Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wally Goes to Dearborn

Last week Ford invited me to participate in “Take Your Kid To Work Day.” I had a lot of fun with the kids, answering their questions and signing hero cards for them. It’s always neat to see their reaction when they hear what you do because it is really hard for people to believe just how fast these car are! It’s always fun when you have them guess how much horsepower our Shelby Mustang produces and you hear all sorts of numbers.


In addition to talking with more than 200 kids, I was also a guest judge at the Ford Flex decorating contest. There were several groups, each with kids on a team, and they painted a fiberglass miniature model of the Flex. The heartbreaking part of it was having to judge it in front of them. I thought it was going to be a secret ballot, but to judge the winning Flex and take pictures with the winners was a fun time.


Then on Friday morning I achieved a major goal that I set for myself when we started this program. We had a celebration in Dearborn, and I delivered the Gainesville trophy to Ken Czubay, Brian Wolfe and Brett Wheatley, the key Ford people in our program. It was great to be there with them and their team. I was able to share with them my story, how I got into racing and about the win down in Gainesville.

To give them a Wally, for me, was kind of a small mission, but certainly a mission accomplished on that front. Our whole foundation for our program is “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday,” and we’ve accomplished the win on Sunday, so now we got to keep going. I’m certain that there are more wins in our future, but the first is certainly one of the sweetest and to leave that trophy behind and have Ford put it up in their case is a very rewarding experience.

While in Michigan, I went to the AutoWeek offices to meet Mac Morrison and Roger Hart to talk about racing. Whenever you get the chance to talk about what we do and how we did and what the experience is like as a driver, it’s always a great time. I know the guys at AutoWeek enjoyed our conversation. While I was there I met Keith Crain, he’s a pretty cool guy and he’s really a legend. He and my grandfather were friendly when he raced back in the ’60s. Keith has an appreciation for what we do. I had some time to spend with him and share some stories for what we do here today in 21st century drag racing versus back in the ’60s.

Before heading to St. Louis, I spent a couple days back home with my wife and children in Rhode Island, tested the Cobra Jet at zMax Dragway in Charlotte and checked in on the guys in the Concord shop. I’m working with my Uncle Carl to get him a Super Gas license. He is making great progress but it is not easy to jump in and drive a nine-second racecar. After lunch I had to jump in and make a pass, I ran a 9.88ET at 140mph! What a fun car to drive.

Although it was an off week for me, I was busy. I’m looking forward to racing in St. Louis this weekend. St. Louis is neat place and we had a solid Mustang there last year. We’re about two rounds out of second place, and the top 10 cars are really tight in the points. I think we’re due to go a few rounds off there, and St. Louis is as good a place as any to get a few rounds under our belt and another Wally!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

California Dreamin’

Hi, race fans. March was a busy month for us and almost too busy for me to blog. But since this is an off-weekend for us, I can tell you all about my trip to see Jay Leno and the American Idols.

In my Gainesville winner’s speech, I thanked the women of the program because they let us chase our dreams of racing. Sometimes we get caught up in this sport because we just love what we do. There’s a huge price the women of the sport have to pay and we couldn’t do it without them.

My wife, Terri, crew chief, Chris Cunningham, and his wife, Shelia, scheduled a trip to Los Angeles before the Gainesville racefor Valentine’s Day. Chris and I were trying to think of something cool for our wives for Valentine’s Day. So, Chris and I thought going to see American Idol would be fun. One thing led to another, and through the brilliant efforts of the people at Ford and Motorcraft, we were able to take a pretty neat tour of not only American Idol, but we went to The Tonight Show on Monday night, met Jay Leno and gave him a helmet. That was real special; I’ve never been to anything like that.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck was one of Jay’s guests that night and she’s from Cranston, Rhode Island, believe it or not, where I’m from. We talked with Elizabeth after the taping about home, and she knew Tasca Ford as soon as I said my name. Before we left that night, I gave Jay one of my Motorcraft/Quick Lane helmets. It was pretty cool because he knew who we were, he loves drag racing, and he’s friends with John Force and Ashley Force Hood.

Tuesday morning, Jay knew we were touring his garage, and he had already taken the helmet down on Monday night after the show, so it would be on display when we arrived. I got there Tuesday morning. We got a first class tour of Jay’s garage. What can I say about it? I think you could live there; all you needed was a mattress. It had a kitchen that was right out of something you would see in Las Vegas and the history of cars that he has there was beyond words. It was absolutely remarkable. Every car was registered, ready to go and detailed to perfection.


In the other building, he had a complete restoration operation where he can restore a car from scratch and had all of the equipment needed. The people that he has working there, you can just tell, that that’s their passion. With Jay’s lifestyle and schedule, and the incredible amount of hours that guy puts in, that’s his sanctuary where he goes to unwind and enjoy the fruits of his labors, his cars.

Then Tuesday evening it was off to American Idol. What was really cool, for me anyways, was to meet a lot of celebrities. It’s amazing how many people know drag racing, know and follow what we do as drivers. What was even more amazing, and it was a very interesting comment, the people who don’t know who we are, they know we go fast.

I met Simon Cowell, of all places, leaving the bathroom. We didn’t have a lot of time together because it was during a commercial break, but I introduced myself to Simon and he said, ‘Man, you guys go fast.’ That’s all he really knew, and I told him how fast we drive and he grabbed my arm and he said, ‘Impossible, I can’t even fathom that.’ I told him we go 300 mph, and he asked how long it took us to go 200 mph, and then I told him we go about 267 mph in about three seconds and he couldn’t believe it. That’s the reaction people who really don’t know what we do, when we tell them what we do, they don’t believe. They can’t believe that an object can accelerate to 300 mph in four seconds flat. It’s pretty neat explaining it to people, and I have to be honest, I see these fuel cars come through the finish line, and I drive one, and I can’t believe there’s somebody in it, that’s how fast they are.

American Idol was an amazing experience and I met all of the Idols backstage. A lot of them saw that I brought a Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew jersey with me. I had all 13 of them sign it, which I’m going to get framed and put up in our shop in Charlotte. I invited Lil Rounds and her family to the Memphis race in October because that’s where they live. Hopefully she wins American Idol and will be too busy on the tour and won’t have time to come to the race. But even if she wins it and has time, we would love for her to come out with us and see what we do. Some of them were just as excited to meet me, as I was to meet them, it just goes to show how far our sport is coming.