This is for Jim.
(...who we all know works very hard at those IHRA drag racing events).

I'm also doing this because the radio station this hottie works for (101 WRIF in Detroit) has requested these photos. And hey, they're really good photos. Jim shot these at the IHRA race in Milan, Michigan in August.

So I'm sharing... for all to enjoy!

So, here I am... somewhere over the Canadian Rockies, chasing a late afternoon sunset. It's the fist leg of a long "red eye" scheduled to get me home in the morning.

I've been gone a week... again. Not complaining mind you, I'm just looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, mowing my own grass, chasing my dog around the yard and my wife around the bedroom.

This isn't about my to-do list really. It's more about stopping to smell the roses, enjoying the moment. Or, maybe it's just about nice people who work for nice companies. Does it really take that much to be nice?

After another long week of being on the road, I'm looking forward to making my way home.

On July 18th, Jim and I set off for a roadtrip/vacation from Nashville, TN to Edmonton, Alberta Canada. We returned home on July 31st.

Our mission: To pick up an RV in Elkhart, Indiana (the RV capitol of the world where there's an RV manufacturer on practically every corner)... drive it to a 3-day IHRA drag racing event in Grand Bend, Ontario (as Jim reports here, here and here)... then drive it onto Edmonton, Alberta and deliver it to an RV dealership there.

Click to view larger map

Sounds like fun, right?

Because we were able to schedule a "vacation" immediately following the races, I agreed to go to Jim's IHRA event in Grand Bend, Ontario Canada last week.

I'm so out of the racing loop it isn't even funny...

I spent most of my time taking pictures of things I found interesting and working on my computer. (Yep, it's hard to stay away, even when on vacation... we didn't have Internet though.)

Jim has started his annual summer trek across the country racetrack to racetrack from Raleigh, North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma and everywhere in between. Yep, he's home a week or so, then gone a week or so. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

If I enjoyed racing more, I'd probably go along with him. There's just so much down-time spent sitting around the track, and I'd usually rather be doing something... anything!

Anyhoo... when Jim got back from Dallas last week (he got side-tracked with a business meeting somewhere between here and Tulsa), I assumed my "wife of a race car fanatic" role by downloading and then uploading all of his best photos on the websites of the following dragracing drivers:

• Terry McMillen
• Quain Stott
• Dale Creasy

...and what do I find?

From a press release...

NORWALK, Ohio (December 14, 2006) -- IHRA has retained Jim Walczak and his marketing team to manage advertising sales for the company's in-house publication DRM.

Source: IHRA.com

Every now and then I've got to jump on my soapbox and make a little noise. Maybe rattle a few cages or something.

As many of you know I do some PR and marketing work from some drag racers. Melanie Troxel is not one of them. For those that don't know who Melanie is, spot me 100 words or so here and you can have a chance to vote for her to win an ESPY.

Melanie is the pilot for the Skull Gear, TORCO Race Fuels, top fuel dragsters racing out of the Don Schumacher Racing camp. Mel has dominated NHRA Top Fuel Drag Racing this season. According to CompetitionPlus.com , she set an NHRA record for the most consecutive final-round appearances (five) to open a season in Top Fuel. She's also the quickest (4.458 seconds) and fastest (331.04 mph) female racer in NHRA history. Should she finish the season first in points, she would become just the second woman to win an NHRA Top Fuel world championship title. Legendary Shirley Muldowney earned three during her driving career.

Fans of Johnny Reid came from all corners of the world to see him perform at last Friday's IHRA motorsports concert event in Grand Bend, Ontario.

I couldn't go because I had to work. But Jim helped put the concert together, and he was on-site to make sure everything went smoothly. Smooth-as-pie, I'm told. (Or would that be "ice cream", Alice?)

Perhaps the coolest news from the weekend:

Yep, Jim seems to have aquired somewhat of a legendary status of his own, simply by virtue of being Johnny Reid's neighbor.

Supposedly, people were stopping by the Instigator Funny Car tent all weekend looking for "Johnny Reid's neighbor, Jim".

...he says the wrist is still healing from all the autographs.

From Alice, as posted on the message boards of Johnny's Fan Club (the Tartan Army):

"Jim was so sweet and very hospitable with us. He told us that he loves it when Johnny and the boys are practicing at his place. He said his wife (Lynnette) and him open their windows so that they can listen in! Too cool! Imagine living next door to Johnny and Jen????"

I've been studying some race websites as I redesign Terry McMillen's site for a re-launch. While I'm not much of a "flash" fan when it comes to websites, I did like the look on Dale Earnhardt, Jr's site.

Since I've been so involved in drag racing the past few years, I've kind of lost touch with the NASCAR boys. I guess I'm among the 'fans' that have lost interest in the round track racers. Perhaps it's just a lot glossier than it used to be back in what I considered the "hay days" of the 80's.

So, imagine my surprise when I ran across a site for Jr. that was kind of uncut and raw.

We're so busy these days, that we often try to combine "vacation" time with scheduled business trips.

That's how it went last month when we followed a weekend at the racetrack (the work part) with a couple days at the beach (the fun part)...