Hey everyone! Today is Thursday, and I finally made my way upstairs to my office where I am going to catch everyone up on what has been happening in the world of Jim Yates Racing. As last reported Toni and I flew to Sonoma to attend the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals and then took a couple of extra days to do some sightseeing. We arrived at BWI airport in plenty of time to catch our outbound flight to Oakland, but as soon as we checked in, we were informed that our flight was going to be delayed; of course that meant that we would miss our connecting flight and we would have to be rebooked on other flights and we may not have our luggage and so on and so on.

Well, our journey took us from Baltimore to Phoenix to Burbank and then finally to our final destination of Oakland, and believe it or not, we landed only an hour later than originally scheduled. In addition, all of our luggage arrived as well. Don't you just love air travel? Anyway, because we had been confined to our aircraft for 12 hours with a food supply of peanuts, crackers, and water, we decided to make Scoma's Restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf the first stop on our trip.

The restaurant was packed with lots of NHRA race teams and fans, but our good friend Joe Scoma took care of us and got us seated in his section, where he served us some of the finest seafood in town. If you ever visit the Wharf area, you have to visit Scoma's and ask for Joe. Tell him Jim sent you! You won't be disappointed, I promise.

On Friday morning, Toni and I headed to Infineon Raceway to begin a great weekend of NHRA Drag Racing. This was the first time that Toni and I have been spectators at the racetrack in quite a long time. We get spoiled having our own rig parked in the pits complete with golf cart, awning, air conditioning, kitchen, food, and bathroom! This time, however, was a little different. Luckily, Infineon Raceway is a first-class facility where the fans are treated to great seats, good food, clean facilities, and some fast drag racing, and we had a great time.

Upon arriving at the track, we immediately met up with Myles Freeman from Wiley X, and we spent most of the morning catching up and visiting some of the other teams who wear Wiley X eyewear. Before I knew it, it was time for the first qualifying session, so I went to the tower to help out my good friend Bob Frey with the announcing duties. I really enjoy working with Bob and talking about the one thing that I know a lot about — Pro Stock drag racing! I had a blast, and I even had Myles listening in the booth during the second qualifying session.

Well, if you listened to any of the Pro Stock audiocast then you heard me and Bob sharing our stories about Pro Stock throughout the weekend. I have to admit, there sure is a lot less stress involved when all I had to do is sit in the announcer's booth and report on racing. Wow! While all my Pro Stock buddies were working on their cars getting ready for the next day, I was heading back to the hotel. In fact, we even got back before all of the restaurants closed for the evening. Though that was a treat, I sure do not want to make a habit of being a spectator at the racetrack, and I am looking forward to our next event in Reading, Pa.

Our weekend at the Fram Autolite Nationals was a lot of fun. Not only was the weather and racing fantastic, but we also got to spend some time with Myles from Wiley X along with his family and friends as well as visit with a lot of our fellow racers and crew.

After the race, the next couple of items on our to-do list were to spend a couple of days enjoying San Francisco and then head to the Ledson Winery, where our good friend Jerry Padilla treated us to a private wine tasting of some great new Ledson wines. If you are a wine enthusiast be sure to check out the Ledson website for a tour of all of their wines. They are fantastic! After sampling some awesome wines and having lunch on the private terrace, we headed to our next stop, the Ledson Hotel.

The Ledson Hotel is a unique bed and breakfast located in the Plaza in the quaint city of Sonoma. It is absolutely beautiful, and as it turned out, the day we checked in, the town was hosting a farmer's market and music festival. Well, after dropping our luggage in the room, Toni and I spent the next couple of hours enjoying the sights and sounds of the farmer's market as well as sampling lots of fresh organic fruits and cheeses that the local farmers had for sale.

On the agenda for our last two days of our mini vacation was a day drive to the coast to enjoy the breathtaking sights along the coastal highway and then take another day to drive to and explore the great Redwood Forest. It has been many years since we have visited the coast or the Redwoods so we were really looking forward to our trip. The contrast between the Atlantic coastline and the Pacific coastline is incredible, and though I have seen them before, I still find the sights absolutely amazing. I won't bore you with all of the details of our sightseeing trip because if I do, I will never finish this blog! I will, however, share some of Toni's pictures with you and they speak for themselves.

After enjoying two days of beautiful northern California, it was time to head home. Of course the trip would not have been complete without another delayed flight, 12 more hours on an airplane, and an arrival home to BWI at 2 a.m. Oh well, it sure beats driving!

Since being home, Jon and I have been busy working on our GXP to get it ready for our next race in Reading, Pa. Ryan (Ondrejko) will be coming down here in a week or so for a couple of days of testing before we head to the race. We have a lot of exciting things happening around the shop, but I'll save those stories for the next blog.

Before I close I want to say Happy Birthday to Melissa! Her birthday was yesterday, and for once, we were all home to help her celebrate her special day. See, not being on the road all the time does have its advantages. Well, I'm going wrap up this blog and call it a night. Thanks for checking in with us!