Hi everyone! I just got back to the shop yesterday, unloaded, unpacked, cleaned and am ready to start getting everything ready for our next race. Unfortunately, we will not be attending the race in Dallas or Memphis but we are very excited about Ryan racing the Sunglass Machine at Richmond. Since Richmond is only about two hours from our shop, we expect to have lots of friends, fans and family in attendance.

For those of you that watched the coverage on ESPN2 you know that the race in Concord was amazing. How about the four side-by-side Top Fuel and Funny Car passes? That was really something to see. We couldn’t get a very good picture of those passes so you will have to go to the NHRA website and check out the great pictures that are posted. I know I'm probably dating myself, but I remember back in the day when we used to watch the cars run four wide at Budd's Creek. We were hoping that NHRA would run four Pro Stock cars but for some reason they decided not to. Maybe next time! 

We had a great time in Concord this past weekend. Besides being in a fantastic facility we were treated to lots of family, friends and sponsors. Myles Freeman from Wiley X and a couple of his friends traveled all the way from California to spend the weekend with us and I know that they had a great time. What better way is there to spend your weekend than watching Ryan qualify the Sunglass Machine? OK, I guess watching Ryan put the Sunglass Machine in the winner's circle would be a little better; we are confident that with his driving skills it won't take him too long to accomplish that!

Besides some great racing, the event in Concord gave us an opportunity to catch up with family as well. Toni's dad, Don, was in the area visiting his brother so they decided to come to the race on Sunday. I know that Don hasn't been to the track in years and Toni's Uncle Ed had never been to an NHRA event. They certainly weren't disappointed with what this facility had to offer and everyone had a great time.

Speaking of having a great time, Toni and I decided to take an extra day and, while on the way home, stopped by the race shop of Richard Childress. Melissa's friend, Chris, works on the #07 car driven by Casey Mears, and he gave us a private tour of the entire facility. All I can say is, "Wow!" It was absolutely amazing! Everyone there was so nice; many of them had attended the race, and most of them follow NHRA Pro Stock. I could have spent a week there just talking to all of the employees and admiring all of the technology that goes into an operation of that size. Hey, I offered to unload the Sunglass Machine (which was parked in the parking lot) so they could look it over and offer up some speed secrets! OK, so they were a little busy with their cars – I get it.

We didn't leave the facility until they were turning out the lights and locking the doors. I really appreciate Chris taking time out of his busy day to give us a tour and answer a million of my questions. I know that after a Sunday race, all of those guys have a lot to do to get ready for the next weekend and every one of them took the time to talk to us and answer all of our questions. I have to say, that after spending a day in such a premier racing facility, it was a little depressing to come back to my little shop. 

Since we won't be traveling for the next couple of weeks Jon and I are looking forward to having the time to fine tune our GXP to get it ready for Richmond and Richard Maskin, Craig, and the other guys at Dart are working really hard to find us some more horsepower. Prior to the Richmond event, we will spend two days testing and then race in the U.S. Pro Stock Open at Budd's Creek, Md. The Pro Stock Open will be held on Wednesday, Oct.7 and the Pro qualifying starts at 7:30 p.m.

Believe it or not this is the event where I debuted my first Pro Stock car back in 1988! I can still remember the butterflies I had when I rolled my Ford Thunderbird into the water at my home town track in front of all of my bracket racing competitors. It all looked so easy when the car was sitting in the garage – it was sure a different story when I pulled to the starting line and let the clutch out for the first time. Of course, I don't think that the car went 60 feet for the first few hits and I was so frustrated. I remember coming back to the trailer, sitting in the lounge and I said to Toni, "I'm not sure if I can do this." She looked me straight in the eye and I will never forget what she said.

She said, "Jim now is a great time for you to decide that you can't drive this Pro Stock car. We didn't spend all this time and all this money for you to doubt yourself now! Now you need to get back out there, get your butt back in that race car and drive it to the finish line just like you know how to do!"

What could I say to that? She was right. (Well, she might have been right just that one time! LOL)  Was I going to prove to everyone at my home track that I couldn't handle this car? Well, I went back out there, strapped myself in my new Pro Stock car, did a pretty nice burnout, drove it to the finish line and qualified in the top half of the field. I made six runs that night between 7.47 and 7.51 and then ran 7.50 in the final against the reigning world champion, "Tricky Rickie" Smith. That's right, my very first race in Pro Stock and I went to the final.

As they say, the rest was history. I was on the top of the world that night and I was hooked for good. My good friend Carlton Phillips (who also raced Pro Stock at the time) came over to congratulate me on my runner-up finish. I was so excited to have gone to the final and on top of that had won $1,000. Carlton just laughed at me and said, "You might have won $1,000 but you just cost yourself about $500,000!" Now what in the world did he mean by that? I didn't quite catch the meaning then, but I sure have come to realize what he was saying now. Looking back, I think he misplaced his decimal point!

Well, enough of my reminiscing. If you are on your way to the Richmond event and have some free time on Wednesday evening, stop by Budds Creek and watch some great drag racing. Things have come a long way for me since that first Pro Stock Open in 1988, but I always look forward to putting on a show for my home town fans at my home town track; and yes, even now, I occasionally feel those butterflies when I pull into that same water box.