The kid is on fire. We bailed out of town like a jailbreak gone bad on friday afternoon about 1pm. And let me go ahead a say for the record. huntsville is a haul from the shop. At one point i looked over at Johnson and told him i didnt think we could get there from here. Well we finally did and unloaded the big Orange for a little testy testy. We had planned on swapping the car back over from nitrous to the supercharger this week but the by the time all the parts came in, it was too late. The orange car had sat in the trailer for the last two weeks, and i was curious to see if we could pick up where we left off. Wrong. After several wheelstands and tire smokes and just plain farting down the track the best the ole girl could muster was a 5.21. I dont get how this thing went from running on a rail to refusing to go down a racetrack. Then i realized that the Orange car is a woman. And like any woman, She didnt like being left alone in a cold dark race car trailer for two weeks. So i did what any normal man would do in a situation like this, I bought her flowers. Well not exactly bought, and not exactly flowers. We were parked next to a cotton field so we went for a little cruise through it and brought her back some cotton. Then I had a good sit down talk with the hot rod and explained to her that that sort of behavior was unacceptable, and we agreed that she would get her act together on saturday. Now i never sleep good when the car isnt running good and friday night was no exception. After sleeping only about 3 hours we awoke to the announcer hollering something about tech and qualifying starting. So i busted the ole girl off and by goodness she sounded a little chirpier than usual. Maybe she had her mind right. They werent allowing testing before qualifying saturday morning, So i loaded a semi soft tune up in and we crossed our fingers as we towed to the lanes for 1st round qualifying. I asked Johnson if he felt good about it and he said yes, so at least one of us did. I burned in and Brian pointed me straight. I prestaged and asked the orange car one more time to please act right and dont be screwing around and showing her ass in front of all my friends. Went to the transbrake with one eye open and the other one closed fearing the worst. Turned loose and bam diggity off we went like a scud missile. Kinda like the mazda commercial where it says ZOOM ZOOM. But with about a thousand horsepower of nitrous. We went 5.07 at 146.9 MPH. I got out and hugged the hot rod and thanked her for minding her manners. Could it be that she forgave me? Or maybe its that she hates testing and only likes to be raced on the weekends, or maybe she just likes kicking ass. Brian was so happy that he backed over me with the golf cart and bout slap broke my gas pedal leg. We followed up our 1st session with a 5.00 @147.1 second round qualifying. Which put us second. Which all yall that know me know that i hate second. So we decided to take a shot at it in the last session and put the screws to it. Horsepower tv came over and did about a 30 minute interview with me. They either think im hilarious or slap off my rocker. But i had them rolling the whole time. They even wired me with a mic and let me walk around being my crazy self for a little bit. I told them to keep that camera on the scoreboards because i was gonna light them up. I think it will air on Nov 1st. Well back to the task at hand. I launched the hot rod and i knew she was rockin. I didnt sit the front tires down for 300 feet. Buzzed the boards with a 4.97 @ 147.9. BOOM YOW. But wait. My old buddy Chad Henderson put up a 4.96 which still left us second. Boy it was gonna be a dog fight on Sunday. Speaking of dog fights, or should i say DAWG fights. We watched my Georgia Bulldogs monkey stomp Arizona State into a coma on the tv. The PAC ten is over rated if we end up playing usc for the national championship we are gonna lay the wood. I went to bed and actually slept good. Sunday we woke and the sun was shining and it was cool and clear. Perfect drag racing weather. We went to church and listened to Larry Garner preach on adversity. Which i seem to know a little about. Still i was nervous about first round. We were paired up with Glenn Jones. Who by the way is one of the nicest guys ive ever met. His wife even came up to me and hugged me in staging and told me to let it all hang out. So we burned in, staged, I hit the honker pedal and blasted down the track taking the win with a 5.09. We won second round with a 5.04. Off to the semis. I tweaked the tune up just a little. Which evidently was a bad idea. The orange car got an attitude when i left and started a long slow wheelstand. I blipped the throttle and eased her down and squeeked by for the win only running a 5.20. Holy smokes we were off to our fourth straight final. Against guess who???????? My buddy Chad Henderson. We have faced each other in the finals the last two races and we were at it again. He went a 5.04 in the semis, and had lane choice. And i had no clue what to do to the car. Me and Chad are kinda cut from the same cloth so to speak. In that I knew he wasnt gotta settle with that 5.04. He played it safe last race and i knew he wasnt going to do it again. So i wasnt either. I stacked 60 more pounds up front. Put in the baddest tune up i had in my playbook and towed her around. Chad came up to me before the race and shook my hand and told me this was round three. DING DING DING. I felt like Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed. Chad's car is my favorite Ez street car. I love that buick. Well we burned in hard and long. Brian told me one the radio while i was backing up that i needed to be on my game on the tree. He said no screwing around. Cut the tree down. We staged and BAAMMMM I was off. The second stage was too much for the track and it started shaking the tires at 200 feet. I was sideways all over the track but i refused to lift. i went through the traps sideways with the left front tire off the ground taking the win with a 5.09. Chad smoked the tires and handed it to me. If there was ever a time when i wanted the other guy to win it was this time. Chad and his crew work their asses off like we do and deserve a win. I know he has many ahead of him and ill be the first one to shake his hand when he parks that buick in the winners circle. I got out of the car and was hugging everyone. Even people that might not have wanted a hug got bear hugged. I was so excited i couldnt hardly talk in the tv interview.
Some people call it luck, Some people call it cheating, and some say there is a ten foot horseshoe wedged in my booty. But the truth is we are just little kids having fun chasing a dream that just wont go away. I am very fortunate to live in a country that allows me to pursue my passion. Hats off to my crew. Brian, Johnson, Dean, Fatboy, and Chris. You guys make racing fun. Its now 5.20 am and im headed out to the shop to disassemble the entire car and start building the supercharger engine. We will be at the civil wars race in rockingham next weekend if all goes well.
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