Glidden and Lee Sheppard had won the 100th and 200th, I had won the 300th, Kurt Johnson had won the 400th and Greg Anderson had won the 500th. How cool is that? Now if I only knew which race it was that marked the 300th national event. Time to call up Bob Frey or Lewis Bloom and see if they can tell me.

After a group photo on the starting line, Bill was paraded down the return road in front of a packed house of racers and fans. It was so awesome to see the fans giving Bill a standing ovation in recognition of all that he has contributed to our sport.

Well, the FedEx truck has just arrived and I need to get my carburetors set up for the next hit. As soon as we are finished testing Toni and I will head to St. Louis, pick Jamie up from the airport and start our routine all over again. Keep your fingers crossed for cooperative weather in St. Louis this weekend!