Well.....where should I start? I have to say that I had alot of fun at the races with my dad and brother.

Norwalk was first class as usual and was hooking good.....at least the right lane was. Unloaded off the trailer Friday morning with a 9.51 (new best by a bunch) at nearly 143 and a 1.32 60'. I was also getting liscensing runs in at Norwalk so my passes were all solo runs. I spent the evening spectating Friday night and watching dad and Lonnie square off in the finals of the appreciation race with Lonnie taking a real close victory over dad ....I think the margin was .007?

Saturday was more of the same liscensing passes and trying to what the car likes to launch consistantly. It would launch great then spin the next pass with the same set up in it. Found out tire pressure needs to be dead on 12.5 lbs to hook this car with it's current set up. Saturday night I entered the box gamblers race and dialed a 9.58. Counting the cars in the lanes, I was to race the guy behind me who was dialed 10.00 so I entered his dial in into my new Biondo Mega 85. They pulled a bye run car and shuffled the order so I had the guy in front of me who was dialed 9.08 so I simply pushed the button to tell the box to leave off my tree without clearing the other guys 10.00 dial. Well, anyone who runs this box can probably already tell what happened on the track. I had a .422 light and knew something was wrong fairly quick when I seen his front fender when I pulled second gear. I learned a valuable lesson.....ENTER YOUR OPPONENTS DIAL IN no matter if they are quicker or slower. I wasted what should have been a .002 light.

Fast forward to the main event on Sunday. Dialed a 9.56, went .020 to my opponents .023 and could only muster a 9.62 handing over another easy win light. On the plus side, I got my NHRA liscense and I met a bunch of Moparts members that I hadn't met before so thanks to those that stopped by to say hello.

On Monday following Norwalk the car went in for body work while in Ohio to get the quarter panels straightened from the wheel well stretch and since it looked like rain for the Monster Mopar race, we went ahead and shot the new paint (thanks Custom Colors and Randy Snyder). Put the car back together Friday night and headed over to St. Louis on Saturday morning.

The trip was good since I was following Bigdog who waas setting the pace until we ran into a storm that put rain down so hard that we couldn't see past the windshield and then the hail started. It seemed to last forever and I don't know how we came thru it without major damage or an accident....it was pretty intense to say the least. Pulled into Gateway about 3:30pm and found a place to park (thanks to friend and good buddy Everett Smith) near the finish line. They were calling for rain so we left and spent the evening at the casino and having a good dinner with Bigdog, Kay, my wife and daughter.

We returned to the track early Sunday morning for our only time run that netted a 9.65 taking 5 degrees of timing out on the launch to gain some consistency and had a -.006 red light. I added .018 to the delay box and slapped a 9.64 on the window. We went -.005 red and 9.641 on a 9.64 to end our racing. Ken Clinton stopped by to say hi as well as racerX shot the bull with me for a few minutes.....great guys. Even though I couldn't buy a round win we had a great time and I have come to the realization that I need more time to get to know my car and familiarize myself better with the electronics. I also got the chance to hang out and have a beer with my buddy and long time friend John (bigbeep) while in Ohio.

It was great to meet and talk with you brian. your car going to be killer when you get it all work out.

So lets see some pics now that its painted.

Dang son, you been rackin up some miles and losing some ZZZ's aintcha. Good to see ya again buddy. I've said it before and I will again, the internet and especially MOPARTS has made traveling to other tracks so much more enjoyable. You know you already have friends everywhere ya go.
Its impressive what you've done with the car. When you get the hook where ya want it it'll be awesome. Good luck with it.
Ken.

Sorry if I miss ya, but just a few members I either seen again or met for the first time on the trip was: bondobob, Bill Hart, Vernmotor, s/st 3040, max maniac, springers340dart, scottb, Bob George, Wild Bill, strokerpost, racerX. It was a good time and everyone that stopped to say hi was a welcome visitor to our pits.

I hope you can squeeze us in next year.