Home Sweet Home!!!!!

Well I am writing this in my family room watching what else, drag racing!!!! We have been on the road for the past 4 weeks racing up and down the country and as much fun as it is......it is good to be home!!!!

I want to take a minute to say a little about Scott Kalitta as all of our thoughts and prayers are with his family and race teams. It is always a hard time when something like this happens in our drag racing family. But we all know the the consequences when we put on our helmets and accept what will happen. It never makes it easy, but we are all living our dreams.

On to better days. When I last checked in we had just left Milan and had to take care of some business then it was off for some R&R. We spent a week at my sisters house on the lake and man was it wonderful. Andrew played with all of his cousins and Nitro ran free!!!! On Saturday we were scheduled to do our favorite event of the year. The St. Johns High School held its 14th annual car show. Larry Button was Chris's auto shop teacher in High School and was a huge influence in his life and our family owes him so much, it was an honor for us to be a part of the car show this year. We fired the Embry-Riddle Jet Dragster up in the parking lot and lit up the skies at Chris's old high school!!! Larry suprised Chris with a 1/5th scale replica of our Willys. Now give us a little time and you will see us buzzing around the drag strip on our new pit toy!!!

We left Michigan and stopped in to say HI to Al Z. another jet car racer. It is always nice to see Big Al!!! Then on to Kansas City to Skills USA for the rest of the week. We were on display for the second year to help promote Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and careers in Aviation. It was packed this year and we had beautiful weather the entire time. I want to congratulate all of the winners of the competition.

Then it was off to Atlanta Dragway for their Night of Fire. This is always a very fun race and we were ready to have some fun!!!! My crew guy Mike and his daughter Alli came out to help and stayed at the track. Alli was a great help. The Embry-Riddle jet dragster blasted down the quarter mile 3 times and ran awesome!!!! I think it was the largest night of fire ever and it was a great way to end our race tour!!! We headed home for some R&R and get everything ready for our next tour leaving July 16th.

I hope everyone enjoys the 4th of July holiday with friends and family. Chris's birthday is this Saturday July 5th and I have something really fun planned for the day. I will take a lot of pics and let you know how it comes out. Stay safe, see you at the races!!!

luv ya

e

Northbound

Hey, well it has been a while since my last update so hopefully I don't bore you. The LMS team flew out the first of June for the NMCA race in Atco New Jersey. Now as the temperatures are heating up in the south, I was looking forward for some cooler weather.......HAAAAAAA It was record temps reaching in the high 90's and when we checked the temp it was 105. Still it was a great racing weekend for those who braved the heat to come out to watch. The Embry-Riddle jet car is doing a great job with no problems. We made three passes over the weekend and met some great people I am looking forward to come back in August for the NMRA race.

We hit the road on Sunday evening and headed back to our home towns in Michigan. We dropped off the trailer at Uncle Johns and then headed to my sister's house. We were all ready to stretch our legs. We had just enough time to unpack when it was time to hit the road to do a display for Jack Roush a couple of days later. I was honored to be invited to display the car at his private museum in Livonia, MI before the NASCAR race. It was wonderful to meet some new people and hopefully make some new drag racing fans.

Packing everything back up and it was time to race. We dropped the truck and trailer at Milan, MI which was our destination for the weekend. Unfortunately the skies were cloudy and it was raining off and on. They did get some qualifying in later that evening. We were invited to some of our close friends house for dinner. We met the Kempfs about 8 years ago on a cruise and have been close friends ever sense. They have a beautiful little girl and a new dog named Daisy. Nitro didn't know what to think.

Saturday morning and it is race day. I get nervous when my family comes to watch me race, and just hope that all goes well. My sisters Nancy and Diane with their families all were in attendance along with some close family friends Larry Button and Paul Beck. It was time to put the show on. I think they all had a great time and can't wait to see us again.

Sunday morning and back out to the race track. A new group of friends and family came out to watch and the good ole Embry-Riddle car did not let me down. This was my first trip to Milan Dragway and I would love to come back. It was a great facility and we all had a warm welcome. After my sister took Andrew and Nitro home while Chris and I took care of some business. Now we are sitting here getting some R & R. Now our plans at first was to enjoy the outside swim and play in the lake. Mother Nature has had other plans. It got down to 45 degrees last night and the high today is only 62. It is called be careful what you ask for as I was hoping for cooler weather.

Andrew has had fun with his cousins and Nitro has enjoyed running around Uncle Johns farm. We are having dinner with more family tonight and then we get to go to Chris's home town of St. Johns, MI to do their annual car show and fire up the jet car for the home town crowd.

We want to send out our thoughts for those who have suffered so much with the crazy weather lately. From the tornado's to the flooding. I guess mother nature has a mind of her own. Take care and we will see you at the races!!!!

luv ya,
e