Sometimes when you have a good weekend, you just have a good weekend and then there are those weekends that are just the absolute cream!

Our Fourth of July was one of those weekends that leave you feeling like it can’t get any better.  We spent it at Renegade Raceway in Wapato (Yakima) Washington and it was three fantastic days all rolled into one weekend.

For a long time we have been missing hooking up with Kevin Therres and his bio-diesel powered Jet Funny Car sponsored by the Canola Growers Association, but we finally met up.  The way the pits were configured was a little different, with the rigs parked so that the work areas were open to each other and I don’t know how it worked for the alcohol and nitro teams, but it gave us a great chance to visit with Kevin, his wife Gwen and their granddaughter Caitlyn and finally get to know this amazing couple that we seem to always miss.  I don’t think you could meet a nicer group of people – real and down to earth from the word go but quick-minded and intelligent, all around fun and new friends.  If you ever get to a track where they are running, ask them to tell you about bio-diesel!  The presentation is amazing and simple – or maybe they are just so good at explaining it that it makes it simple to understand. 

When we arrived at the track, Derek also introduced us to his long-time friend Doug Tyo. Doug has worked for just about every name in the pros that you can come up with but has finally decided that it is time to relax a little and get back to the roots of racing – home tracks and the fun of the sport.  Doug is a little quiet and always listening until he has something he wants to say but you know that the thoughts are always working behind those eyes.  Very intelligent, businessman, and another down to earth, common sense individual with a fun, dry sense of humor that makes him fun to just hang with, that I hope we can now also count as a friend.

Friday nights are usually not very big nights but it looks like Renegade is getting a reputation for putting on a good show, because there was an excellent spectator turnout.  And on Saturday, the stands were packed and there were rigs lined up down the fence all the way to the finish line!  I know some of the fans were disappointed by the problems faced by the fuel and alcohol teams and the fact that they could not run the passes they had hoped to see.  Unfortunately, racing includes breakdowns and shutdowns and unforeseen issues.  And, if they happened to stick around on Sunday, they saw a few extra shakedown passes that Shawn Nault and the Arctic Thunder Nitro Funny Car was able to make.  You never know when those extras will be popping up!

One point in the weekend we even had our Fourth of July BBQ!  With the break on his Alcohol Funny Car, Jeff turned in his wrenches for some tongs and a spatula and proved himself to be as good a cook as a driver.  (Sorry Jeff – don’t mean to rub in the break but thanks for taking such good care of all of us!)

And, as always, when we get to race beside Shawn, that means spending time with our friend and his tuner, Gary Ritter and our great friends Janice and Robby Crawford.  Janice, I don’t know what I would do without you – you keep me sane.  Robby, you have to be a long lost relative because it seems like we all just fit together.  If you ever get tired of that nitro…..you always have a place with us.

We also got to spend time with Derek’s daughter Dana and her husband, Mike and their new son – Derek’s grandson – Anthony.  A special treat, seeing that they live in Florida at present but were up to Washington for a friends wedding and were able to come down and spend some time with everyone.  Even Cody came down from Spokane!  Cody is always ready to throw his hands in for anything that we need or even just kick back and enjoy the racing.  The only thing that was missing was having Layne and Megan there, but work wasn’t cooperating.  And I know I haven’t yet mentioned that we are expecting a new grandson come October.  You know us grandparents – always bragging!

Oh yeah…..gotta tell ya……Warhawk ran like a dream Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.  Never anything but!  And (drum roll, please)….turned in the best EVER ET at a 5.75!  Woohoo!  Just after we had new pictures made with the stats on the back.  That’s okay, though.  For a new number like that, we will GLADLY write them all by hand!  LOL

A couple of weekends off, now.  Time to spend with the family (if we can ever get over this working for a paycheck thing – keeps us racing but man, it eats time!).  Looking forward to the next race – Spokane County Raceway on the weekend of July 29th-31^st – Super Chevy Show!!

Hope to see you there!