Still on a Nitro High

It was the 50th Anniversary of the Winternationals at Pomona for the NHRA. In my lifetime I have probably been to 15-20 of those races with my dad. We would start off the morning by having breakfast at Coco's and heading to the races. We would spend most of the day there and come home with a nitro high. On the eve of my dad's 4 year anniversary of passing, I find myself on that nitro high again. Funny how life comes full circle sometimes.

We started the day off by stopping by Fast Jack Beckman's pit. We got to see the new body that the Valvoline car is running this year. It is awesome! Later we came back to say good luck to him and get a picture with the boys. We headed back to the stands and Curtis told me that I was going to have the chance to ride in the tow vehicle when Jack was going to race. WHAT?! Jack and his wife Jenna invited me to ride in the tow vehicle! Wow....what a dream come true! After a few races I headed back down to their pit and got in the tow vehicle. I was sitting in the tow vehicle in complete awe. To the left of us was Cory Mac getting ready to race, John Force was in the furthest lane and to the right was Jack's competitor Gary Densham. I kept thinking my dad would have loved this. I know he was looking down on me Friday but I sure wish he would have been there to experience it with me. It was a whole different racing experience from down on the track. It was awesome to see the crew get Jack's car ready to race and see Jack pull up to the light tree. The tow vehicle raced down the track to retrieve the car and pick Jack up. On the drive back to the pit, Jack hangs out of the window of the tow vehicle and waves to all his fans. That was pretty cool to watch all the fans cheer Jack on.

After we get back to the pit, I got fired. Yep, I was bad luck apparently. We laughed it off and I watched the crew disassemble the car. It was amazing to see how fast these guys can take apart a car. The clutch pressure plate was still smoking when they took it off! The boys and Curtis came down from the stands to meet me back in the pit. After many autographs by Jack, he gave us a tour of his rig, actually it's 2 rigs connected together. Again, wow. We saw so many cool things in there and 2 of his other cars that are stored up top. One of Jack's crew members gave the boys a clutch wrench (I think that's what it is) and Jack signed it for them. It was the end of the day and Jack was packing his parachutes back onto his car. Curtis got recruited to help Jack pack them back up. I told Jack that Curtis wouldn't be able to sleep until those parachutes were out safely the next day!

The day was turning into night and it was time to go. I left the track on cloud nine smelling like I dipped myself in nitro. Poor Curtis, he couldn't shut me up on the way home. It was such an awesome experience. I'll never be able to convey my appreciation to Jack and Jenna for what they did. Not only was it a cool experience but it was something that was close to my heart that I shared with my dad.

Here are some pictures from the day