Don (KSJ) tells me I'm overdue for an update..
Well, easier said than done. Sometimes this Mopar hobby takes you through some twists and turns that, in retrospect, has you wondering if the tail is wagging the dog on occasion! Maybe that's not it at all, maybe the cars are just a microcosm of what is going on in our journey through life as a whole. My outlook on everything, my hopes, and dreams, are all different as I approach 50, than they were at 30 or even 40, and sometimes situations and circumstances change, and the cars just get caught in the middle.

In 1999 I sold a 73 Cuda race car I had only owned for 6 months, to jump on a 70 Challenger race car that I had actually went to look at for someone else. Shortly after that, I purchased a 96 Dodge Ram 1/2 ton, and combined with my lowly 16ft open trailer, we took on the western half of the United States. Houston, St. Louis, Denver, Sonoma, OKC, Mopar races and NHRA Super Street were the focus, but brackets, and 2 stages of spray in a quest for low ET fun were mixed in as well.
It was great fun, and heady competition and I really enjoyed the chase from 2000-2006.

Then in 06 I went with Boone to our first Drag Week and had a blast. That planted a seed that became the Valiant. A 10 second race car that could compete in SST, weighed under 3000 lbs. but with tags and registration. Sure, I had another 70 Challenger in the backyard, and a 70 Cuda on ice in Dad's shop in Oklahoma, but you can't get an E-body that light in street trim, so here we go!
Things seemed to go sideways from there, or backwards, or in circles, heck, I'm still not sure. I had a decent season in 07 with the Challenger, as I worked on restoring the Valiant to it's former glory, sitting unused does terrible things to racecars. I also had the idea that with both cars running, I may want to compete in 2 different classes at some of the bigger races, so I picked up an old 1 ton Dodge, and 2-car open trailer. This picture was taken at the 2008 Arizona Nationals at Firebird Intl. Raceway. I thought I was on my way to the next level...seems pretty naïve looking back on it now!