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 TeamTalk
August
25, 2008
It’s
Monday morning, but not just any Monday morning. It’s Monday
morning of the busiest week of the year of the biggest race
of the season. So… what better to do than blog. Come on
everybody and ride on my fantastic voyage.
It’s
Aug. 25, so we need to start by wishing my dad a Happy
Birthday. I moved to Indy about 28 months ago and my parents
finally decided to visit. It’s great to have them chilling
at the condo for the week. It’s even better when they buy me
things and I put them to work. LOL My pops is excited for
the Nationals and the Hemi Shootout on Friday at ORP. I’m
wishing it was a week from now and “Hell Week” is just about
over. “Hell Week” being the U.S. Nationals, the race that
keeps on giving.
Howard
is on vacation again, so I’m typing to ESPN Radio. Mike &
Mike also are on vacation, which doesn’t bother me too much.
I find Greenburg a bit whiny and annoying. Colin comes back
from vacation, so that’s a good thing. I believe Rome will
be back this week too. It could be a good sports radio
Monday.
There
seems to be a swagger in everyone’s step today at DPM race
headquarters. I know getting my three miles in this a.m.
helped for me, but energy seems high for the entire DPM
squad, expect Beard, who’s late. Perhaps we’re ready to end
the run of the Army freight train. Hot Rod was the last to
beat them way back at Norwalk, so why not knock them off at
Indy? Sounds like a plan, right? We’ll put that plan into
action, whether it works or not, only time will tell.
We
left off about five weeks ago in Seattle. I don’t remember
much about the Western Swing other than I spent a lot of
money at Nordy’s and wine testing in Napa and the Russian
River Valley. My liquor closet is stacked. In fact, I’m
worried more about a potential burglar wanting my wine
instead of the LCD TV or my other prized possessions.
We do
NHRA race, so I guess I should talk about some drag racing.
Ok, here goes. Brainerd was Brainerd. Lakes, overpriced
hotels, nice weather, water slides, walleye, Michelob Golden
Draft Light… We didn’t win the race, so we lost money. We
couldn’t afford to pay the costly hotel rates, so we’ll all
be camping in the Zoo next July. Just kidding… It is amazing
how water slides, a lazy river and basketball in a pool can
turn a group of adults into children. We forget about our
problems, stop bitching about work and just get lost in the
water and have fun for a few hours. Good times at the Lodge.
We qualified in the top half of the field with both cars.
Ant blew them off and went out early. Hot Rod finally got by
Brandon “hats off” Bernstein, but came up just short against
the Army machine. Early exit for team DPM at B.I.R.
We
flew home for a few days and then off to Philly and the hour
drive to Reading for one of my favorite tracks, Maple Grove
Raceway. Not sure why I like the Grove, it’s just a cool old
track in the trees. Hot Rod qualified very well at No. 2 in
the Ransome car and Ant was middle of the pack at seventh.
That meant a potential round two match-up for team DPM,
which came to fruition. The CAT boys struck the hides and
the Matco team sailed into the semis. It was ugly from the
start when the Antron’s motor broke a rocker arm when they
started the car. That was a recipe for disaster and the Iron
Eagle didn’t make it very far down track. We could use a bit
of luck, perhaps at Indy and during the Countdown we’ll find
that lucky horseshoe. Again, only time will tell. Second and
fifth, with the chance to be second and fourth isn’t bad for
our little mom & pop race team. We like our chances being
only 30 and 50 or 60 points back. We’re big proponents of
the Countdown this year. Funny how things change in a year.
A few
quick thoughts on the sports world. The Dodgers bullpen is
an ugly disaster. Broxton is not a closer. Torre, please
spare us the pain of watching him try to close games. He’s
blown seven saves. That’s not good. We still love Man-Ram in
LA. The Cubs are really good, but all I can think is
1-9-0-8. Rich Harden, when healthy, is awesome. 11 K’s on
Sunday and 0 BB’s. That’s strong. College football starts
this week, awesome! I can’t wait for SC to outdo Ohio State
in a few weeks. Big 10 = overrated. SC’s defense is way
strong. Joe McKnight needs to get healthy. The Raiders
offense continues to sputter. J-Roc shows signs, but he
doesn’t have a lot of WR weapons. Pull the trigger and trade
for Anquan Boldin. Free him from ‘Zona. The Oakland defense
will be very good. Watching Colts fan panic about Peyton’s
bursa sack is fun. I don’t think they realize how fortunate
they are to have Peyton. They just take it for granted. Two
words, Ryan Leaf. The Olympics were fun. Now it’s back to
CNN, Discovery Channel and Sports Center at night. Usain
Bolt, if you try, you might be Michael Phelps. Talk about a
couple of freaks. They make really hard things looks
effortless. I feel for Alicia Sacramone. Not only is she
adorably cute, the media is still killing her. How about the
complete tank job by Tyson Gay and most of our U.S. track
stars.
Ok,
I’m done. In the words of Eric the Midget: Bye for now.
Be
good.
Ted
July
17, 2008
It’s
been awhile, a long while since we’ve last blogged. I’m
blaming it on four races in five weeks and the Western
Swing. I’m stuck at DIA with the Hurst Chick for a
three-hour layover, so what better to do than blog. We’re
chillin’ in front of gate C43 for our 12:15 flight from DIA
to SEA and there’s no musical or verbal distraction. Yes,
Howard is back from vacation, but probably not appropriate
for airport listening. So, I’ll be serenaded by the constant
chatter of voices and screaming kids. Lovely! Yes, some
still think we live the dream life on the NHRA tour.
We
just dined a pretty decent joint at the airport and I was
telling Diana that next year, God willing, we should just
rent a car and drive the swing. This back and forth stuff
really wears you out, plus it’s a beautiful drive. We should
experience “God’s Country” since most Americans never visit
Wyoming, Montana or Idaho. I did it a few years ago when I
was at DPR, but it would be nice to just relax and spend a
day in the mountains of Colorado or stop at Yellowstone or
along the Clark Fork River. I talk big, but when push comes
to shove, I’m sure it’ll be much of the typical in ‘09.
Maybe things will change. Yes we can!
The
weather’s been hot and muggy in Indy, so my July Duke Energy
bill will spike I’m sure. We left off the blog after Joliet,
so that leaves us with three races to recap. Englishtown was
great until Saturday afternoon. The Steely Dan concert at
The Beacon in NYC was a fun time and the food afterwards at
Buddakan was awesome. Very cool dining experience. I did
Central Park for the first time and loved it. AB grabbed
pole No. 2 for the ’08 season, but our entire mindset change
shortly after with the Scott Kalitta incident. I can’t say
anything that hasn’t already been said, so that moves us to
Norwalk.
It was
home for a little more than a day and then up early to make
the five-hour drive to Stow, Ohio for Matco day. Ant and Hot
Rod signed autographs for all the corporate employees at
Matco and then Tor had us over for dinner at his house that
night. We had a good time as I played pool babysitter for
Arianna and Anson Brown and gave Tor’s son, John, his first
manual driving lesson in the S2. He did pretty well. Hot Rod
earned the “Flynnch” pole for the seventh time in his brief
Top Fuel career and first No. 1 qualifier of the season for
Ohio CAT. The CAT car went RU, semi, semi to conclude June,
while AB had another case of the second-round blues. That
put us second and fourth in the standings. This little mom
and pop team just continues to plug along. Oh, I did try the
one-pound of ice cream for $1 and it was scrumptious. In
fact, I indulged twice during the Norwalk race. Shame on me…
On the
off weekend we slept in, ran four miles both weekend days,
chilled at Beard’s pool and were pretty much lazy. We
deserve it! Oh, the Nadal v. Federer Wimbledon final didn’t
suck. I’ve never watched tennis that intently before. I’m
not sure if the ’08 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines or the tennis
was more intriguing, it’s a toss up. I know, I like sports
too much. I admit it, I’m guilty. With last night, post MLB
all-star game, being the slowest sports day of the year,
we’re still in denial. The Dodgers are just one game out and
with a good start to the second half, the boys in blue can
leave Arizona in first place under .500. Gotta love the NL
West.
Denver
was good, but short. Colorado is a gorgeous state. I’m
determined to go in early next year and spend a day or two
just doing a bunch of nothing. Our runs were slow, thanks
altitude, but the weather wasn’t as hot as we’d expect.
That’s a pleasant change. The sinus infection was no fun;
thank goodness for Aleve Cold & Sinus, even if you do have
to give your entire life history to buy the stuff. The race
was hit and miss. We had the largest turnout ever for the
Iron Eagle Club, close to 1,000 guests. We like hosting big
crowds. It’s sort of a downer to put up the Taj Mahal and
have 30 people in there. AB ran the first three-second pass
in NHRA history, Hot Rod struggled, AB went to final round
No. 4 this season and we got “machined.” AJ is AJ and the
rest of us fight for second best. We’ve been fortunate to
outrun those guys a few times this season and that’s an
accomplishment. Two thumbs down on 1,000-foot racing. It’s
plain awful. It would be like the NFL playing on 75-yard
fields. Drag racing is to be conducted on a quarter-mile
track. Are we racing too long of a distance or are the cars
too fast? I believe most would say that latter, so let’s use
the many, many really smart people in our great sport and
figure out a way to slow down the cars mechanically. Off the
soapbox…
I do
need to say that it’s great having Jim Andrews back as a
member of our hospitality team. He indeed is an asset to our
team. Jim is a great guy and we need his work ethic and
integrity. Things are falling into shape. Only 11 races
left!
Well,
our plane to Seattle takes off in less than two hours and
that should give me plenty of time to post this online for
all my peeps to read. The free Wifi at DIA is nice. We have
a Matco dinner in Tacoma tonight and a killer trail behind
our hotel, so I’m determined to run this weekend more than
once. Tomorrow is like Christmas in July, Nordstrom’s
anniversary sale begins. Hot Rod, AB and I will hit it early
before we head out to our “rural” track in Kent. That’s all
I got. Be good.
Ted
June
13, 2008
Friday the 13th and it’s
been a month. Bristol seems ages ago. It’s nearly 2 p.m.
(ET) and Rome is playing some terrible alternative song
about his producer Jason Stewart by some band called
Three Day Weekend. My favorite Rome drop has to be the
crazed Ok State football coach saying, “fat!” Brett Myers’
locker room meltdown is pretty strong too, maybe not as good
as A.I.’s “practice,” but close.
It’s
Friday at DPM racing headquarters and most of the team has
the day off. A few of the CAT guys are working, but it’s
pretty quiet around here. The office staff continues to
press forward. I’m bogged down with budgets for hospitality,
something I didn’t sign up for when I took this job. Budgets
are not fun. I’m over it, so it’s time to blog. I’m IMing
with Hill Will to break up the monotony that is a Friday at
the shop. A few of the guys on the Matco team went back to
Joliet to work on Beard’s kid’s dragster. Zach makes his
A/FD debut at Route 66 Raceway this weekend, so big Beard
dooped a few of his crew guys to work on the car. I sure
hope he’s paying them because the last place I want to be on
an off weekend is at a drag strip. One of them is my roomie,
so I have the condo all to me this weekend. That doesn’t
suck.
It’s
raining here, again. That’s not out of the ordinary. All it
does in the Midwest this time of year is rain. It gets old.
It’s like Seattle without the scenery. Why we live here, I’m
not sure. Thanks NHRA. Rip and I cleaned my deck last night
with the plan of staining this weekend. Weather.com says
82-85 degrees and sunny this weekend. I hope they’re right.
I need a rainless weekend. I don’t want to see rain until
August 14-17 when we go to Reading, Pa. I heard Marvin
Gaye’s Trouble man on the radio and he sings: There’s
only three things for sure, taxes, death and trouble. We’ll,
he was wrong. It’s taxes, death and rain during the Keystone
Nationals.
I’m
trying to recall what happened at Bristol. It rained on race
day and we lost early. Sunday night was a good time. Antron
and I went and got pizza for a few of our crew guys. Eight
pizzas later, there’s like 25 DPM crew members in one hotel
room at The Carnegie watching the race on ESPN2. I asked the
person in that room the next morning if he cleaned up the
many beer bottles. He said no and there were more than 100
bottles. I think the team, rather than an individual, won
the Bristol drunk award. Our boy Scott Humphrey, who works
for a liquor distributor in Pennsylvania, hooked us up. For
$180 I went home with a Caymus, two Cakebread, and a bottle
of Woodford Reserve 4 Grain, among others. We scored and the
liquor closet is looking good. Rip and I will enjoy the 4
Grain once the deck is stained. That’s the reward. We rode
home in a Sequoia with Beard, Rip and Diana, our sponsor
relations/ticketing gal. We call her “The Hurst Chick.” As
usual, Beard gave us the, “I’m a crew chief, not a driver”
line and rode the entire trip.
We got
home Monday and Ant and I flew to Denver on Tuesday. We flew
SWA and SWA doesn’t yet fly direct from IND to DEN, so we
had a long layover at Midway. Ant is so mellow. Most hero
drivers so would have sounded me, but we both like our Rapid
Rewards points, so it was all good. We got to the airport in
Denver, which is pretty much in like Wyoming, drove south of
downtown and made a pit stop at Go Fast Sports to check out
our girl Kelly. We got to see the Go Fast jet pack, met Troy
the founder and sampled the about to be launched Go Fast
energy gum. Yummy stuff! After that, we met Zak from the
NHRA media department at Coors Field for the Giants/Rocks
game. Coors Field is strong. I’ve been to, I believe, 22
current ball parks and it’s top five, easy. Fenway tops my
list, but PNC in Pittsburgh, ATT in SF and Coors are really
nice ballparks.
The
next day was media day for Antron at Bandimere Speedway. Zak
and Jeff Sipes from the track hooked it up. A.B. spent most
of the day doing interviews to promote the Mile-Highs. I
spent the day in the press room working. It was the most
productive day I’ve had in a long time. No phone calls, just
being productive. It was great. Denver is a cool city. I
could definitely live there. Not sure I could deal with all
the “donkey” fans though. Thursday morning, Ant and I were
up at like 4 a.m. for 6:30 flights. He flew home to Indy and
I went home to San Diego to see the folks over Memorial Day
Weekend. The weather sucked. It was like I was in Indy,
rainy and overcast most of my few days in So Cal. To see
rain is not why I went to Cali. The KIFM jazz festival was
cool. Nick Colionne, Dave Koz and George Benson were great.
Not sure why people are infatuated with Mindi Abair. She’s
no Candy Dulfer. Yeah, I like jazz. I know, I’m a geek. At
least I admit it.
We
flew from SAN to IND on Memorial Day. The kid, my roommate,
picked me up. We hit up Cold Stone and didn’t do much else.
A few days later we were off to Topeka. Thursday was
hospitality setup day. Perhaps my least favorite day. I’m ok
with Topeka, but my allergies aren’t. My eyes itch, water
and burn as soon as we enter Kansas. We did ok there. Ant
had the car to beat, but we got a bit greedy in the semis.
It was way cool to see Hill Will win. She deserves it big
time. That car is running strong.
We
flew home Monday and drove off Tuesday. Joliet is two hours
North of Peoria. Peoria is the hometown of Caterpillar. That
same Caterpillar that backs our own Hot Rod Fuller.
Therefore, it was a busy week. Hot Rod did an appearance
with our show car at Mossville, Ill. on Tuesday. The team
had dinner at Pat Lavery’s house that night. Pat is one of
our main guys at CAT. His son, Matthew, has an awesome
painting of Hot Rod’s ride on his bedroom wall. I got to
play Wii for the first time and I’m addicted. Wii could be a
really bad drug. The team did a start-up at the CAT Tech
Center in Peoria on Wednesday, but I drove to Route 66
Raceway in the S2 on Wednesday morning tagging along with
Gage and Lil John in the black Tundra. I wanted to try my
hand at setting up the Taj Mahal, our hospitality area,
since Leo’s wife had just given birth. Setting up the Iron
Eagle Club is much easier than last year, but still at lot
of work. I introduced our group to Cemeno’s Pizza that
evening. They were hooked. If you go to the Joliet race,
you’ve got to get pizza at Cemeno’s. Antron went back on
Saturday night.
Thursday was a busy day. Up before 7 a.m. Drove Antron to
meet Chuck Patula in Mokena, Ill. for his truck ride. Went
to the track. Worked there. Met Antron after the ride around
11 a.m. We drove to downtown Chicago for the NHRA presser at
Mike Ditka’s. If you’re a sports fan, there’s some cool
memorabilia on the walls at Ditka’s like an Aliquippa High
School football jersey. We cut out early and booked for the
hotel. At like 2:20 p.m. the 90/94 was wall-to-wall.
Chicagoland traffic might be worse than So Cal. It was
awful. We decided to pull off and spend the afternoon in the
city. We had a dinner with NHRA and IMG at 7 p.m. We buzzed
around Wrigley Field, cruised down Lake Shore Drive, and got
lost trying to find N9NE. After finding the restaurant, we
parked the S2, walked to Nordstrom and shopped. It was Ant’s
maiden voyage to Nordy’s. Hot Rod and I are Nordstrom
veterans. July 18 the Nordstrom anniversary sale begins!
It’s like Christmas in July for us metros. I only walked out
of there with a 7 Diamonds shirt, so I was good. Ant had a
brand new wardrobe. We had to look good for our dinner. N9NE
was strong. Very modern and trendy. Beard would dig it. We
finally left dinner around 10:30 and we were the first ones
out of the dinner. Long day. Ant fell asleep in the
passenger seat with the top down and LL blaring.
Chicago was a weird race. At least the weather was eerie. We
were busy entertaining both Matco and CAT folks. AB
qualified well, but smoked ‘em early and was trailered in
round one for the first time this year. Hot Rod barely made
the show, but put on a good show for the 3,000 CAT employees
supporting the team all weekend long. We’re fortunate enough
to have strong sponsor support from both CAT and Matco. Our
Matco distributors at Joliet rock! Fuller went to the final
and we were on track for the Ill. sweep until A.J. was the
machine. Those Army guys are really good. That .49 might be
run of the year so far. Big budget, best tuner in history,
good driver, experienced crew. That’s gonna be tough to
beat.
It’s
now 2:39 p.m. The thunder has stopped. I hope the rain has
too. The Weezer, Mikey from Dixon’s team, has a b-day party
at Charbono’s tonight, so that’s the plan for Friday
evening. The rest of the weekend looks like this: sleep in,
run, stain deck, clean, drink Woodford 4 Grain, watch U.S.
Open. That makes me smile, and with that, I’m out.
May
14, 2008
I just woke up from an
afternoon nap, and no it wasn’t a dream. I’m in a 2008
Toyota Sequoia cruising along I-75 to Bristol. Some top 40
station from Knoxvegas is blarring Flo-rida, Daughtry, Fall
Out Boy, Sean Kingston and a bunch of other songs we won’t
remember in a month.
I woke up this morning in
Avon to gray, gloomy overcast skies and three states later
it’s much of the same. The DPM caravan to Bristol Dragway
began around 9:30 when Crazy Tracy took Lee, Rip, Diana and
me to the car rental place to pick up our gray Sequoia; gray
like the clouds above.
I drove the first leg from
IND to Lexington. We stopped for lunch at Max & Erma’s
because Lee wanted a sit-down restaurant. Crew chiefs… The
only two flying into Tri-Cities are our drivers. Since
they’ve been winning races, we’re ok with that. We’ve got
about two hours left and it’s been an ok day, especially my
nap. That and text messages. Annoying Lee is fun too. I just
woke him up from a deep nap. Rip is driving and the Hurst
Chick is listening to an mp3 player doing crossword puzzles.
She says it keeps her brain sharp. Brain, is that spelled
brain or brian?
Antron and Hot Rod are both
coming in a day early. A-Bomb has two Matco Tools truck
rides on Thursday and Rodney is going to the pre-event
presser at the Country Club of Bristol. They have a charity
golf tournament with a bunch of NHRA drivers. We’re not sure
if he’ll play. He may putt. I hear they serve cold beer, so
I might be the golf cart driver. Maybe the sun will decide
to come out. The weather forecast for the weekend has gotten
worse by the day, lovely.
Speaking of Hot Rod Fuller,
nice story on our little driver buddy on NHRA.com. I do
think it was a fine writing job if you ask me. I always say,
winning is the best form of PR. You wanna make it on ESPN2
or in the local newspaper, qualify on the pole, win or blow
up. It’s as simple as that. That’s your PR lesson of the
day.
Ok, I’ll talk NHRA racing
now. In the last blog entry we had this sentence in the last
paragraph: We didn’t do so well there last April, so
hopefully team DPM can march through the TF field like
Sherman to the Sea. How about that! Hot Rod to the
semis, Antron to the winner’s circle. Marching we did! A
week later we continued to thump away. A.B. set the track
speed record at Gateway and Hot Rod collected TF “Wally” No.
7 and moved to fourth in the points. I guess that CAT team’s
slump is over. That 4.525 in the final round didn’t suck. It
was an impressive run by Flynn and the CAT crew.
Just a day earlier, Flynn and
I spent the entire first Top Fuel qualifying session in the
local hospital. The purveyor of “Canadian Horsepower” was
struck by the vertigo bug. At least that’s what the local
docs chalked it up to. Rob seems to be doing fine. I’m
guessing four round wins on Sunday afternoon at Gateway was
the perfect remedy. Winning in the sponsor’s home state is
good too. That helps the job security. Keep it up boys.
Round two in Joliet in a few weeks, followed by the Matco
group at Norwalk in late June. It’s about time we win when
Tor is at the track.
Not sure what’s on the agenda
for tonight. Rip and I talked about a quick walk to Backyard
Burgers for dinner. He says it’s good. Diana says it’s
In-N-Out good. But is it Fattburger good? Speaking of
Fattburger, I’m going home to Cali next weekend, so a
Fattburger and real Mexican food is waiting for me. And some
Karl Strauss Amber Lager. Good stuff! Momma got flowers for
Mother’s Day, but the real present (me) shows up at SAN on
May 22. It’s going to be a crazy week. Antron and I have to
go to Denver next week for a few days to promote the
Mile-High Nats. I get back at Noon on Thursday and fly out
to San Diego at 6:45 p.m. Should be a fun time. I’m praying
I don’t get sick.
After the burger joint, I’m
sure we’ll venture to the local Johnson City liquor store to
search the bourbon selection. A colleague of ours hooked us
up with some Crown Royal Cask 16. Very good stuff. Nice and
smooth. We had some Elijah Craig 18 year last night. Another
good choice. I hear Woodford Reserve 4 Grain is good. I’m
going to try something new this weekend, perhaps Baker’s.
It’s a small batch product from Jim Beam. We’ve found it’s
much easier on the wallet to buy your own bottle rather than
drink at the hotel bar or nearby restaurant bar. Wine is the
biggest gouge job.
That’s about it. I need to
get my drivers to update their NHRA.com driver blogs this
weekend. If it rains, we’ll have time. I’m hoping for no
rain though. Bristol Dragway may be the coolest place on
circuit to watch drag racing. Bristol or Bandimere, both
very scenic. We were fortunate enough to win at Denver last
year; hopefully it’s a fifth straight final round appearance
for team DPM on May 18. Check back in a few weeks and we’ll
blog about it. I’m getting sleepy and the battery on my
lapper is low. What should I dream about? I’m envisioning a
1-2 ranking for our drivers.
Bye for now.
Ted
April
23, 2008
Howard
is back after a week from vacation, but more importantly
Artie Lange is back on the show after his epic meltdown a
few weeks ago. Robin is reading the news and I’m back on the
blog.
Two
blog entries in one month. That gets us a big Hot Rod
Fuller, “Wow!” That’s an inside joke, but trust us, it’s
funny. We’re off to lovely Hartsfield airport tomorrow
morning for the 28th annual Southern Nationals.
Atlanta Dragway is a bit of a misnomer as the track is
actually closer to South Carolina than Atlanta. We again get
to stay in Athens which is a good thing. Athens, Ga. is a
fun little college town.
The
weather in Indy has been surprisingly great. In fact, I sort
of feel like I’m back in So Cal, which I will be over
Memorial Day weekend. Can’t wait! We blew off the gym and
ran 3.36 miles yesterday morning. Last night we had a
birthday gathering for the roomie, Chris, who turns 27
today. It was a semi-drunk fest. The worst of it was some
drunk texting and late night fireworks. No harm, no foul.
Happy birthday kid! Speaking of the kid, he’s been slacking
on his blog on Antron’s page. He’s big time neglecting all
the fans of the DPM website who want to hear about his tales
from the road.
The
phones have been non-stop this morning. Call Steve the Chef,
call David, call Stan at CAT, call John at Matco… It’s hard
for me to flick paper footballs around the office when they
actually make me work. j/k
We
left off on the last blog before Vegas. Vegas was cool. The
Golden Nugget was a good time. The swimming pool is very
cool. Vic & Anthony’s steakhouse is all time. My folks were
in Vegas for the weekend, so that was cool. We miss them
lots. The race was hit and miss for team DPM. Both Hot Rod
and Ant qualified in the top half of the field. Ant had
another good race on a tricky track and just came up short
against Cory Mac in the final. Just getting down that
dreaded right lane was an accomplishment. Monday and Tuesday
were supposed to be chill days, but that all changed when
the CAT team tested. The Monday pool day turned into help
tear down hospitality day and shopping Tuesday turned into
fly home a day early. Oh well, you’ll have that. We have to
be flexible in the racing world. Things don’t usually go as
planned.
Ant
just got to the shop to sign some hero cards and get
everything squared away for our journey to Atlanta. We
didn’t do so well there last April, so hopefully team DPM
can march through the TF field like Sherman to the Sea.
That’s all we got for now. Hopefully we don’t endure too
many thunderstorms in Commerce. Oh, I almost forgot, we had
an earthquake in the Midwest. Weird!
Later,
Ted
April 4, 2008
April is here, but spring has
yet to arrive in the Midwest. It’s another gloomy, cold
morning on Indianapolis’ Westside. I hear robins chirping,
but haven’t seen much sun since we left the Lone Star State
on Monday morning.
Radio update has Mike & Mike
signing off and Colin Cowherd about to sign on to ESPN
Radio. We’re big supporters of The Herd.
Baseball season is here and
that makes us happy. Joe Torre is at the helm of the Boys in
Blue, so we expect nothing less than a playoff birth from
the Dodgers in ’08. We’re happy with the 2-1 start, but see
they’re playing at the hated Padres this weekend. That’s not
good. The Madres, for some reason, play every game against
L.A. like it’s game seven of the Fall Classic. Frustrating
for us Dodgers fans. That’s one of the biggest things I do
not like about Indianapolis, no MLB team. I’d trade the
Pacers for the Cubs or Reds any day. Maybe I’d changed my
mind on that if the Pacers had Chris Paul or Deron Williams
or Lebron or Kobe, but that current criminal element does
nothing for me or apparently anyone else in suburban
Indianapolis since the Pacers are one of the lower attended
franchises in the Association.
On to what you all really
care about, NHRA POWERade Drag Racing. We left off before
Gainesville and other than qualifying well, there’s not much
more to discuss from our trip to Gator Country. Antron got a
speeding ticket on 301 when we were driving from JAX to
Gainesville before the race and that was about the highlight
of the trip.
The Friday before Easter, we
decided to play hookie from DPM. Rip and Jo, our neighbors,
and I jumped in their Toyota Avalon to visit the
Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail. We visited Buffalo
Trace, excellent, Woodford Reserve, pretty but extremely
snooty, and Heaven Hill, excellent. We stopped at the Galt
House in Louisville to finish off the day with some
sampling. Easter Sunday was spent between Ant’s house in the
country and Rip and Jo’s condo. JoAnne used her bourbon cook
book and the ham and carrots were great. She just might have
an edge on Beard in the cooking department.
We flew into HOU from IND via
SWA on Thursday. After touring the Midwest with stops in
Kansas City and Dallas before arriving in Houston, we
finally made it to the track. Setup went very smoothly.
Friday was one of the worst days of my life when it comes to
work. I was ready to pack it up and drive back to Cali. We
all have those days. It’s amazing what a decent night’s
sleep can do. The rest of the weekend went pretty well. The
Mustang CAT car got qualified and it was all good. Guy, Dave
and Erin from Mustang are a great bunch and our buddy Kyle
from CAT Global Petroleum is a savior. He saved our butts
last weekend. Thanks Kyle!
Race day was a great
experience, except for the yellow and black. Hot Rod fell in
round one for the first time this season. I feel bad for the
Mustang folks that we’ve gone out early two straight years.
It’s definitely not the plan. Beard and Ant were on it on
race day. AB had great lights and Lee had the Matco rail
hopped up. Low E.T. of rounds 2, 3 and 4 was really cool to
see. The consistency was awesome. It was a fun winner’s
circle and great for David to win his home race. It’s five
days after the race and let me tell you, the brothaman is
still on cloud nine. We’re doing Wind Tunnel and some other
TV work in Indy on Sunday night. Gotta work it! The National
Dragster cover looks great. We got a nice piece on National
Speed Sport News. The May ’08 issue of RACER has a great
piece on Antron too. All Ant all the time and that’s the way
we like it.
We leave for Vegas on April 9
and have a pretty hectic schedule. Remember, if you need a
last minute room, call the Golden Nugget and tell ‘em you’re
an NHRA fan.
Later,
Ted
March 7,
2008
Greetings
everyone. We’re back at it again on a cold, gloomy Friday
morning in Indy. Pretty much that’s groundhog day for winter
in the Midwest. It’s been awfully frigid this winter. Spring
could really start yesterday for us Hoosiers, but
unfortunately that rat Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more
weeks of winter and with the local weather hacks calling for
snow this weekend, it appears he was right. Sucks for us.
Oh well,
can’t argue with Mother Nature. Just another six weeks of
being lethargic and lazy. We did have a killer leg workout
with squats and lunges this morning. The cardio has been
slacking though. We did run Monday night at a middle school in
Pittsboro. Brothaman AB has been balling on Monday nights and
I finally got my lazy behind off the couch and away from the
HD to ball and let me tell you, running full court really
shows you how out of shape you are. We used to hoop it up on a
regular basis, but it has been many, many years. It was a
great time and could be a regular Monday night activity when
we’re not on the road. Let me tell ya, I was sore on Monday.
The knees and Achilles were not feeling so great, but it was a
good pain. The game-winning finger roll was a sweet way to end
the night.
Since it’s
Friday and Howard is lazy and it’s too early for Rome or
Cowherd, we have the iTunes flowing. Snoop’s Sensual Seduction
jam is serenading us currently. I think One Republic will
follow. We left off right before Pomona. That was a rather
trying event for team Taj Mahal. There were plenty of
first-race blues, but we worked through it and I got to see my
folks, which always puts a smile on my face. We do miss some
things about Cali like my parents, good Mexican food and sun.
Phoenix went much smoother other than having to participate in
the erection of the structure on Thursday. I dropped a few
F-bombs. Ok, hundreds of them, but sometimes you just have to
vent. Went to the Melting Pot for the first time, that was a
good dining experience. Not cheap, but can be quite the
romantic place to take your gal.
Not much
to report from the race track. Our race cars are running well.
A-Bomb grabbing the pole at PC1 was really cool. Hot Rod
clocking low E.T. at the first two races at 4.494 and 4.491
show’s the CAT mobile can still haul. Once Lee and Flynnchy
figure the consistency deal out, we should have two pretty
strong hot rods. Lee is a bit under the weather. He doesn’t
usually get sick, but is out for the second day this week. His
stubborn self needs to get to the doctor. By the way, from the
random side of the brain, sugar free Go Fast! is good. And
from the shameless plug side of the brain,
www.gofastsports.com.
After PA,
we had to catch a red eye from PHX to MCO. No Hawaii this
year, just Orlando, but let me tell you, the Shingle Creek
Resort is tight. If you’re in Orlando, you’ve got to stop by A
Land Remembered for dinner. One of the best steaks and pieces
of sea bass I’ve ever had. Awesome stuff. The ’99 Opus was all
time. Glad I didn’t have to pay $395 for a bottle of wine, but
it was the real deal. Made the $125 bottle of Grgich taste
like ripple. Just kidding Grgich Hills!
On the way
to the airport, AB and I played our reality version of Fast
and the Furious on I-10 West from Chandler to the rental car
center at Sky Harbor. We were still dining at Café Boa and I
looked at my phone and it read 9:18 p.m. Our flight was at
11:15. We had to swing by the hotel, which was the opposite
way of the airport. We hit 105 mph in the Altima weaving in
and out. It was cool and we made the flight with a good 15
minutes to spare. Expo is always a good time. Tor took care of
us and Vicki cracked the whip and kept us in line.
Last
Saturday was a good time. The IN tax man wasn’t too kind to
us, but you’ll have that, so that started the weekend out on a
sour note, but the Columbus trip cheered us up. Six of us –
me, Lee, his boy Nick, Antron, Lil John (John Benshoof - Matco)
and G-Funk (Gary Pritchett - CAT) – all hopped into the black
Sequoia and hit I-70 East for Columbus. We made a quick pit
stop at Nordys in Easton before dinner at Smith & Wo. I was a
good boy and didn’t spend a dime in Nordstrom, which is hard.
For a metro shopping junkie, that place is like bourbon to an
alky. The prime rib at S&W was superb. Another great dining
experience. It was a good 32nd b-day dinner for Ant. Then it
was on Nationwide Arena for UFC82. Honestly, I’m not a UFC
junkie, but I do dig it. I can’t wait to see Kimbo Slice in
the Octagon. Another random thought... We had an amazing time.
Dana White’s crew puts on a great show. High energy for more
than four hours. Non-stop action. Anderson Silva is a bad mofo
and Andre Arlovski is just plain scary. I wouldn’t want to see
any of that dude in a dark alley. We didn’t get home until
4:30 a.m., but well worth it. Thanks to Craig Darling for the
hookup. We’ll return the favor at LN1 in April my friend.
Right now,
we’re focused on GF. NHRA shot down my clever pitch to ESPN
with Ant and J.R. You’ll have that. I guess I have to be
cleverer next time. Trying to get these Florida media guys to
take the NHRA bait is like trying to fish with your finger as
the line, hook and bait. It seems to get tougher and tougher
to get press. Enough whining. We have a tour group here from
North Central H.S. in Indy, but they didn’t bring along Eric
Gordon to hoop it up. That’s all for now. Later!
Ted
February 1, 2008
Happy New Year! I
guess it’s a little late for that don’t cha think? We didn’t get the
six to 10 inches of snow all those so-called local weather experts
predicted all week long. And to think I was all ready to work from
home today.
Fast forward to
Monday, Feb. 4, 2008. It isn’t today anymore, but three days later.
I set out to write this blog on Friday, but my mouth opened a can of
worms and I got sidetracked on another project. You’ll have that.
Thankfully, the month
of January is a thing of the past. In drag racing, the first month
of the New Year equals the most frustrating, crazed, frantic times
of our race season. Most people think we just sit around all winter,
but parts don’t just show up. Trailers don’t just get wrapped. You
don’t show up one morning and all of a sudden the race cars are
painted. Simply, I hate January. For those of us that work in NHRA
drag racing, it should be renamed Winuary because there are a lot of
wine nights. Bridlewood Syrah, very good by the way. Rip, the
assistant crew chief on Antron’s car, also my neighbor in Villa
Woods, is teaching me to like bourbon. We’ve been stuck on Buffalo
Trace lately.
Testing came and went.
It was nice to sneak in a few days in Phoenix and wear shorts again.
This winter has been quite frigid in Indy. The wind chill hit -10
one day last week. -10 isn’t exactly shorts weather. It’s not
running weather either. Since the L.A. Fitness near our hotel was
gouging $15 a day, we were back to running. The running routine has
been non-existent since I got home from Christmas break in Cali. We
have been hitting the weights hard though.
Testing went well. We
got A.B. licensed fairly easily. Both Flynn and Beard were very
consistent. Hot Rod is not fully healthy just yet, but seemed
unfazed jumping back into the CATmobile. Speaking of Hot Rod, nice
piece on NHRA.com as I type. Great writing! And our cars both put up
great numbers. Hot Rod was quick of the National Time Trials at 4.46
and A-Bomb got his first .40 at 4.48 on Wednesday. All that can
change in a few days at Pomona, but right now the DPM camp has very
high hopes, and rightly so. Finally dined at Sakana, very good
Sushi. Highly recommend it if you enjoy raw fish.
It’s 11:20 a.m. (ET)
and I’m listening to The Wrap Up Show after Howard on Sirius. Artie
Lange is really funny. It’ll be a shame when he goes Belushi or
Kinnison. The Hurst Chick (Diana Hurst), who heads our sponsor
relations for Matco Tools, and I have a 2:50 flight from IND to ONT.
We’re a bit anxious heading into PC1. Once the updated version of
the Taj Mahal is erected, our nerves will calm. Our hospitality
should look pretty darn cool this year. We have some very cool
upgrades, including a Chef, Steve Elliott. It should be the
finishing touch to the best hospitality tent in drag racing.
I think I’m the only
person who thought it was the Super Bore, at least for three
quarters. The fourth quarter was very exciting. I didn’t really care
about the outcome and didn’t pay attention to the commercials. I
guess I was rooting for the Pats just to shut up the ’72 Dolphins.
Talk about get over yourselves. A.B. and I missed the entire third
quarter as we had a TV interview with Dave Calabro of Channel 13 in
Indy. After the interview, Antron goes, I got five Matco plugs in
there. Tor, just working for ya bro! LOL
That’s about it for
now. I’m all packed and the condo is clean. I cannot come home to a
messy house. Can’t wait to smell the nitro again on Thursday
afternoon at Pomona.
Later.
Ted
December 18,
2007
It’s been nearly
three months, so where to start? The Countdown is over and it
is what it is. It is what it is; the phrase of the year. Vegas
was great and a nice pay day. Pomona was lousy. What a
difference a week makes in drag racing. The highs and the
lows. The penthouse to the outhouse. A 52-point lead to
suffering through another Tony Schumacher acceptance speech at
the award’s banquet. I’ll drink to that.
That leaves us
here in mid-December.
I always get a
chuckle when people ask what we do during the off season. Hmm…
we’re like school teachers and take three months off. Not so
much. It’s busier during the winter months than the Western
Swing. Add in a shop move and it’s been crazy around the DPM
camp since we got back from Pomona in early November.
The Countdown to
the Ghost Town came and it’s a much happier mood around here.
We’re fortunate enough to work at one of the nicest, if not
the nicest shop in NHRA drag racing thanks to Tim Buckley.
Like Al Green sang, it’s all Love and Happiness in Brownsburg
these days. The pessimism is gone and right now it’s all lovey
dovey with the new troops. It’s actually amazing how quiet it
is. Sometimes I wonder if we hired a bunch of mute people.
Other than Antron that is. AB is a talking machine. All day
long, it’s, “Hey Big Daddy.”
So, what do we
do during the off season? Actually, a lot. The move added to
the winter madness, but it’s the usual planning for the
upcoming season, wrapping trailers, painting race cars,
ordering crew shirts, slacks, clothing, sponsor meetings and
lots to do for hospitality. And we don’t work on the race car.
I really don’t know what those guys do. Build short blocks and
service heads and racks I guess.
Howard is on
vacation, so we’re listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio
before Rome comes on at Noon (ET). Things have finally calmed
done a bit at the shop. The Matco Tools team is in Florida
getting AB some seat time in the TF, but it’s chilly for
Florida.
Last week was
crazy. A group of us ventured to Green Bay, Wis. for the
Raiders/Packers game on Dec. 9. That was an awesome
experience. I guess if you’re going to do Lambeau, then visit
Curly’s house in December. It was frigid. Our good friend, Tom
Blanda of the Raiders, hooked us up with tickets and field
passes. Standing on the frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field doesn’t
suck. Favre is the coolest. J-Roc is a big dude. At 4-10, Kiff
needs to start him these final three games.
I got home
late, got up early and drove three hours West on I-74 to
Peoria, Ill. with Mike Guger, Flynn’s assistant on Fuller’s
car. Gug’s is a cool dude. Has lots of good stories from his
days with Bernstein an on the open wheel circuit. He’s been
running at lunch. He’s much more of a man than me, because
when it’s 30 out, I stay inside. We spent a few days in Peoria
touring Caterpillar and visiting with the CAT folks. What a
great group they are. We are very fortunate to be surrounded
by two great sponsors that love NHRA drag racing. There’s a
brief recap of our trip on
www.NHRA.com. The 2008 CAT
dragster looks great. Olson Paint & Body did a terrific job on
the colors. Paint is just so much better than vinyl.
After CAT is was
back to gear up for the DPM Holiday Party. It was sort of our
open house for the new shop and it was a big hit. It was a fun
time and our new chef, Steve Elliott, did a fantastic job of
cooking up some awesome grub. We all ate well and had a nice
mix-and-mingle session.
Other than that,
it’s all status quo. We moved from the apartment and bought a
condo. First-time home buyer! Have spent a bunch of money at
Lowe’s since. Not sure why, but prefer Lowe’s over The Home
Depot. Hanged the 46” LCD on the wall over the weekend,
eventually it should shape into a nice bachelor pad. Off to
Cali for 10 days on Friday and can’t wait to see my folks
again. We’ll get back late on New Years eve to hopefully watch
USC stomp Illinois in the Rose Bowl. Illinois in the Rose
Bowl? Yeah, the BCS really is lame. Then it will be 1-2-08 and
back to the grind. It is what it is!
Happy Holidays – Ted
October 1, 2007
Instead of
coming up with excuses on why I haven’t written/blogged in
some six or seven weeks, we’ll just type. The music update
goes like this, 1234 by Feist. If you’re saying who, it’s that
catchy tune on the new iPod nano ad. The Jim Rome Show will
follow soon via the internet. When in the office at our
Pittsboro, Ind. shop, mornings start out with Howard Stern on
Sirius and then we go into Romey in the afternoons. Our cars
are currently second and sixth, so maybe the Jungle Karma
helps a little. Rome just had on Dan O’Dowd of the Rockies and
Kevin Towers of the Padres and if I may voice a sports
opinion, as a L.A. Dodgers fan that bleeds Dodger blue, all I
can say is Tulowitzki! Oh, how about those 2-2 Oakland
Raiders!
This rest of
this blog will be random thoughts that instantly pop into mind
about each race from Brainerd to Dallas.
We left off
prior to Brainerd. What I remember about that race is that
it’s amazing how such simple things can amuse grown adults.
The hotel might have been $240 a night, but it had water
slides and a lazy river and we were all happy, happy, happy.
The race didn’t turn out so well. It was an early day. The Zoo
was the Zoo. We made one lap on Saturday and tried to get
people talking by having our good friend Hillary Will on a
golf cart with David Powers, Lee Beard and myself. The NHRA
Paparazzi didn’t same to care. I guess we haven’t reached the
Spears/Hilton/Brangelina ranks yet.
We flew home for
less than two days and it was off to Reading on Wednesday. We
had a dealer display with the CAT dragster at Ransome CAT in
Bensalem, Pa. Our truck drivers, Dick Jackson and Neal
Carmicheal, hauled the mail in driving from B.I.R. to
Ransome’s headquarters, so they deserve a lot of props for
making this appearance happen. We owe much of the credit of
the CAT deal to our friend Wendell Wigley at Ransome. He
pretty much got the ball rolling last fall. The group at
Ransome is awesome. From Wendell to Ron Moser and Bill Kelly,
they’re a first-class organization.
Reading is a
good time. I like the town and race, other than the rain.
Because it always rains, the race needs to be removed from the
schedule. It’s a shame because George Case and the Maple Grove
crew are very nice folks. We finally decided to buy an iPod,
so Thursday evening we walked to Best Buy and made the
purchase. iPod, arm band for iPod and Nike+ and we’re about
$300 in, but music and the Nike+ makes running much more
enjoyable. If you’re ever in Reading, the outlet malls are
lousy and you need to eat at Third and Spruce Café and Mom
Chafees. Other than racing each other in the first round, it
was a good event. We only want a Matco/CAT match-up in the
final round like at Denver. Not racing the final until
Wednesday was below average, but what else was NHRA to do. We
had to finish the race, Mother Nature just doesn’t like
Reading. Hot Rod left Reading with a 184-point lead that was
soon erased to just 10. War The Countdown to the Championship!
After the
Wednesday Nationals, Rob Flynn, Mike Guger and myself flew
home. Yeah! It did allow for some really good team bonding
with Hot Rod’s bunch and that’s always a positive. Fuller
didn’t test, which was good. The Indy test was a waste. NHRA
really needs to staff these tests properly and have some
adequate track prep and cleanup if it is really the biggest
event of the year? Follow the IMS lead during the month of
May. The 100 heat index didn’t help either. It was a waste of
two and three days for some teams.
The U.S.
Nationals is the race that keeps on giving. It’s a whirlwind
event. Other than our good buddy Tor, John Torok from Matco,
attending, I don’t remember much else. I do recall closing
some bar at 3 a.m. We had a load of CAT events on Friday of
the Big Go. Things went rather smoothly and we got some really
good press from our Caterpillar announcement. After Monday,
Fuller went from first to third and Baze from seventh to
eight. Not the best of races for the DPM crew.
Memphis was a
little better. Both cars advanced to the quarterfinals. Hot
Rod and I met up with Hillary Will – we’re really trying to
get Comp + or DRO to start some rumors here – on Beale St. and
had dinner at Rendezvous. It’s a famous rib joint that we all
felt was overrated. The waiter was kind of a jerk too. He was
rude to Hot Rod and we didn’t appreciate that. The Flying Fish
in Little Rock was much better. I love me some fried catfish
and hushpuppies. We did a press tour in Little Rock and it
went very well. Hot Rod got to meet AR Governor Mike Beebe,
which is very cool. We met up after that and did one radio
station, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper and four TV
stations. They really embraced the local boy done well in Hot
Rod Fuller. Seeing the Clinton Library was neat too. We
finished the night off with some good grub at P.F. Changs.
There was a nice little loop around our Memphis hotel, so we
did get some running in. The running has been consistent while
the weight lifting non existent.
Dallas was hot,
literally. Hot Rod did the Fan Fest at the Dallas Stars game
on Thursday night and we watched two periods of hockey and
went to Addison, Texas to have dinner at III Forks. It’s one
of those steakhouses that you see named in the top 10 lists in
all the airline magazines and it lives up to the hype. I had
been to Ringside in Portland and III Forks is right up there.
Not cheap, but something you need to experience. Consider it a
first class flight for you taste buds. We had a bone-in filet
that was excellent. Other than staying 43 miles away from the
track in Mesquite, Texas, it was good. We had a good team
bonding session at the Hampton Inn pool with a bunch of pizzas
and Shiner Bock on Saturday night. We had a quarterfinal and
semifinal on race day, so it was a decent weekend. Hot Rod’s
point lead was short-lived. After beating the Alan
Johnson-tuned machine in the opening round, we fell to Dixon
and Co. in round two and stayed second, while Baze climbed up
to sixth place, his highest ranking all year! Go Matco!
After a weekend
of R&R, the schedule has us heading to Richmond on Wednesday.
The forecast losing positive, keep your fingers crossed folks.
Later,
Ted
August 17, 2007
I’m back again,
so tell all your friends, good things don’t always come to an
end…
Jeez, a month
and five days and I’m finally ready to do a little writing. My
excuse is lack of time, which for the most part is true. When
you have less than two days at home, most of my free time is
spent catching up on sleep, jogging, doing laundry, cleaning
and packing again. Such is the life of Reilly of an NHRA tour
member.
Blaring on my
iTunes this time is “Message In A Bottle” from The Very Best
of Sting & the Police. It was either that or Jeff Golub’s new
CD. The jazz will serve for next time I’m a bit on the chip
today. Ran three this morning with Mike Guger, who got us
somewhat lost and we had to walk another mile to find the
Country Inn & Suites in good ole Wyomissing, Pa. Then, we got
rude service at the McDonald’s in Reading. Sometimes it’s hard
sticking up for you Northeasterners. Some of ya’ll are just
flat our rude. You’ll have that I guess. With Yuengling so
readily available, there really is no excuse for the
grumpiness.
Since I need to
catch everyone up on the Swing and Brainerd, I’m going to do
some highlights of each event or at least what I remember from
those races. I’m 30 and I think Alzheimer’s might be setting
in. Either that or the drag racing plague for which there is
no cure. Sometimes I think Chinese Water Torture might be
easier.
Denver was a
good event for our team. David was tending to his honey do
list and didn’t attend that race, but our financial partner
Tim Buckley was on hand. We all enjoy when Tim graces us with
his presence. He’s the most positive, upbeat person one can
hope to encounter it rubs off on all of us. We all need an
occasional dose of positive vibes. Tim does that for all of
us. The Fleming’s gift cards don’t hurt either! Thanks Tim!
Off the track, I
ran only three miles on Friday. The thin air didn’t bother me,
but my legs started to feel real heavy on the last mile, so
perhaps the thin air did bother me. Thankfully, I didn’t trip
over myself and finally caught up to Guger. It was again hot
at Bandimere. We had a great group from both Matco Tools and
Wagner CAT. And to top it off, we punted the field and scored
our first 1-2 DPM finish. The CAT car stood in the winner’s
circle. BDR we are not Peoria. Seeing the yellow-and-black on
top and gracing the cover of National DRAGSTER was very cool!
Oh, the Bandimere’s are awesome people. What a cool facility.
DEN to IND and
home for two days. IND to PHX to Sea-Tac and it’s on the road
again for 12 days. Beard and I are going to do a little rest
and relaxation at the Loomis Lodge in southern Washington for
a few days before Sonoma. Seattle is an absolutely beautiful
place, but it’s so damn depressing when it’s gray, dreary and
rainy, which is pretty darn often. At least this July it was.
We had an awesome Matco distributor dinner with Jason Neil,
Dave Weber and their guests at Ray’s Boathouse. It was a
postcard view and the bottle of ’03 Jordan cab was great.
Friday’s rainout sent Hot Rod and I on a shopping spree at
Nordstrom’s. We were going to browse, but it turned into
Christmas in July. Nordy’s had its anniversary sale going on
so the Rock & Republics, Sevens and Citizens of Humanity all
were on sale. What good metro sexual could pass that up? Not
us. $700 and three shopping bags later, we leave. Fuller
bought a lot more, but he’s a driver and lives in Vegas. I’m a
nobody that lives in the Midwest. Saturday saw one run and the
field set on points. The “Great White” started 14th, its
lowest start all season. Sunday looked terrible when we woke
up, but Mother Nature pardoned us and we get Pacific Raceways
completed. We ran well, but just got outrun. Again, you’ll
have that. The Interurban Trail is very nice. We got some good
running in during that event.
Monday we
stopped by the track and then check in at Brad Hadman’s shop
in Tacoma. I’m not technical and I don’t weld, so I stayed
outside. Once complete, we hit the Starbuck’s drive thru for a
Doppio and it was South on I-5 to Woodland, Wash. Two hours
later, we pulled into G.Loomis. Brad Loomis, the son of
founder Gary Loomis, gave us the tour of the rod factory. That
was cool. I’m not a fisher, but Beard is apparently a pretty
good fly fisher. Then we hit the Loomis Lodge, which has a
trout pond on one side and the Lewis River on the other. It
was nice two days of doing pretty much nothing. Sleeping in,
jogging, cruising on the Lewis, catching zero Steelhead, and
eating elk and halibut. The highlight of the trip was the
drive to see Mount St. Helens. The clouds didn’t play very
nice with us tourists, but we got a pretty good feel for the
damage that was done in 1980. They say the Toutle River is
still contaminated. The views were stunning and I’m glad we
made that drive.
Back up to
Seattle and not a hotel room to be found. Thankfully, Laurie
Frazier of Motorsports Travel Service saved our butts. Beard
and I had to share a King, Smoking, Handicapped room. You can
guess who was sleeping on the couch and it wasn’t the crew
chief/team manager. The next morning we met Rob Flynn at Sea-Tac
and our flight to SFO was delayed. I really hate that airport
and would much rather fly into Oakland. Thursday evening we
had a deal at Peju Province winery in Napa. Very cool place.
Good wine, great food and very cool architecture. Plus, my
folks made the drive from Escondido, so that made it even
better. Living 2,000 miles away from you family pretty much
sucks. Spending the weekend with them at the drag strip while
working isn’t ideal, but it’s better than the telephone or
AIM.
Friday morning
Guger and I cruised on a path behind our Sheraton in Petaluma.
Actually, we hauled. I ran an 8:05 pace, so conditions were
quite ideal. Friday was good except for the second Top Fuel
session. I feel bad for the fans. That would have been like
going to Smith & Wollensky, getting your appetizer and salad,
taking two bites of your porterhouse and having the waiter
take the plate away and expecting you to pay full price. Lame!
We made two good runs on Saturday, the Peterson CAT car got in
the show and we’re looking good for Sunday. Dinner at
McCormick’s & Kuleto’s on Saturday night was excellent as
always. Sunday didn’t go as good as Saturday. Overall the
six-race swing was good for DPM. Fuller extended his lead from
53 to 128 and Baze moved from 10th to seventh in the
Countdown. We did well and remain positive.
SFO to IND with
a pit stop in St. Louis and around 11 p.m., I’m finally back
at home in Brownsburg. Sleeping in one’s own bed never felt so
good. We had nice hotels with a Marriott, Embassy Suites and
Sheraton, but you can’t beat home with no roommates and an off
weekend staring at you.
Only eight games
left, we’re on the downhill slide. As I end we’re at “Every
Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”
Next time its
wine, waterslides, the Zoo and the joy that is B.I.R. Oh,
remember, it’s the Countdown, not the Chase.
Later,
Ted
July 11, 2007
Wow, I can’t
believe it’s been nearly a month since I’ve written. Sorry to
disappoint the loads of DPM.com readers. Foxworth has been
slacking as well, so you can’t just point the finger at me. We
do have a bit of an excuse, this six race thing does get a
hectic and when you have between 12 and 48 hours at home, the
last thing I want to do when I’m not at work or sleeping is
write. So, it’s 9:57 a.m. on July 11 and I’m actually feeling
ok; not craving more sleep this morning. I stopped at
Starbucks for an iced Doppio, so it’s all good. I don’t think
they were thrilled with my paying the $1.94 in coins I dug
from underneath the seat of my S2000, but I don’t really care.
Jim Morrison is resonating on my iTunes and my fingers are now
singing away on my Toshiba lapper.
Where to start?
Hmm… Well, we left off before E-Town. Englishtown is always a
fun time. I’m one of the few people that enjoy that race. Most
bitch, complain, whine and moan until we leave the Garden
State. I don’t mind it. Other than not being able to turn left
and pump your own gasoline, it’s not so bad. My dad flew from
San Diego to N.J. for the race. It was his Father’s Day
present, so that was cool to spend time with him. Living 2,000
miles away from my folks, well, sucks!
The flight was
interesting. Our flight from Indy to Newark was canceled
because – for all the great excuses the airlines b.s. us with
– of no plane. So, Continental put us on a NWA flight to La
Guardia. The traffic through New York was light, amazing! We
got to the track and the gals dropped me off and since there
were only four guys erecting the “ninth wonder of the world,”
I decided to help. That was dumb. Our hospitality is pretty
cool looking once complete, but it’s a complete hemorrhoid to
construct.
The rest of the
trip was cool. The Hyatt rooming situation was a disaster.
Most grown men don’t enjoy sharing beds. But the place does
have a great workout facility. My dad and I hung out in New
York City on Thursday afternoon and evening. We walked, a lot!
From Penn Station to the Upper East Side. That was a haul, but
good exercise. We met (Lee) Beard, (Rob) Flynn and (Mike)
Guger for dinner at Elaine’s. It’s a Beard thing. Pretty good
Italian joint. We didn’t fare so well on race day, so on to
Norwalk it was. Baze lost a close one to Dix (Larry Dixon) and
the Hot Rod fell to the Starlet (Hillary Will).
I flew home
Monday. Got back to my apartment after 9 p.m., did laundry,
slept, got up, left at 7:30 a.m., went to work for five hours,
and drove to Stow, Ohio with Diana Hurst for meetings and a
Wednesday display at Matco’s corporate headquarters. That was
a good time. We like hanging with “Tor” (John Torok) and all
the Matco folks. We affectionately love our Vicki (Perrin).
Norwalk
was a good time. Smart move by NHRA to swap that venue for
Columbus. The Bader’s seem like good people with a very nice
facility. It was a low key race for us. We did have a lot of
corporate folks from Matco at the race on Saturday. The Matco
distributors do a great job of supporting NHRA drag racing, so
support them by purchasing tools,
www.matcotools.com. Baze and I had a distributor
dinner at the Angry Bull Steakhouse in Huron, Ohio on Thursday
night. Not a bad joint, although we dined with one gentleman
that could be described as a “creeper.” We also found a good
Mexican joint in Sandusky. After spending 19 years in Cali,
you become skeptical of Mexican food in the Midwest. Baze and
I spent a lot of time at the Starbucks near the hotel. It was
actually a productive place to write. Love my Doppios. The
hotel was a complete dive and we did well on race day before
running into “the Machine” (Tony Schumacher). Fuller left with
a near 100-point lead. Oh yeah, I forgot. Superman tripped on
a fence and re-aggravated his knee. So, we drove him to Indy
to see a knee specialist before Bristol. He’ll be fine. He’s a
strong kid.
The gang was
all here for the drive to Bristol. Diana, JoAnne, Fuller and
me all in the black Tundra. 465 to 65 to 64 to 75 to 40 to 81
and about eight hours later we arrive a Bristol Dragway. If
you’ve never been, go! Very cool place. And that circle track,
my God. Talk about an architectural wonder. If our Taj Mahal
is the “ninth wonder of the world,” then Bruton’s Rubbin is
Racin’ palace is the “10th wonder of the world.” It was a hot
muggy weekend, but I got some 15 miles of jogging in during my
stay. It was good. Guger pushed me hard on Friday morning. I
can’t quite keep up with his 8:27/mile pace, but was only
about 15-20 seconds off. Not bad for an out of shape
30-year-old. Baze and I had a fun dinner with (Rob) Geiger and
Woody (Scott Woodruff) – the man behind Jeg’s – on Saturday
night. Sunday morning, the Taj Mahal turned into the cathedral
for the RFC service. God sure wasn’t on our side as Baze
didn’t go two feet in the first round. Fuller had an ok day,
but fell to Vandergriff in the semis. Brown didn’t do much for
us on Sunday and big red reigned supreme again.
Fuller finally
got to go home to Vegas on Monday. The gals and I drove back
to Indy. It was a quick drive that included a lunch stop at
the Waffle House. It’s one of my favorite dining
establishments on the circuit. I enjoyed my omelet and pecan
waffle. Now, after a day and half in Pittsboro, it’s about
time to pack up and head to IND for a Frontier flight to DEN.
The Denver airport is somewhere near Wyoming, so we’ll finally
get to our Marriott around 10 p.m. I’m guessing. Baze is just
two points from the top eight, so that’s the immediate goal
for team Matco. That’s all for now folks.
Later,
Ted
June 14, 2007
Trying to write
an interesting blog isn’t the easiest task to take on. Perhaps
I should have left Fuller with this homework assignment. Or
maybe not. Our little driver buddy already has enough on his
plate being Hot Rod Fuller.
As an avid
Sports Illustrated reader, I marvel at the talent and
resourcefulness of journalists like Steve Rushin and Rick
Reilly. Trying to write a consistently creative and
entertaining column on a weekly basis can’t be simple.
Thankfully, I’m not a high-paid columnist, therefore the ones
of DPM.com readers can’t be too disappointed.
When we last
blogged, I was 29. As I type, I’m 30 and 13 days and feel no
different. That’s a good thing I guess. When you’re on the
road as much as we are and are going to be over the next six
weeks, things start running together. Sometimes you wake up
wondering what city you happen to be in. Right now, I’m in
lovely Pittsboro, Ind., but in a few hours, I’ll be on a plane
heading West to the Valley of the Sun. My roomy, Steve from
TJ’s Skoal team, has a place in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., so
we’re going to the home of the London Bridge for a few days of
R&R before the dreaded six-race swing.
Let’s get back
on track and get to some “Tales from the Road.”
Topeka was,
well, Topeka. I kept my streak of not visiting Babydolls
alive. For that, it was a productive trip. If you’ve been to
Topeka, you know what to expect, wind, dust, heat, and a few
decent bars. Thursday evening (May 31), I was to go to dinner
with our good friend Kelly Bustos of Tuttle Motorsports. Well,
it ended up being a surprise 30th b-day party at the
Timberline. It was all good. Thanks to Kelly for being so
thoughtful and to my teammates for showing up. I left with a
few nice bottles of wine, so it really was all good.
At the track, we
did well on the PR front. We got Fuller in USA Today on June 1
and had some nice coverage in Kansas’ capitol city. The Topeka
Capital-Journal does a terrific job of covering and promoting
the race. It’s nice to see our sport embraced the way the
smaller towns like Topeka and Gainesville do.
On the track, we
qualified well and didn’t do so well on race day. Baze
finished third and Fuller fourth. That was Hot Rod’s lowest
qualifying position all season long. Flynn’s tuning
consistency has been quite impressive. Fuller ran 4.58 on
Sunday morning, but Doug Kalitta ran 4.54 from the No. 14
spot. That’ll happen. They’re a good team. It’s frustrating
when your E.T./reaction time package would have beaten 15 cars
except the guy you raced. Beard had Baze’s dragster running
well, but Bernstein dropped that 4.55 on us in the second
round and it was an early exit. Bernstein won two more rounds
and took the top spot from the “Great White.”
After two
straight nights of about four hours of sleep, I was ready to
get home. MCI to IND and a nice relaxing afternoon at my
apartment devoid of roommates. That didn’t suck. A couple days
at home in Indy then it was time to load up in the black
Tundra with Beard, Flynn and Mike Guger and drive to Joliet.
Yes, I drove. I’m not a crew chief nor a driver, therefore, I
drive to and from the track. Team Bitch should be my title. I
hear my latest nickname is “Beard’s Ponyboy."
Joliet started
off well. We arrived and the Taj Mahal was erect. Taj Mahal is
our fond nickname for the Iron Eagle Club. If you’ve been to
the track, you didn’t miss it. If so, you need to get your
eyes checked. Thursday night, Beard and I drove over to
Downers Grove, Ill. to meet our buddy Lance Haack from the
Dallas Corporation. They do a lot of design and print work for
many of the NHRA teams. Lance and his longtime buddy Freddy do
a Blues Brothers cover act that’s pretty dead on. It’s quite
entertaining too. We all dined at a fabulous steakhouse,
Gibson’s, on Rush St., then went to their Jake and Elwood Show
for the Pituitary Society. I won’t say much other than
watching geeky doctors dance is humorous.
Friday morning
started with a two-mile run and then a trip to O’Hare to pick
up the Powers. Other than Continental losing one of David’s
bags, it wasn’t that bad of a trip. That was on the way up.
After getting a bit confused and driving passed the 294 South
exit, we ended up taking the scenic route to the track. We
finally made it to I-55 South and back on track to the track.
I thought So Cal had bad traffic, but Chicago is right up
there. Maybe not as bad as the 405, but pretty close.
Qualifying
started well on Friday. Baze went 4.59 off the trailer and
Fuller went to the top of the pack with a 4.50. That was a
stout run. Friday night is where things got interesting. Baze
slowed to a 4.65 after the car broke an exhaust valve leaving
them 18th. That pretty much was the end of the weekend for the
Matco guys. Fuller used that Canadian Horsepower and drove to
a career-best 4.464 to finish second behind “The Machine.”
Two-thousandths from the top spot ain’t so bad. Hot Rod
qualified second for the fourth time this season and just
missed his third pole.
Saturday sucked.
Yes, I’m short and brash. It sometimes gets me in trouble. If
I was a fan, I would have asked for my money back; sort of
like getting a bad meal at a restaurant. It was hot and yucky
out and the racing was lousy. Not one dragster got down the
track in the first session. The second session wasn’t much
better and we ended up with Baze, Bernstein, who was the
points leader, and Grubnic all missing the cut. Those are all
4.4-second cars and fans pay to see those guys compete on
Sunday. I’ll leave the track issues to NHRA, PRO, the drivers
and crew chiefs; they can handle the politics.
Both Fuller and
Flynn were on it on race day. Flynn had the CAT car flying and
Hot Rod had the quick foot. 4.57, 4.58, 4.57 and we’re back in
the final round and the points lead is back in the DPM camp!
Staying with their aggressive M.O., we were a bit too
aggressive in the final round and fell to my former teammates.
It was good to see Donnie get his first win with Larry. It’s
been awhile for those guys. Sunday’s team dinner at Outback
was tame. Other than spiking Hot Rod’s Coke with a shot of
Jack, not much happened.
Wow, I’m at more
than 1,000 words. So, with that, I’ll wrap up. If you’re still
reading, thanks. It’s about time to head to the airport.
Hopefully, I’ll have a few good Havasu stories, if not E-Town
is always a good time. Going to NYC is always fun and Fuller
won at Raceway Park last June. We’ll see if he can double-up
like at Phoenix.
Later,
Ted
May 29,
2007
I figured,
since Hot Rod already has his blog on NHRA.com (http://blogs.nhra.com/nhrablogs.asp?blog=fuller),
that we should give the little guy a break from all that
writing and throw the David Powers Motorsports website blog
off on one his crew members. Full of ideas I am, not so bright
are most. I had no takers, thus I’m stuck hacking away on my
Toshiba lapper writing a blog. The DPM PR guy is the latest to
join the blogosphere, sweet! There you have it, Foxworth and
Yerzyk with dueling blogs on
www.davidpowersmotorsports.com.
I’m sure our site’s Alexa numbers will be through the roof.
Watch out Google and Yahoo, here we come!
Here’s my quick
bio. I’m 29, for three more days. Got the “Big 3-0” on June 1.
I live in Brownsburg, Ind. and have for about 14 months now.
BBurg was quite a change after nearly 19 years in Southern
California. Indy isn’t half bad. I’m ok with it. I’m a 2000
grad of SDSU, spent three years at NHRA and about three at Don
Prudhomme Racing. I’ve been with the Powers camp since October
2006 and it’s been a great experience.
I guess I’ll
bogart Foxworth’s idea of “Tales from the Road” and give some
feedback of what it’s like working on the NHRA tour. But,
since we’ve been at home for the past three weekends, I’m
kinda forgetting what it’s like living out of suitcase.
Thankfully, I’m on a 7:45 a.m. flight to Kansas City tomorrow
morning. I love me some Topeka. Been there many times and have
yet to visit Babydolls. I’m aiming to keep that streak alive.
I’m sort of
going crazy at home in the Burg with my two roomies. Yes, I’m
29 and have roommates. Sad, I know. They work on Tommy
Johnson’s Skoal Racing Funny Car. Not knowing if I was going
to like Indy or not, I didn’t want to dive right in and buy a
place. The water’s kind of warm, so I plan on taking the
home-buying plunge later this year.
Sleeping in your
own bed never sucks. I’ll be honest, I don’t sleep well on the
road. We don’t stay at The Westin very often and some of these
hotel beds are like sleeping on a hardwood floor, and that’s
being kind. Getting up in years as I am, beauty sleep is very
important.
Since Bristol
was postponed, that gave us an extra week at home. I was
actually in Cali for Mother’s Day weekend when I got the call
about the Bristol race. So, the past two weeks have been
filled with a three-bedroom apartment and grown men acting
like frat boys. The common activities have included: the gym,
beer, the pool, tossing football, the driving range, late
nights, beer, little sleep, trips to Hooter’s, the Indy 500,
shopping, and more beer. So, Memorial Day is over, thankfully!
It’s now May 29
and reality sets back in.
Off to Topeka on
May 30, back to Indy on June 4. Off to Joliet on June 6, back
to Indy on June 11. Off to Lake Havasu, Ariz. on June 14, back
to Indy on June 17. That is if Mother Nature cooperates. She
tends to nix weekend plans on off-weekends. That’s what life
is for the next two months, and I’m lucky. I’m one of the
fortunate ones that comes and goes. At your next race, stop
and thank the crew guys for all their hard work and
dedication. Could you imagine being away from home and your
family for six weeks? It can be a tough life.
The 2007
calendar shows nine weekends in June and July. I’m on the road
for all nine. Eight races in nine weeks, talk about grueling.
I think I’d rather run a marathon, well, not really. Speaking
of that, Mike Guger, the assistant crew chief on Fuller’s
team, is egging me on about running a mini-marathon in
October. That’s 13 miles. I actually enjoy jogging, but
between 2-3 miles is plenty. Not sure I can do 13. That’s why
the wheel was created. I’ll consider it though.
That’s it for
now. We’ll blog again in a few weeks with stories from Topeka
and Joliet.
Later,
Ted
 May
16, 2007
Hey all, Hot Rod
back again. It’s been awhile, but we’ve been racing and
working. Things have changed up a bit as I should be in
Knoxville, Tenn. today on a media tour with Ron Capps to
promote the Bristol race. But as things played out, we’re
suddenly off and not racing for a few more weeks. I was
supposed to travel to Bristol on Monday, but I found out
Sunday evening that I had to change my travel plans.
That gives me
some extra time to work with our marketing team and go sponsor
hunting. We like being first in points, but we don’t like not
having a primary sponsor. We appreciate everything the folks
at Valvoline and Matco Tools and Ocean43.com do for us, but we
need some color on the car rather than the “Great White
Shark.”
I took it easy
over the weekend and just relaxed. Coming off of the
back-to-back races in Atlanta and St. Louis, and our trip to
Chicago, we needed some time to recharge. I went out with some
friends and went bowling on Friday night at Red Rock Resort.
That was fun. I’ve also been working out a lot. I love
training hard and staying in good shape. Now, I’ve got a few
more weeks of free time to hit the gym on a regular basis.
I talked to Rob
Flynn today and all is well at the shop in Indy. My guys are
working away and gearing up for Topeka and Joliet. They’re
working hard this week so they can take some much-deserved
time off next week. It’s going to be crazy with eight races in
nine weeks and tough on all of NHRA racers. But, we love our
drag racing and we’ll do what it takes to put on a great show
for the fans.
That’s it for
now. Take care.
Hot Rod
April 20, 2007
Hey everyone,
Hot Rod checking in again. It’s been a busy few weeks. After
the Houston race I went home to Rogers, Ark. to spend some
time with my family, visit with potential sponsors and to
visit with fans at a local Valvoline Instant Oil Change.
It was a really
fun time. I wish I would have had more time to spend with my
mom. My childhood friend Chad Campbell had my week all planned
out. From meetings with dignitaries, doing radio interviews
and meetings with sponsors, it was a really quick four days.
I got back to my
real home, Las Vegas, for a relaxing weekend. I spent Saturday
at the CART race in downtown Las Vegas. I needed to get caught
up and ready for our big race in Las Vegas. The CART race is
ok, but it’s not 8,000 horsepower nitro-burning Top Fuel
dragsters.
I love racing at
home, but it also causes a lot of added pressure for me. My
schedule is always so hectic. I did a lot of press work during
the week, both radio and TV. I attended the NHRA press
conference and two autograph sessions. Our team had a
promotion with the Silverton Hotel & Casino. Our guys had a
great time staying there. If you’re in Vegas and want a good
meal, try the Twin Creeks Steakhouse at the Silverton. We also
did a signing at the ESPN Zone. I was blown away with all the
fans. There was a solid line for nearly two hours. That’s
awesome!
When we finally
hit the track, we had another solid weekend. We qualified
third with a 4.498. We haven’t qualified lower than third all
season. Our teammate, Whit Bazemore, got his first 4.40, also
running a 4.498. We advanced to the semifinals for the third
time in five races and extended our points lead. I was bummed
because I want to win the Las Vegas race so badly. That’s my
home track and I really want to celebrate with my friends and
family. Hopefully we can make it happen this fall.
Today, I’m back
at The Strip at LVMS helping out my longtime sponsor, Ashley
Jeffrey of Western Stabilization, get ready for the Division
Seven race this weekend. We’re off to Atlanta next week and
I’ve had some good success at that track. Hopefully I can get
my first Top Fuel win at Atlanta Dragway to go with my two
Super Comp wins there.
Thanks for
reading.
Hot Rod
Hey
everyone, Hot Rod here. Thanks for checking out the new David
Powers Motorsports website. We like it and hope you’ll enjoy
the new look and features. Hillary Burke and Todd Sharp, our
IT guy, have done a great job putting together the look and
feel of the site.
All is well here in Las Vegas. We’re still leading the points
after Gainesville and out teammate, Whit Bazemore, moved to
third in the standings. We’ve got a couple of big weeks coming
up for our race team. We’re in Houston next weekend and that’s
David Powers’ home race track. He’s lived in Houston for many
years and runs his David Powers Homes business in Houston.
We’ll have a lot of guests from his company and Matco Tools
and we want to put on a great show for those folks. Then we
head to my home track at Las Vegas. I love putting on a great
show for my hometown fans. We did well there last fall with a
runner-up finish in the Top Fuel Shootout. Now, I can only
hope to grab four win lights there on April 15.
I’ve been working hard on helping David and our marketing time
find the proper funding for our race car. We’ve got a
championship-caliber car with Rob Flynn and Lee Beard working
together, now we need another g |
