I want to go back and thank you

Well, another fantastic and unforgettable trip has come to an end.
Once again I have had the privilege to meet, work and travel with the great group of people known as the NHRA Safety Safari. I have learned and experienced so much during this trip, I have listen to so many stories, I have had so many good laughs. Also have I seen a lot of beautiful places and parts of this diverse country when travelling from race to race, always in the best of company.

Of course it has  been a lot of hard work, long hours and difficult weather to deal with from time to time, but I have loved every second of it, and I am ready to go back there any day again. I'm very proud to have been part of this great and skilled crew.

So to all of you who made my trip so exciting, memorable and fun, I would hereby like to express my gratitude!
Throughout this trip I met a lot of people, some known to me and some new, and I don't remember all the names but let me put it this way, if we came across during my stay, you are one of them I like to thank. Below are some of the names I remember, so once again guys, THANK YOU !


Mr Light, Mr Peterson, Mr Lang, LoCal, Robin, John, Mark Wayno, Cara, Jumper, Bullit, Jerry, Tim, Jodi, Tanya, Cindi, Mark, Rick, Kevin, Terry, Freddy, Rowland, Gary, Brandon, Brian, Jonathan, Paul, Cody, Ron, Celena, Laura, Bob, Randy, Russel, Jeff, Buggy, Cowboy, Mike, Sam, Jason, Darren, Tim K, Rick C, Coop, Donovan, Dwayne, Cheri, Tuffy, Staff of:  Pacific Raceway, Brainerd International Speedway, Lucas Oil Speedway and NHRA as a whole.

                

U.S. Nationals or doing The Marathon

Update

Well, trying to update during this race turned out to be almost impossible due to very long working hours, but I'll try to do a summary.

First of all, U.S. Nationals is a looooong race. A race over 6 days and nearly 900 contestants is brutal. And when you constantly have to fight mother nature, it doesn't get any easier. I don't know how many hours we put in during these days, but we slept an average of 4-5 hours as most. But we had fun and, I'm very glad I did it, but I'm not sure I will do it again ;-)

 Throughout the whole race a stayed at truck #1, which was fun as we covered trackside up to 1000 foot, aswell as part of the startline. Big nitro fix!

We finally got through it and about 5 o'clock on Monday evening all the winners were crowned. Richie Crampton in Top Fuel and Alexis in Funny Car, which was awesome.

As usual we started to pack and store all the equipment, tractors, Power Boss, tires, quads, scooters, Tuffy and tool boxes. Some hooked up their trailers and prepare to leave for Charlotte.

Then came the sad moment when we had to say good bye to each other. We took some good pictures, hugged and promised each other to get back together again in the future. I hate this moment. 

But as I was so worn out this time, it was actually a bit easier to leave, because I know I'm going to get some rest after these exausting days.

 But at this very moment after a good night sleep, I just wish I was in one of them trucks going to the next race in Charlotte.

Tuesday

10 o'clock this morning Stanley picked me up at my hotel and we went for a ride.

Went to Castleton Mall for some shopping and we also had lunch there. Then on to Indiana Motor Speedway. Cool and huge place! Cruised around Indy for a while, before he dropped me off by my hotel. I took a short nap before I got down town for some sightseeing, and had dinner at Hooters on my way home ( one more thing off the bucket list Cowboy). 

Packed my bags and arranged my transport to the airport tomorrow. 

 

 

 

Working trackside and fixing the net

Okay, here is an update for the two first days of the U.S Nationals at Indy.

Wednesday

Met up at the trailer at 6 o'clock and started to load up the trucks even before daylight. I'm going to be on truck #1by the startline today, and probably for the rest of the race. Working truck #1 also includes working trackside as a spotter :-)

Today and tomorrow will be only sportsman racing. 

Well, hot sunny and humid as usual, but everything went just fine until one of the Super Stockers lost his brakes and went through the sand trap and ended up tangled in the net, upside down. Met up with my friend Stanley who is here for the race :-)

He was A-okay, but the nets were messed up. It took us 2.5-3 huors to get the two nets back in place again, which were very exausting in this kind of heat. So with that kind of downtime we were done for the day right before 9 pm. Packed up and Rick and I went to Taco Bell for a quick dinner.

Thursday

Up at 5 this morning and left 5.45 for the track. Got over to Racing Electronics first thing in the morning to get my earplugs which broke yesterday, then down to Laura for my credentials. Same truck and same kind of work today, but thank God not as hot as yesterday. Sportsman racing all day too exept for two rounds of Comp. Easy day with no incidents or oil downs at all. Had pizza at the end of the day, thanks to Coca Cola. Back to the hotel for some laundry. Time is now 9.30 pm and we are all dogtired, but having fun. Two down four to go..

I think they multiply in the staging lanes

View from the tower

Happy after the pizza dinner

One more day of preparation and fixing the Power Boss

Tuesday

 Left at the break of day today for our final day of preparations. 

Started to unload more equipment from the trailer and distribute it to different places around the track. Later Randy am I made two sets of new tires for the tire machine, which were quite exausting in the bright sunshine. Well, you can't back down ;-)

Now it was time to take care of the Power Boss. Brought it up to the maintenance garage and jacked it up. Finally got the squeegees to go up and down again with a temporary solution, new parts are coming in later this week. Cleaned out all the coolers and loaded up the first pallet of of beverage.

More crew members showing up from their time off, some I met before and some new ones aswell.

Late dinner by the hotel and a quick shower then off to bed. We leave 5.30 tomorrow.

Tomorrow it's raceday and I'm on truck 1 by the startline. I'm living the dream :-)

Yay! ;-)

Yes, we had some rain today too..

Track prep and Cracker Barrel

Monday

Okay, Monday morning and back to work :-)

Took off with Ron at 7.15, and we went to a Chevy dealer in Plainfield for an oil change. After that was taken care of we drove out to the Lucas Oil Raceway for some preparations.

 My good it's hot today! Runned some errands, drag the track, cleaned the truck, picked up all the laundry and fixed some stuff on the credential trailer. Down to Brownburg and had lunch at Bob Evans. Back again and carried on with prep stuff through this very hot and humid day. 

Crew members are coming back from their leave, so tomorrow we will be in full swing again.

Back in the afternoon and had some rest. Was challenged for the Ice Bucket Challenge yesterday so I was about to go for it tonight,but Coop and his guys were stuck by the track so we will do it tomorrow instead. Damn, I hate cold water!

Had dinner at Cracker Barrel with Randy and Ron. They got some good food over there.. Three stuffed guys slowly walked back to the hotel :-) Thunder storms and rain this night too :-/

 How I love it over here! Good night folks.

Early birds ;-)

"Corn on one side and race cars on the other"

Aha, scooter!

The oval track behind the strip

The oval track behind the strip

Laundry

Brownsburg

More laundry..

Even more laundry..

Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel