Flying with the Big Boys

Thunder in the Valley Airshow was the stage for this weekends event. As Andrew put it "On the Road Again!" The Embry-Riddle Jet Racing Team headed to Columbus, GA to perform at their 10th annual airshow. We arrived in town on Thursday morning in order to speak at a wonderful organization Girls Inc. This is a program that gives young girls a place to go after school. For more information go to http://www.girlsinc.org/

We returned back to the hanger and were invited to join a local flying club for dinner. Then came the one of the best parts of the weekend. ICE CREAM. This place was called the Marble Slab. Holy Cow. If you have ever been there, you know what I am talking about. You get to pick from so many types of ice cream, but here is the good part, they have available more things to add in ice cream than I have ever seen. Now lets start with some plain vanilla ice cream, then add cookie dough, Girl Scout cookies, Snicker Bar, Heath Bar, chocolate chips, nuts, and put it all in a cone dipped in chocolate. The Airshow committee was worried that they may have hired a 50 mph jet dragster with all of the ice cream I ate.

Friday morning, and it is rainy, windy, and very cold. Not good. We went to the performer meetings and found out our schedule for the weekend. The big event for this day was RIBS!!! National award winning ribs were on the menu for later that evening. All of the performers were invited to enjoy these wonderful ribs. Later that evening I fired the car up and tried to warm things up for our own special show.

Saturday morning and the show is on. Windy and bitter cold is what greeted us as we pulled up to the airport. I just knew that it would keep the crowds away, boy oh boy I couldn't have been more wrong. This event is something that people look forward to every year, and they all came out and braved the weather. We fired the ERAU Jet Dragster up to make two passes down the runway. Later that evening, the airshow hosted a catered dinner along with a silent auction to help the Boy Scouts of America.

Sunday morning and it is cold, but the weather report looks better. The wind was down, and it was warmed up fast. We again made two passes down the runway. It was awesome to be taxing down the runway while they were pulling out the perectly restored war birds for the final flight of the day. I can truly say that my job is the best.

At the end of the day we headed home. On the road, Chris and I talked over the weekends events. It was amazing. We were treated so wonderful and with such down home respect. It makes you realize that moments like this don't come along often and you better enjoy them while you can. Thanks Columbus, Georgia.

Love ya,

Elaine

Getting Older

Well, since the last blog. a lot has happened. Andrew played another baseball game. They did a great job, but unfortunately they lost, better luck next time. My friends took me out for my pre-birthday lunch, which was really nice. On my official birthday, we had to head to the next race, so Chris took me out for a quick lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, we picked Andrew up from school, and hit the road.

The Embry-Riddle jet team headed down to Moroso Motorsports Park this weekend for their Chevy Show. We arrived and set things up, we had the opportunity to meet Mike and Maria that run the Interceptor jet funny car. Chris and Andrew had planned to take me out to a nice place for dinner, but we started watching racing and talking, we ended up eating at the track.

We headed back to the hotel to check in and get some rest for the next day, but there were others who had bigger plans. I was racing the Thriller jet dragster, the crew was staying at the same hotel, so we decided to go down to the lobby and talk racing.

Saturday morning and the sun is shining, and I mean shining. This was the first heat of the spring, and man it got hot. E. Lowe was of course on hand to help with the car this weekend, Chuck and Chris Foster came out to make sure everything ran smooth. George DeWees from Embry-Riddle brought out some students to help crew the car as well. Our pit area was full, and we had a lot of fun.

Nitro again was the hit of the race. He dazzled everyone that walked by. Of course I could be a little bias. We were scheduled to make two passes, the Embry-Riddle jet dragster powered down the quarter mile just like a bracket car.

On the final run of the evening, Chris had planned a surprise Birthday party for me at the track. The crew had decorated my pit with black balloons to celebrate my 40th birthday. They also had a huge cake for everyone to enjoy. I was very surprised, and we all had a great time. It made turning 40 a lot easier.

Sunday, with the time change we didn't get a lot of sleep, but it is back to the race track for another day of fun. The Embry-Riddle jet dragster made her final two passes without a problem, and ended the weekend on a high note. Peas & Carrots, the concessions at the racetrack, supplied us with food to get us home, which was great as I was too tired to cook.

We have a couple of days off, and then we hit the road again for Columbus, GA for the Thunder in the Valley airshow this weekend, March 17 & 18. I am going to meet back up with my buddy from the Aeroshell team who was so kind to give me on ride at Oshkosh last year.

Thanks so much for everyone who came out to the races last weekend. I hope to catch you on the road real soon.

Luv ya,
Elaine

No Problem!!!

Larsen Motorsports headed to No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, LA for the NHRA division 4 race. We left home on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday there were tornado's all over Alabama, but luckily we missed them all. When we pulled into the track on Thursday, the trailer was ready for a good washing. We washed the rig, and headed for the hotel. Friday morning, E. Lowe was flying in to help us for the race. We all headed to the track, and the place was packed. There were a lot of quality cars, and the racing action was awesome.


I was scheduled to make one pass on Friday evening to close the show down. This was my first pass since I ran at the Snowbirds in December, so it felt really really fast, but man was it fun to be back in the drivers seat.


We were invited to some of the racers trailers to have some crawfish. I had never eaten it before, but the 20 foot table was overfilling of crawfish, and they kept piling it on. My lips were on fire after the third one, but they were tasty.

Saturday morning and it was cool outside. We went back to the track, and made our two passes for the day. The crowd at No Problem was on it's feet and that makes it so much more fun. On the last pass of the night, I decided that the guys in the tower needed to wake up, so wake them up I did.

Sunday morning and it is now freezing, which if you are sitting around the pits, not so much fun, but if you are running a race car, man did she fly. The guys at the track thought I needed to eat some more local food, jambalaya hear we come. All I can say is YUM!!!! The last pass was great, and after giving a lot of hugs goodbye, it was time to hit the road for home. I followed the rules that are posted at No Problem:

1. Have Fun
2. Make a Friend
3. Go Home Happy






We had to be back home for Andrew to be back in school, and I was co-hosting on ESPN radio again. So it was time to pull an all nighter!!! We arrived back home at 6:00 a.m. which was great except Nitro was all wound up from being cooped up in the truck all night, he was not going to let me get even a hour of sleep. So as Chris and Andrew were sleeping, Nitro was running around the house glad to be home. I took Andrew to school, and came home to catch 45 minutes of sleep. Back up and on the road in order to be a Disney World to co-host on the ESPN show. This was my second time back at the ESPN club, and it was a lot of fun. This time we were talking motorsports, my favorite sport!!!! Ashley Force was our call in guest. Talk about a great way to end a wonderful weekend.

Wait a minute, my day isn't over yet.....Elaine the racecar driver is done, but now it is time for mom. Andrew had his first baseball game. So there is no time to sleep yet, it is time to be the team mom. Andrew was AWESOME!!!! I was so proud. This was his time to shine, and he did. He struck 3 kids out, and just had so much fun. Well that about does it for me. I am going to get some sleep. But not much, cuz it is time to go racing this weekend. Life is great!!! Thanks to everyone at No Problem Raceway. This is how a track needs to be. Family fun for everyone. I hope to see you all again real soon.

Luv ya,

Elaine