A lot has been happening over the last few months in the Stoffer camp. On the home front, we finally have our Solar being installed. If you remember, I wanted to run our outdoor living and landscape elements with renewable energy. We have a natural landscape but we’ve added outdoor living.

I’m pretty excited about the solar and the fact that we can use what we need and sell the unused energy back to the power company. We plan to expand in the near future to cover more and more of our power needs.

Things seem to be coming to a conclusion at work for GE, too. I am on a short-term assignment as the Business Leader responsible for upgrading our business SAP system from version 4.6 to 6.0. It is similar to going from Windows XP to Windows Vista. It is a large global upgrade and I have been up at all hours of the night having collaborative meetings across the globe.

We are now in the process of ‘cutting’ the business over, so the project will end in November. At this time, I am not sure what my next position will be.

Racing too, is in the final stages of wrapping up. We made it into the Countdown and have been able to move up a few positions thanks to a decent race in Charlotte. That was a fun race. We had a great representation from many of our partners. The facility is close KYMCO scooters and GEICO so we had hospitality full of scooters, employee’s friends and family. My brother and his family showed up as well as Debbie and Doug’s family.

One of the highlights of our weekend was when David Pearson, “The Silver Fox,” and his son Eddie toured our pits and sat on our bike. They are good friends of Chris Figdore, owner of Speed Dawg shift knobs, accessories and apparel.

Many of you may think that David is strictly a hero and legend in the oval and turning style of racing. Yes, he is, but he also enjoyed a very competitive and successful era in drag racing, winning 17 of the 17 drag races that he raced in the early ‘70s. Really, a cool guy to meet and have hanging out in your pits.

I will definitely add that to my memories and events of 2009.

Talk to you later.

Yesterday Karen and I had some free time just before going to the track in Maple Grove. So one of the places that has always been on a to do list while we travel has been Hershey, PA. We left in the early afternoon from Carlisle, Pa., where we had spent the night and arrived very easily in Hershey.

As you can see from the pictures the streetlights are shaped like Hershey Kisses! That was just the beginning of our adventure. We headed to the Hershey Gardens. Even though we are toward the end of the growing season it was a beautiful place. Mrs. Hershey loved flowers and especially roses. There were a whole section of just roses. The workers at the gardens have developed some and others are great old standards. That was just a small part of the entire gardens. There are several types of gardens in addition to the rose gardens. They focus on type of plants and methods of planting. There were herbs, special trees, decorative grasses and a special memorial garden.

As you walked the garden you can see the amusement park with some awesome looking rides and one that rotates around and elevates us in a spaceship looking elevator style ride that has kiss shaped windows. This allows you to see all of the city of Hershey.

At the back of the gardens is the Butterfly house. The butterflies were everywhere! There were also very nice volunteers that explained all about the life cycles of butterflies. We also got to watch as they laid eggs, saw caterpillars, and the cases in which they are incubated before hatching. Karen was real special because one landed on her foot for a ride around the house.

We then stopped at the “sun dial” garden and tried it out. As you can see we were there right at 1:30 p.m. in the month of August.

Our next stop was the Hershey Museum. Mr. Hershey was truly one of the great men of his time. He came from a very simple beginning and only had a 4th grade education. He had a dream and even though he failed multiple times he remained focused on his goal which was to make chocolate affordable to all. His life story can be found on the Hershey web site (attach it) and is truly remarkable. He was a very successful man who gave back to his community and the world. He and his wife, Catherine, established a school for orphans and children who were disadvantaged which is still in existence today.

Our final stop for the day was at the “Chocolate Lab.” There we learned that chocolate has been around for many years. It is found in the warmer areas of the world and will only grow below the 20-degree line. The pods form on the trunk of the trees. These pods are harvested and then opened where the chocolate seeds are found in a pulp inside of the pod. These are then sundried, crushed and the nibs from inside the seeds are then crushed to extract the coca butter which is the beginning ingredient for chocolate. We were given sample of white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate which were smelled and then allowed each to melt in out mouth. We then had to describe the taste and texture. We learned that white chocolate is truly chocolate, it is just mostly coca butter. It is smooth and creamy with a strong vanilla taste, then the milk chocolate which is sweet and creamy with a definite chocolate taste and finally the dark chocolate which is more waxy and bitter. All very different but still chocolate.

Then we got to make our own chocolate bar, only after preparing to cook by placing hats on our heads, washing our hands, and putting on an apron. You can see how beautiful we look and what our chocolate bars looked like.

We had a great day and I would highly recommend a stop in Hershey, Pa., if you are in the area. If that isn’t possible take a look at Mr. Hershey’s life, a truly determined man who never let today failure stop him from tomorrow’s success. Thanks for letting me share our day.
 

I have to first off apologize. I wrote a blog on June 24th when I was in Norwalk. I thought that I sent it. Apparently, I didn’t, because over the last few weeks I have received a few fan e-mails and Facebooks asking me when I was going to write my blog and if I had given up on it. As you can tell, I really don’t check the blogs after I send them. Well, that teaches me. Now, I promise I will check. I have attached the one that I was going to send a month ago below (starts with the heading Busy, Busy, Busy) for you to read. The information is a little old, but it was valid at the time.

I just came home from work, and I have a few minutes to write my blog before going outside and practice my pitching. This week, I will get to throw out the first pitch at the Oakland A’s game. I broke the cardinal rule last time and I hit the dirt by home plate, at the Atlanta Braves game. This time, it’s going in the zone. I actually went out and bought a $2.96 baseball to practice with. I have a few mounds in my yard, so I put a target on our burn pile and went out and practiced. I figured if I didn’t have a catcher, I would get my exercise by walking back and forth to get the ball. It also gave me incentive to hit my target after a few wild throws (over the top of the pit) and chasing the ball. I only have this one day to practice because I head out to San Francisco tomorrow evening. Wednesday evening we have the “Burnout Bash” Charity poker event. It’s going to be fun. That’s something that I’ve done for a long time: play cards. Growing up my parents would have card night every Friday. I would sit on my parents lap and learn how to play Hearts, Spades, Pinochle, Black Jack, and Poker. It used to be a tradition with our family to play a card game called “31,” after Thanksgiving Dinner.

You have often heard me talk about my friend Dee Dee; she was also a big card player. When we were roommates, if we weren’t at the races or watching the races on TV, we were playing cards. It was pretty cutthroat, too. There were no nice guy “gimmies.” I don’t get to play much now, so I am looking forward to it. There have been a few occasions lately that I have been able to play some cards. When we were in Valdosta testing and filming the commercial, we had some down time and I learned a new game called “ hand and foot.” Our friends Hank and Lilly showed us the game, and it’s a good one for strategy.

I do also hit all the charity “Bunko” events that take place. It’s not cards but it’s a fun game and it usually takes place in October when it’s “Bunko for Breast Cancer” time.
Well, time to go out and practice.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I found that I really like Panera. I am sitting here across from my Lighthouse Marketing buddy Miguel. We just completed the “Your Morning” taping at WTOL CBS in Toledo. We have a few hours between interviews and media stops, so we came here to do some work.

We are here in Ohio preparing for the Summit Nationals in Norwalk. GEICO and Lighthouse Marketing have been keeping me very busy. Englishtown was packed with action; enough so that I took a week of vacation from GE. First, and probably most public, was being selected as one of the drivers to join in the ringing of the opening bell on Wall Street. For those that follow, you know that business is my second love, next to drag racing. When I walked on the trading floor, I felt this electrifying excitement. It was not as noisy as I had anticipated, but one definitely sensed the flurry of activity of the electronic trading. Outside the Stock Exchange, in the streets the light mist of rain did not dampen the drivers’ constant interaction and the fan question about the display of NHRA vehicles. Staying in New York, Morgan Lucas and I had the opportunity to tape a segment on the Fox Business and Bloomburg TV.

Another highlight was the chance to have centerstage seats for the play Wicked. For the unknowing, it’s the story of the how the witches of the Wizard of Oz become who they are. I read the book and have been trying to see the play for 3 years now. Honestly, it was worth the wait. It was wonderful and made even more special by a very informative back stage tour.

I did get a chance to come home between races and media opportunities. Obviously, I had to go to work at GE, but the weekends I was able to spend time in the yard with my landscaping as well as do some home decorating projects. I am one of those that like to take some old item or piece of furniture and give it a makeover or change to make it new. People have said, “Karen doesn’t move furniture, she changes it and uses it as something else.” This time I took a black lacquer coffee table and cut it in half to make floating shelves for my entryway. It’s pretty easy to modify and change things when your dad is a carpenter by hobby, your husband welds, and your mom is the material sewing goddess. Right now the HGTV is on my favorites list as I am looking for more ideas for an outdoor room.

Well, time to go! Take care!

These last five weeks have been action-packed, but we have a bit of a breather now as the NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock Motorcycle Series steps aside for Bristol and Topeka. The bikes will be back at full throttle, June 4-7 at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago and I can’t wait.

The highlight of April came for us at Atlanta both on and off the track.

On the track, the GEICO Powersports team ran great in Atlanta with a first place qualifying run on Friday, followed by two more solid qualifying sessions on Saturday. On race day, we won an extremely close race in the opening round over Angie McBride, but then were eliminated in round two by Doug Horne. Despite the quarterfinals exit, we came away from Atlanta in very high spirits and a very optimistic feeling for the rest of this season due to the high performance that the GEICO Powersports Suzuki.

Off the track, we stayed very busy in Atlanta with some very rewarding activities. First up was the Atlanta Braves–Florida Marlins baseball game on Thursday before the race weekend. You may be asking why a baseball game is relevant to NHRA drag racing. Well, to help grow our fan base and create publicity for our sport and GEICO Powersports, I was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the ballgame.

Heading into this opportunity, I received a ton of advice on how best to approach the first pitch. I was hoping to practice back home in Nevada before departing for Atlanta, but wind gusts up to 50 mph made that impossible.

I did play softball and volleyball growing up, so I had some confidence heading into the first pitch, but did not know really what to expect. Once I was brought out to the mound, my first reaction was that the plate was not nearly as far away from the mound as I had anticipated. I threw the pitch a little softer than I meant to trying to make sure I didn’t throw the ball wide. I threw a strike, but “short hopped” it off the dirt and into the catcher’s mitt.

Throwing the first pitch was a very cool, unforgettable experience that was the talk of the GEICO Powersports pits for the rest of the weekend. Even cooler were the amount of NHRA fans who we came across at the Braves games. A lot of the baseball fans mentioned that they would be at the Atlanta Dragway later that weekend which was gratifying to hear. Hopefully, our appearance got some new fans to check out our sport as well. Special thanks to the Atlanta Braves for making us feel so at home at Turner Field.

Once we got to the track, I was happy to help host a special guest – Nick Manning and his family. We had met Nick last fall at the Bikes for Tikes event in Virginia. For the last three years, Nick has been recovering from a severe brain injury that he suffered in a motocross accident. Upon meeting we immediately connected with Nick and his family who were big NHRA fans.

GEICO arranged for an all-access trip to the track for Nick and his family. My GEICO Powersports teammate Morgan Lucas and I spent quality time with Nick and his family including tours of the GEICO Powersports Suzuki and Morgan’s top fuel dragster. The rest of our GEICO Powersports team entertained Nick and his family throughout the race weekend.

Nick, who just recently got his driver’s license and is recovering very well, could not stop smiling. His gratitude was very rewarding for both me and the team.

Last but not least, Atlanta was a weekend of birthday celebrations. Our team owner Debbie Johnson, her close friend Lillie Corbitt and I were all celebrating birthdays in the weeks surrounding the Atlanta race. We decided to celebrate all three birthdays together and had one birthday cake for the three of us. The birthday celebration was perfect way to cap off an awesome race weekend.

St. Louis was a challenging race weekend for us with rain hampering the qualifying on Friday. We made some good passes on Saturday, but were eliminated in round one on race day due to me fouling on the start line. We were able to get some amazing results in testing on Monday though which further assured me that we have a bike very capable of getting us into victory lane soon.

I do want to give a shout out to all the fans in St. Louis who stuck through the weather conditions with us. Even after the rain, the stands were still packed, a tribute to the loyalty of our fans. I was able to meet more fans than usual thanks to a driver autograph session put on by Gateway International Raceway. I look forward to meeting even more of you throughout this season. Without you all, none of what we do in the NHRA Full Throttle Series would be possible.

Thanks for all the support and see you in Chicago.
 

This is one of the first weekends that I have been home. It’s good timing too, because I love the spring and the good weather. For those of you listening or watching the ACDelco Nationals in Las Vegas, my weather at home is the same as Las Vegas, except that it occurs the day before. The wind and rain that delayed qualifying on Friday, was here on Thursday. Similarly, the beautiful conditions on Saturday, was here Friday, and so on.

Gary and a group of friends from the area took their race cars out to play in the beautiful weather. Actually, they have been working to change all their cars over from gas to E-85, an alternative fuel.

The previous owner of Bently Nevada, now, General Electric, where I work, has a gas station, here in town, which sells E-85.  Gary has been looking into this for some time, and hooked up with Quick Fuel,  and Heath at raceone85.com to help with the conversion to E-85.  

The day at the track was a success. All the race cars did very well and went quicker than they had in the past. The unique thing about running E-85 is the sound. People say it sounds like a Top Fueler.  Gary says it goes from rumpity rump to cackle cackle.  All the guys came back pretty happy about the test and tune day at Top Gun.

Gary wanted me to go out and video tape, but unfortunately, I had to stay home and get caught up on things. I have recently joined the population of “Facebookers” and my home computer had some issues right after. During the computer down time, I missed an opportunity to be part of a cool April fools joke too. My computer is not fixed, but, I spent the day identifying the problem and ordering the parts. They’ll be here next week and then I can be up and running.

I was able to get a few pictures off the computer to share here. When we did the GEICO Powersports commercial, Morgan and I posed for many photos and here is the one they selected for the back of the RV that travels the NHRA Full Throttle series. I’m still sometimes taken aback when I see myself in all black leathers.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been changing our website to the new brand and colors, and the GEICOgarage.com site is progressing right along too. 

Well, now it’s time to get out and spend the day on our home landscape.

In addition to traveling around the world, our team has gone through branding and color change. In less than a month we are working to completely change the whole look of our rig, bike, team shirts, and awning. Thanks to Doug’s persistent coordination, our rig has been painted, wrapped, a new awning in place and new team shirts, bikes leathers, helmets, and even merchandise have been switched over to our new GEICO Powersports brand. WOW!

The brand change had to be completed in less than three weeks to meet the deadline for the filming of the GEICO Powersports web and national commercial with Morgan Lucas and myself. Our filming did not begin until 6:00 p.m. and it went through until 6:00 a.m. This allowed me to work during the day and film (work) through the night too. It just so happened that there was a cold snap here and the temperature was in the 20s and 30s during our filming. Talk about cold. I’m the one that wears long sleeve shirts in Florida when it is 80 degrees. It was so cold in my leathers at 3:00 a.m. that my legs were shaking so bad and I could not control them for the filming. Debbie was wearing four layers of clothes and still freezing. Wouldn’t you know it, that the next few days after the shoot, the weather gradually improved and the weekend has been a beautiful 80 degrees during the day ad lows of 55 at night.

We have a lot of new things happening with our team this year and it seems to all have had to come together over the course of 80 days. I am happy to report that it has, so be sure to pay close attention in the next few weeks as the unveiling of the GEICO Powersports team occurs.

This month Gary has been spending most of his time working on his car. Here’s a picture of it. I’m so used to him being in white, it seems strange to see his car black for the moment. I like it though. It’s going to be painted next winter. He’s not sure of the color yet, but I think a red or brandy color will be his choice. I usually go for the cool blues and greens while he leans more toward the reds. Now that it’s back together and running, he’s been pretty anxious to take it out. It’s not going to happen though, until March or so.

He did have a chance to go test his car in January, but our nephew’s wedding was that weekend. Jeff and Katie, otherwise now known as ‘Heff’ and Katie Chatelain, were married January in Southern California. It was a rainy day but the clouds parted long enough for their outdoor ceremony to progress without a hitch. They closed the ceremony with a rousing rendition of “Walk the line” by Johnny Cash.

During the reception Gary leaned over to me and said that this was probably one of the best weddings he had been to. We all had a really good time.

I’m back to sitting on a plane and writing a blog. The team is meeting in Virginia Beach for our year-end celebration with GEICO. This is our annual get-together with all the other racers and our family of GEICO associates, to celebrate the prior year results. It really is something to see when all the GEICO race teams walk through the halls and cubicles and greet all the associates. The entourage is very well orchestrated to not interfere with any work or phone conversations as we converge on the offices. I’m sure that’s the workings of “momma Lisa” to ensure we visit everyone and still maintain productivity throughout.

In the late morning we then have a luncheon-type celebration for all the associates. Awards for achievement are handed out as the leaders give speeches, which each year seems to be filled with more and more pride for their teams. At some point during the celebration the leaders usually perform skits or plays for the employees. It’s the highlight of the day as most of the time they include costumes, music, light shows, and on occasion, stunts. Those pictures, I usually don’t place on my blogs, however I will tell you that all the GEICO Powersports Racers and teams will be ushered off to a room and requested to dance for the video! I’m sure we will see a copy pop up somewhere on the internet.

There have been some changes for me at GE, too, that will require me to travel to India this month. I’m on an assignment as the Project Manager for our SAP system upgrade. I’m pretty excited about going and meeting the team there. My plan is to fly back from India in time to hit the test session in Georgia. We also have some big plans with GEICO while we are in Georgia. Don’t want to let too much out of the bag but I will tell all of you, who have been asking about a commercial, that it WILL happen this year.

I also attached a picture of Mark Peiser’s (who you know as Steve Johnson’s 2008 crew chief) GEICO Powersports Boat and Truck. Mark is a bass fisherman that is now sponsored by GEICO Powersports, so keep your eye out for him on the fishing channels. Mark is also now a member of our GEICO racing team as our Shop Operations Manger in Indianapolis. He is a great asset to our program and both GEICO and our race team are very excited about his coming on board and sporting the gecko.

More exciting things to come for 2009!

Bye for now!