Believe it or not I finally made it home from Sonoma and I have to say, it was quite a journey. I had an RFC board meeting on the Monday morning following the race, so I didn't get underway until Monday afternoon. In an attempt to save money on the ever rising cost of fuel as well as save myself 48 hours of driving, I decided to drive the rig right to Brainerd, Minn., park it at the track and then fly home. However, for those of you who have ever been to Brainerd, you know that task is easier said than done.

The racetrack is only 15 minutes from Brainerd airport and about two hours from Minneapolis airport. Since it would cost a small fortune to fly out of Brainerd, I opted for the more economical approach and that was to fly out of Minneapolis. That, of course, entailed finding a rental car company to rent me a one-way rental that was open after 6 p.m. Luckily, Toni called and convinced Hertz at Brainerd airport (which, of course, closed at 6 p.m.) to leave keys for my rental car at another counter. So, after driving 2,200 miles in 48 hours it was off in my rental car heading back to Minneapolis to catch a Thursday morning flight that would take me from Minneapolis to Chicago and finally to Baltimore. After flying all day I got to take a two-hour ride home in the wonderful DC rush hour traffic. Whew! What a trip that was!

Anyway, that brings me to today where I finally have my brain engaged enough to write a blog. After all, I did promise everyone an update on all the fun we had in Sonoma visiting Wiley X headquarters and entertaining all the employees at their "Day at the Races". It was really a blast.

We arrived at Wiley X headquarters in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday morning and put our Pontiac GXP and the trailer on display for all of the employees and their families to see. It was such a great time. I had time to sit and talk to everyone, answer questions about our operation, show racing videos of our GXP, and sign lots of autographs. Toni, Melissa, Al and I could not have been more welcomed into the entire Wiley X organization. I was so excited to see Myles and Dan Freeman again and really happy that I finally had the opportunity to meet their families and of course their Dad, Myles Sr. They have a wonderful, close-knit family that reminds me a lot of mine. Now I know why we all get along so well.

After the promo it was back to the track to get set up and then back to the business of qualifying and racing. Everything went great on Friday; we ended up in the top 12 and looked forward to seeing about 50 Wiley X employees on Saturday. Melissa had planned a great time for the entire group's Day at the Races. She had arranged for a bus to bring everyone to and from the track, had pit side hospitality serving lots of great food, and had a reserved seat for all in attendance. Everyone was wearing their Jim Yates/Wiley X t-shirts and of course all sported their Wiley X sunglasses. Melissa also had arranged a special treat for those more adventurous guests. She was able to take many of them to the starting line to view some of the racing action up close and personal and from the amount of rubber spots on everyone's faces, when they returned, I assumed that they were not disappointed.

Though our schedule was a little hectic because of the two Saturday qualifying sessions, I think that everyone had a fun time just watching us work on the car and then watching us race down the track. Many of the guests had never been to an NHRA national event so you can imagine how excited everyone was. It was a picture perfect day, with bright blue skies, plenty of sun and warm temperatures and other than some sun burnt faces, I think everyone, including our entire team, had a really great time.

I just want to say thanks to Melissa, Myles and Dan for arranging such an awesome event and also thank all of the Wiley X employees and their families who took the time to come and show their support of our Wiley X Sunglass Machine. It is such a pleasure to race for and represent such great people. I can't wait to do it again!

Well, I have a few days off before flying back to Brainerd, so I think I will start by re-familiarizing myself with my house, my yard, and my office. Melissa's birthday is next Tuesday so I am hoping that we will be getting our family together to celebrate her special day sometime over the weekend. I'm sure that Toni will take lots of pictures of Melissa's birthday celebration to share with you in my next blog. Stay tuned!