How many superlatives does it take to describe three days of racing at the Nightfire Nationals??  Incredible! Awesome! Fantastic!

Our weekend began with a display of the Warhawk at Economy Transmissions on Overland Blvd, and then also at Key Bank in Emmett.  Dan at Economy - you have done so much to help us out and we thank you, thank you, thank you!  Also, Grant from Bronco Motors in Boise - we would have been stranded in June without you!  Finally, we ended the weekend with a display on Monday at bodybuilding.com in Boise.  Again - OUR SPONSORS ROCK!  If you are looking for a way to help support racing, you can also help by supporting the sponsors who make it possible for us to do what we love.  Check them out on the web, in person, send your family and friends to them and give them your business.  They are the best!

So, now thoroughly sunburnt, we wandered our way out to the track to get down to some serious racing.  Can you say packed?  Brackets, Pro-Mods, Top Fuel, Nitro - what a turn out!  They must have even topped the field from last year with this year’s entries.  Over 20 cars in the nitro turn-out alone….no, those were not tears of joy.  They were tears from the fumes that wafted over the pits  LOL  We were also lucky enough to have our son Layne Conger and his wife Megan helping us this week, along with Cody Smith from Fox Sportswear, Craig (ummm…you know what?  After how many races and I still didn’t ask you last name!  bad me…)  and Kevin Burgess and his wife, Yvette.  And Bugsy (small, white, fluffy, friendly - dog, that is)  Craig is incredible at making contact with the fans and selling t-shirts and doing anything needed on the car.  Unless he is getting mugged by Mark Sanders (Mr. Explosive).  Okay, not exactly mugged - Craig was throwing shirts to the stands and Mark came over, wrestled one away from him and did the honors.  Unfortunately, Craig didn’t know for a minute that it was Mark lol.  He just thought he was getting mugged for a shirt.  Mark?  You weren’t really, were you?  Were you?

A twist to the weekend - Darin Bay, owner of the Incinerator and Black Rat Jet Dragsters opted to take a change-up and drove Twig Ziegler’s Pizza Haven Nitro Funny Car to seventh place qualifier on the nitro ladder.  Not to be outdone, Mark Sanders took Mr. Explosive up to third.

Warhawk ran like the veteran and class act that she is, as always.  Friday night turned in a 6.396 @ 253.16.  And what better omen for the rest of the weekend that the spotting of a shooting star from the Perseids Meteor Shower on our way back to the motel.  Saturday was an even quicker ET of 6.338 @ 251.95.  We finished Sunday with 6.434 @ 255.02.

Our thanks, also to Brad New and the entire New family for having us out to Firebird Raceway.  They run an incredible facility and keep it as close to clockwork as it is possible to do when you have so many variables and cantankerous machines to deal with.  The new tower is beautiful, their announcers spot-on with their commentary, their crew one of the finest in the Mountain West and their safety crew top notch.  We love coming back to Firebird!

Before I close, I do want to address one other thing on a somber note.  On our way to Boise Thursday night, we reached Glenn’s Ferry and were directed to leave the highway and take a detour along a frontage road.  At the time, we didn’t know what had happened, but looking down on the highway, you could tell it was something terrible - nothing but traffic at a standstill and a sea of emergency lights.  We found out later that there had been a head-on collision not long before we reached that area.  A truck was driving the wrong way on the highway and the Herrera family - a family of four from California - was killed.  We want to offer our deepest sympathies and our respects to the family left behind by this tragic accident.  Also - we want to plead with everyone - be careful out there!  Please, please, PLEASE - if you have been drinking or are drowsy - DON’T DRIVE!!!

For a little while there, we weren’t sure if we would be running in Spokane at all!  We hit some pretty good rain storms on the way in (okay, I don’t remember a great deal about them-Gregg was driving and I was sleeping but I take his word for it lol).  We did make it and the weather did clear up for the most part.  Mother Nature still threw a few good solid wind gusts at us just in case we weren’t paying attention.   Our first run Friday night went well and came in at 6.296 @ 251.20 and just got better from there.  Saturday clocked 6.235 @ 255.48 and 6.199 @ 259.26.    We didn’t take much time for sight-seeing this trip.  Yes - we were boring!  We spent all our time in the pits with friends Darin Bay, Billy Hosford, Mark Stevens and David Doughit.   Also, we got to meet up with Cody Smith again (Cody - should have put you on the cards as crew, you are always with us every year-see you in Boise!), Kevin (ah, the smell of fiberglass repair) and also Marshall.  (Marshall, thanks for the wheels!)   And by the way - congratulations to Mark and David for making contact with an over-the-top and awesome sponsor in Redstone College!!  May it be a long and happy relationship!!

Well, I know it was a short post but it has been a hectic week and I apologize.  I will try to do better with this weekend’s trip to Boise - three days of NightFire Nats!!!

Ah, Summer….When you can feel the heat baking into your bones, a fire at night as it starts to cool off…..oh, wait-that’s a Jet Car!  Well, we did have a couple of elements of summer with us on the 4th. We did have our barbeque and we had our homemade ice cream with Derek and Krysia and we were joined again by Robbie and Janice Crawford. We just did it at Champion Raceway in Medford Every year this feels more like someplace to call home! Jim - you and your staff were the absolute best and we can’t thank you enough for “having us over”. Kudos to your safety crew who understand how to handle a jet on the shut-down area.

And two great runs! First pass came in 6.23 @ 258 and a second of 6.105@ 261.49 as we closed out the show and ushered in the fireworks. A little bit of a timing challenge to get that to work out, but I think it came off pretty well. Although, it was a little hard to see the fireworks through the trees on the tow back until we made it all the way to the trailer. Lol

Dennis Murphy and his crew were also there with the Detroit Dragon, but the gremlins hit him hard this weekend. Hang in there Dennis!!

We saw some really great racing and some really nice cars. That is one of the perks of being parked right by the staging lanes. Sooner or later, you see everything and everybody! Even the one that rattled his own door off on the burnout. Yes, you read that right. Ummm-does it count if you blow your own doors off??

Then, on Sunday we made our way up to Eugene to visit our “retired” crew chief Richard Fuller and his wife Peg. Again-thanks so much for your hospitality! We loved being able to see you both. They showed us around town, took us shopping, even cooked for us and just put up with us in general. We have been blessed with wonderful friends.

Then, they showed us how to cut over on the way home through an absolutely beautiful road that follows the McKenzie River. Okay, another area to fall in love with! Did I say how beautiful it was?

Off for a few weeks before we head to Spokane for July 31st. Ugh….yard work and house cleaning LOL………

Saturday at Sacrament Raceway Park was a banner night for Warhawk! Our first run came in with a 6.142 @ 255.316 BUT……on the second run Derek and Warhawk set a new top speed of 271.196 with an ET of 6.059! It was the topping to an incredible weekend.

For a while we were wondering just what kind of run we would have, with the wind blowing hard Friday night. By the time we did run on Saturday though, the conditions were much better. We had lots of help and company at the track, with our buddy Robbie Crawford helping us out on the crew (they gave him a break from the fuel car so we stole him), his wife Janice (becoming a really good friend) and sister Vicky, Derek’s brother Rob and cousin Zach joining us too. And it was a good thing we had everyone because we had to make a quick turn-around between runs and still a little winter rust to shake off. And of course when you have everything happening at once….the generator runs out of gas. Thanks to the fellow racers in the pits who were willing to part with some of theirs.

A few standout moments of the weekend….If you ever make it into the pit where Mike Patterson is working and he happens to be cooking with a bit of Mad Mike’s Nitro Rub? Do whatever it takes to wrangle an invite because Mike makes a MEAN tri-tip sandwich! (Website for NitroRub-http://www.rbssuperchargers.com/Store_Detail.cfm?ID=229931&InfoID=3921)  Thanks, Mike, for sharing We’re hooked. Even tried it on some of the regular fixin’s at home already and making plans for more. Also, on the way into town on Friday we made an off-the-wall stop when we didn’t originally intend to take and ran across a little restaurant called Sweetpea’s in Auburn, California that was an absolute delight for lunch. Great service and wonderful food. It will definitely be on our return list, as well.

Next weekend - June 19th - Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho for Foxhunt
Hopefully, our computer will be repaired quickly. Having to hunt one down is sure a pain in the <ahem>! But we will keep doing our best so we can keep you up to date. Later!

for a while-our home computer has problems and we are diligently trying to fix the little begger but not having much luck.  I can’t convince myself to actually buy a new computer, but I also can’t convince myself to spend half the price of a new computer on having someone work on the old one.  We haven’t forgotten everyone….please bear with us!

Woohoo!!!  We get to run at the Night of Fire on September 25, 2010 at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City (okay, Magna.  Sort of West  Valley City.  Outside Salt Lake, east of the Oquirrh Mountain, west of the Wastatch Mountains, south of Ogden and north of Provo but whatever - it is our home track!!!)

Before you think me strange (yeah, too late hahaha) let me include a small explanation.  Derek Snelson who owns and drives the Warhawk is a native of Alaska.  He has great friends in Yakima,  WA and we are usually found in Boise twice a year, so one could argue that those are home tracks.  But for my husband and myself, home is just outside of Ogden, Utah and Rocky Mountain Raceway is our home track.  It will be the one time during the year that we get to have friends and family enjoy the show and hang out in the pits with us without having to make serious travel arrangements.

There are actually a few more confirmations we need to add to the schedule, but I can’t find Gregg’s notes.  We will update that over the next few days and hopefully (<ahem, Derek - did you get the hint?  Hopefully? ahem>) the Warhawk website will be updated with a full schedule soon.  Derek is wwaayyyy busy, I shouldn’t tease him, but if you can’t bust your friends a little……….well,

Spring is coming!  Well, at least some of the snow is melting, anyway.  At this time, most everything is just tentative, but possibilities abound!  So, in the spirit of possibilities, a partial and tentative schedule:

BC Custom Car Show - Abbotsford, BC, Canada - April 23rd, 24th and 25th (http://www.bccustomcarshow.com/)

Sacramento - Nitro Night of Fire - June 12th (http://www.sacramentoraceway.com/nitronightoffire.html)

Boise - 33rd Annual  Fox Hunt - June 19th (http://www.firebirdonline.com/schedule/major.htm)

Yakima - June 26th (http://www.renegaderaceway.com/)

Medford (very tentative) - Night of Fire - July 3rd (http://www.championraceway.com/)

Boise - 39th Annual Pepsi Nightfire Nationals - August 13th, 14th and 15th - (http://www.firebirdonline.com/schedule/major.htm)

Mission - 2010 Fire, Smoke and Thunder - August 28th and 29th (http://www.missionraceway.com/mrptrackinfo/09info/09smokefireinfo.htm)

Tucson -  Jet Car Nationals - October 9th (http://www.sirace.com/)

We will update more as information comes in and things are either firmed up or changed.  We look forward to seeing you there!

We finally did it!  We are now on Facebook.  It has taken a little while but hopefully we can keep up with all the friends and fans who come to visit us.  Hope to hear from you soon!

We are investigating creating a 2010 Calendar featuring photos of the Warhawk Jet Funny Car in action.  If you would be interested in seeing this item available for sale, please email us at sales@afterburnercollectables.com.  We are looking for vendors presently to see what the price might be on such an item.  We hope to offer them in the price range of $10 to $20 and we need your input!

Wow…it is hard to believe that the year is over already.  Time to clean out the rig.  We can actually store the coolers now, instead of tripping over them in the garage between races lol.  Time for Warhawk to get her winter “makeover”, which includes a new tailpipe this year.  How can we say how much we appreciate the help we have received this year from so many people?  Without you, we wouldn’t have made it.  With everything that happened, we only missed one race, which was  the week of the accident.  We made every other call, but we could not have done it without our friends and fellow racers.

It was quite a trip, too.  We always debate before a trip to Arizona - the straightest route is a two-lane road that takes you through a lot of little towns and slow-downs, which adds hours to the trip.  To take the interstate is a bit of a jog west through Vegas….it is all interstate, but there is always a slowdown going over the Hoover Dam.  Which, by the way-Wow!  Have you seen the progress they have made on that bypass road just over this summer??  When we went through there last year, they have pylons up on each end over the gorge and most of the roadwork done leading up to and away from them but these last trips - they have the concrete arch up over the gorge and are working on the pillars that will actually support the road deck.  Amazing progress!  That really is an engineering accomplishment.  And it will be soooo nice when it is actually done.  I don’t know if they just want to make the tourist visits to the dam safer, or route traffic around the dam because of wear and tear or just provide a throughway so that you can bypass the dam for convenience, but it will certainly accomplish all three.  But if you haven’t had the chance to be a tourist there yet, I definitely recommend taking the time to see an incredible man-made wonder of the world.

So, we get to Phoenix Friday afternoon and check into the hotel (thanks, tons to the Grace Inn and Krysia’s friend for absolutely wonderful rooms!).  Next morning, we usually try to find a car wash before heading to the track, and we got directions from the front desk.  Easy to find.  As we start washing the rig, I can see people looking out the front of the bays so I step out and look……a HUGE plume of black smoke.  I went back and told Gregg to go look - Five alarm fire about a block away from the car wash!  I think we spent as much time watching the emergency vehicles arrive, douse the fire and clear the area as we did actually taking care of our vehicle.

We get to the track and find where we are to be displaying and parking for the day, which turns out to be in with Mike, from Aero Jet in an area with a group of a half-dozen or so cackle cars.  What happens to be included in the group?  Kenny Bernstein’s Budweiser King Funny Car.  95% original.  Just incredible.  Especially when they lit off all of them together!  Unfortunately, there was a fire on the funny car when a line let go, but it was quickly extinguished and, with the exception of some minor burns, all were okay. 

The last two runs of the year - and we did something we’ve never done before.  We were running against Ken Marley and the Rocky Mountain Thunder Jet Funny Car (again, we need to thank Ken for helping us out by charging the portable air tank….twice…).  Kinda cool…the ET’s on the runs were 6.149 and 6.192 but it was the MPH that got us - 260.61 and 260.61.  Right there, on both time slips!  We kept having to go back and re-read them just to see if our eyes were fooling us.  (no comments from the peanut gallery please as to the need for reading glasses lol)

There are so many people that make these races happen that no one ever sees.  Our thanks to all the Safety Teams at all the tracks for the work that no one ever sees.  Even on a perfect run, they are still there, still suited up on 100 degree heat and still ready to jump in if they are needed at a split second notice.  To the starters and staging lane directors that keep everything moving and try to keep everyone untangled.  To the announcers who keep us informed and entertained and do their level best when confronted with some rather interesting names.  Those in the concession stands who deal with customers all day long.  To all our fellow racers who slaved away in the pits when the asphalt registers 139 degrees and shade is just a sliver beside the rig to cool your toes off.  HOW many bags of ice did we go through??  Thanks for your help, and thanks for your friendship.  And most of all to the fans.  Without fans coming to the race track, there are no races.  Thanks for your financial support.  Thanks to each and every one of you for coming out and for keeping us going when times got rough.  Thanks for coming back into the pits and talking to us and thanks for your feedback.  If you liked the show, please let your track officials know so we can hopefully see y’all again - Next Year!

And we will be glued to the TV come this weekend for Vegas and waiting with bated breath for Pomona and the crowning of the years champions……only 5 months until next season!!!  Now, where is that schedule…..