Getting Ready for the Stretch Run

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We are getting down to crunch time now as the midpoint of the season is here and some big races are coming up.

The first is my favorite event of the year, the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo. We feel very good right now heading out west. Our Mopar engines are running great and we continue to make small adjustments on our Dodge Avenger and this new chassis.

My wife Pam and I were able to spend five days at our house on Douglas Lake here in Tennessee, celebrating the Fourth of July and enjoying the long weekend. We were able to spend a lot of time with friends and just relax and have a great time. We grilled out, did some skiing, did a little wakeboarding and rode in our new boat.

From there we headed up to Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. to race. It was hot up there and the last couple of races the weather has been really warming up, and the tracks have been hot.

Usually those are the conditions that suit our J&J Racing team very well. We have a good hot weather setup and we seem to adapt pretty well to the surface when it heats up. Unfortunately, we had a mechanical issue at each of the last two races that cost us a bunch of points.

We stayed after the race at Joliet and the crew got down to work. We found what the problem was and we got it fixed. We also did some testing and this Mopar Dodge Avenger felt great and performed very well. We are confident heading into Denver and have a good baseline we always go off there, and some good notes.

This weekend will be a busy one on the home front, as we have a birthday party to go to, a wedding to attend and also a concert we’ll be at.

Our young friend Doug Fezzel will be turning six. We’ll go to his birthday party and will enjoy getting to visit with him along with a bunch of our other friends.

On Saturday, my friend John Honeycutt’s daughter Sydney is getting married, so we’ll be at that. Pam and I will wrap the weekend up by going to a Dolly Parton concert in Knoxville on Sunday. The show is at Thompson-Boling Arena, where UT’s basketball team plays.

I head out to Denver on Tuesday and get in on Tuesday afternoon and will begin all the activities that are lined up. It will be a busy week beginning with the Mopar Big Block Event on Thursday night in downtown Golden, Colo.

We’ll have a number of media obligations as well and also will get to spend some time with the Mopar executives and personnel, which is always enjoyable. We’ve had a lot of success at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals over the years and look to continue that. 

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