Tuesday, August 26, 2008

2 back to back finals- what a dream

If ever I needed a win, it was in Martin, MI. We had talked about skipping tulsa and epping if we had not faired well in Martin. And the rest is history ( as they would say). We won our first ever Nitro Funnycar National event!!!!!!! Made a little money, spent more than we made and moved on to Tulsa OK. We went to the final round there last year, only to be caught by the clutch gremlin. Not this year! Richard Hartman had our car on string. He is an amazing tuner and what he can do with no budget (ours) is just unreal. We have won 5 out of the last 6 rounds of competition. I am more than ever determined to secure some form of financial backing for next year and really be aggressive toward an IHRA championship. We still have a mathematical chance of winning the championship this year, and trust me, were going for broke, but it is a very long shot to say the least. I want to take this time to thank Dusty and his son Brent for their help all weekend. I have to thank each member of our crew for their dedicated support. Butch, who has been with me through all the tough times. He is a very dedicated person, and puts in a lot hours at the shop and the track. He takes care of the truck, trailer and car when its not in my sight. Thanks Butch. Ray, Jay, Don, Neal, Paul, Josh and Bob. These great people volunteer their time to pursue a dream as well. I can"t thank them enough for their great work and dedication. If you think it's easy, well, its not. Just to give you an overview- Me , Dad, Jill, ray, don, neal, jay and bob pile into the motorhome usually around 6:00 on thursday afternoon. We drive non stop to wherever were racing at. We arrive friday morning, unload the luggage, unload the van and get straight to work. We are constantly making the car better and safer. After qualifing friday night, we service the car and get in bed usually around 1-2 am. Wake up sat. morning around 7 am, start working on the car and parts. After the last qual. session sat. night and the car is serviced, its again, 1,2 or 3 in the morning.(depends on how the runs were) Sunday, wake up at 7 am again, and get the car ready for race day. Except for the last 2 races, which ever round we lost in, we'd service the car and load it in the trailer. We all then get back in the motorhome to make the trip back home non-stop to make the monday morning work day. Butch would stay and finish loading everything and then get the transporter back safely to S.C. But it's what we live for. I want to thank the wives of my crew for letting their husbands go with me. I want to thank the support of my wife Bron, kids Anna Drew and Heath. Thanks to my brother Neal for letting me and dad go racing while he runs the business. I wish he could go with us. Jill, for just everything you do. From planning our trip, to the food, all the decals, cooking, making sure the Nitro is right, making sure daddy is right!, just everything, thanks. All my sponsors who have helped me. Donnie and Barbara Holbrook. Holbrook Performance Parts..... If you want to race and dont have a car, just give them a call, need on bolt or a complete engine, give them a call or check them out online- www.Holbrookperformance.com Mike at General Machine of Anderson for all your manual and cnc machining. and thanks for letting Neal and Don off work to go with us. Victory1 precision racing valves. Conrad and Derek has been a huge help with our valve train success this year. Ross racing pistons, Darton Sleeves, Amalie oil, ARC, Crane cams, clevite, Vickery Speed shop, Impact! safety, R3, RH2, JRD hauling and grading, Silt Fence, R & R Construction, Danny and Lanita Driggers, Hartman Machine Works, Horton race cars, Nitro Drivelines(Moore), Williams oil pans, and everyone else who has contributed in some way. It takes so much to have a competitive race car, I just wanted to thank everyone for all you do. Now lets go to Epping and win that race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

1 comment:

Unknown said...

hello andy good gob in ok.i am so glad you all are doing so good you all worked so hard.you all deserve it.keep up the good work and be safe.tell your dad and everyone i said hello. perry