What a crazy few weeks we have had here at Jim Yates Racing. Between driving, flying, working, and racing there haven’t been many free hours left in the day. After a great race in Vegas, a few days at the SEMA show, and an exciting time in Pomona, our 2009 racing season has finally come to an end. Jim, once again is in the rig making the long drive back across the country. On his way, he has to make a stop in Sioux City, Iowa, to get the truck worked on and then stop in Detroit to drop off the race engines to Dart Machinery. He is hoping that if all goes well he will be able to make it home by the weekend.

In the meantime, Jon and I are sitting in our first class seats on our Southwest flight (hey we were in the A group!) just passing over Phoenix and are scheduled to arrive in Baltimore in about five hours. OK, I’ll admit, I do feel just a little bit guilty so I figured that I would help Jim out and catch up on our blog writing. Not that driving 3,000 miles is equal to writing a blog, but it is the best I can do at the present time!

I’m sure that most of you have been following the last couple of races, so I won’t spend a lot of time giving you a race-by-race commentary. I will say, however, that we had a great time, and Ryan got to experience a lot of firsts on his trip west. He made his first ever trip to Vegas and got to enjoy the sights, sounds, and excitement that go with the city that never sleeps. He was able to participate in his first NHRA Fanfest on Fremont Street and have the opportunity to meet and greet hundreds of racing fans as well as enjoy the awesome light show that NHRA put on. He raced and qualified at his first trip to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is one of the finest racing facilities in the country, and he even had time to take his first trip to see the amazing Hoover Dam. We were hoping that he would get to experience his first race win, but unfortunately, that had to wait for another trip.

After the race, Jim and I spent a couple of days at the SEMA show, flew home for the weekend, and then back out to Vegas to pick up the rig and drive to Pomona. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend in Pomona with perfect weather, fast e.t.s and lots of excitement for everyone. If you have been following you know that the final champions in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel were not crowned until after the semifinal round of eliminations. How exciting was that?! I do want to take a minute and congratulate Mike Edwards and his entire team for winning their first Pro Stock championship. What a feeling it is to finally win that first championship, and I can't think of a team that is more deserving. Great job guys!

Though Ryan had been to the LA area before, this was the first time that he had ever been to or raced at the Fairplex. The guys at Dart had been working on a new engine and had it ready for us to run this past weekend. Jon had the car set up perfectly, Ryan did a great job driving, and we were very pleased with our results. The Sunglass Machine ran faster every run and we were qualifying in the ninth position all weekend. Well, that was before the last qualifying session.

The session had already proven to be faster, and we couldn’t wait to get our pass down the track. The last thing that Jon does before I give Ryan the signal to stage is check the wheelie bar height. For those of you that don’t know it, this step is very critical because the wheelie bars determine whether or not the car goes straight off of the line. Well, Jon reached down to check the wheelie bar, looked up at me with a look of disbelief and gave me the signal to shut Ryan off. Are you kidding me?! Jon shook his head again, motioned again to shut off, and stood up holding the right wheelie bar in his hand… oh boy, this was not where the wheelie bar needed to be to make the car go straight.

So, we pushed Ryan off of the starting line without making our run. Luckily, we only dropped to 12th in our qualifying position but were still disappointed that we didn’t get to make our final run and perhaps bump up into the top half of the field. Unfortunately, no top half of the field, no lane choice first round, and once again Ryan found himself just 13-thousandths of a second shy of a round-win. It was still a great weekend, and we were very excited about the performance of our new engine. I think that Richard wants to work on it a little more and then perhaps go for an early December test session in Florida. That sounds good to me!

Well, as Jon and I are passing over New Mexico, Jim is probably on I-15 almost to Vegas on route east. I heard him mention something about making it to Salt Lake City tonight, but I’m not sure if he will actually make it that far. I told him to just take his time, but you know how those guys are once they start counting mile markers.

This is the first time in several years that Jim doesn’t have to be home in time for his annual trip to Kuwait and Germany, and I know that he is very disappointed that he and all of his GM teammates will not be going to visit the troops this year. That trip has always been the highlight of Jim’s year as it gave him the opportunity to show his gratitude and support to the thousands of men and women who are risking their lives, every day, for the good of our country.

My battery meter just blinked at me to let me know that I can’t play with my computer much longer, so I will wrap up this blog and try to get it sent as soon as I land this evening. I have to admit that I am looking forward to getting home so that I can get things ready for our Thanksgiving family dinner. The holidays are my favorite time of the year, and I can’t wait to get them started! I’ll make sure that Jim checks in when he gets back into town!