Awards Banquet !!

Hello to everyone and Happy Post Thanksgiving. I hope all is well.

As most of you know, the IHRA Awards Banquet was held a couple of weeks ago. It was in Mason, Ohio, about 20 minutes north east of Cincinnati. Teresa and I left out Friday morning while Sandy and his family came up that night. We all finally got together around 10 pm and hung out with our sportsman friends. They are always a rowdy crowd.

Saturday we woke up to a cold and rainy day. But we were staying at the Great Wolf Lodge which has a huge indoor water park. A lot of the people brought their children and that is where most spent their day. The kid came out in Sandy as he spent a few hours in the water with Case Stott. Teresa and I on the other hand left our kids in NC and went to downtown Cincinnati and had lunch at a fancy smancy restaurant. We all hooked back up that evening for the big show and enjoyed an excellent meal with our friends. Our table consisted of Sandy & Emily Stott, Lucien & Freda Wilkins, Tracy & Jennifer Robbins and Mr. and Mrs. Billy Wilson.

As you can see in the pic, Sandy was all smiles after receiving his second place trophy. To finish #2 after the year he has been through is really satisfying. This was the most wins in a season for Sandy. Let's recap! Rockingham National, spring and fall. The Maryland National. The Piedmont divisional win on Sunday and the bracket race win the night before. Pretty stellar year, only to be slightly tarnished with the crash in Pittsburgh.

While we all had a good time supporting Sandy, we watched as Steve Corker gave an outstanding speech after he received his Championship Trophy. Steve did not have the fastest car this year, but he raced smart and covered a lot of territory to win and will always be your 2009 Top Sportsman World Champion. Congratulations to him and Brenda and it was also nice of him to say thank you to Sandy during his speech.

Sunday morning we woke up to a light snow and decided North Carolina was where we needed to be. We said our goodbyes and headed south, arriving home around 5 pm. What do I remember most about the banquent weekend? 1. Sandy's mom looked like a hot rock star Saturday night, 2. Herb Jr. is constantly promoting/talking, 3. Linda Butcher was not happy with the bar closing down at midnight, 4. The way Allison Hall passed me on interstate, well, she may need to drive the vette.

Don

Post Rockingham

Hey guys,

Talked with the Sandflea today and he is still jacked up from the win at the Rock. The downside is he is not feeling to well. It seems he has been under the weather for about a month. He was feeling his best when he was at Rockingham. What does that tell you. The race track, plus a win, does wonders for the body. I asked about the car and he says it is still in the trailer. He is giving the car a break while he works on customers engines. He did tell me that he has us rooms for the banquet next month in Ohio. And believe it or not, I think my wife is going with me. Our ten year anniversary is next month. Do you think I can get by with taking her to the awards banquet only?

I posted the final qualifying sheet from Rockingham. Sandy qualified 31st with the smallest engine in the field. Our other small block pal Stacy Hall was 1st alternate and would have qualified deep in the field, but I think he had a some clutch issues. He got in as an alternate, but shook and lost first round. If you are having trouble seeing the pic, click to enlarge it.

On a side note, Teresa and I went to the Patton High football game and watched our niece become crowned the new homecoming queen. She is a beautiful girl with the sweetest personality. Very deserving of her title. The funny thing is that her name is Sandy. When I tell my boys that I talked to Sandy, they ask if I talked to the boy Sandy or the girl Sandy. Funny!!!

Don

WilkieMon To The Front!!!!!!

Happy Tuesday to you all,


What a difference a week makes. Last week we wondered how the car would run. This week we are still smiling after the big win at Rockingham. We can't believe how the year has went. Sandy started out the season with a win at the spring national event at Rockingham followed by a divisional win at Piedmont dragway. Then he won the national event in Budds Creek, Maryland which was followed by the dreadful crash the second week of July. To sit out the summer with this car and come by in October and win the last race of the year is awesome. I can't be more proud of the Flea if I must say so my self. With that win, the Sandflea ends up in second place.

Thursday we went over every detail on the car to make sure it was ready. After that, we had supper that night with the Butcher's and it was wonderful. Thank you Linda and Glenn. On the first qualifying run Friday, Sandy ran one stage of nitrous to half track and ran a 7.21 to end up in the 31st position. He wanted to make sure from half track on that it was handling good. Then rain set in around 5 pm and we had supper that night at the Outback. Yummy!



Saturday morning it was still raining a little and they did not get on track until after lunch. Unfortunately, we did not get to run any that day because of the rain. We watched the ball of fire show and had supper with fellow Top Sportsman competitor Bruce Thrift. He had potato's, sausage, shrimp and stuff warming in a cooler. I forget what it was called, but I'll call it delicious.



Sunday it was still cool and windy when we finally made our 2nd qualifying run. Sandy ran one system to the stripe that produced a 7.04 and again that placed us 31st. Hey, we are in. First round Sandy ran Ricky Adkins and ran dead on his dial to save that round. Because IHRA was behind schedule, the sportsman cars were bumped to Monday to finish up. So off we went with the Stott's to Ruby Tuesday's. Good eating!

Monday was nothing but sunshine. Cool but pleasant. Second round Sandy defeated Jason Harris. Third round was Robert Jones. In the semi's he beat Josh Miller. Facing Sandy in the finals was Glenn Teets Jr. Both guys were .o1 on the tree and Sandy ran a little closer to his dial for the win. This was Glenn's first national event final round. He said he was happy with the runner up and that he would have to pay his dues. I thought that was pretty classy. Sandy was the runner up 9 times before he finally sealed the deal. Now he is a six time national event winner.



The weekend went flawless for Sandy and the car required little maintenance. He had a ton of help from people just to get to Rockingham. I will try to touch on those people in a day or two. A thanks goes out to Jeff Miles for the special WilkieMon title he gave Sandy. For those of you who don't get it. Sandy Wilkins car with a John Montecalvo front end. Aww!! Angel Miles took the first pic of us holding the trophy. If you notice we are holding up four fingers to indicate winning four iron men this year. The second pic is a little note that Lauren Jones and the team left us. They were parked three doors down and also our third round competitor. Good people. The last pic is what she was talking about. As Howie Dalton said, Uniforms look good, car not so well. I think it will be an excellent eye catcher hanging in the office.



Don

Rockingham Bound!!!!!!!

Hey again,

It is finally Wednesday night. After working in the muffler shop all day and fixing a project at the house, I can now concentrate on leaving. It is 10:22 pm as I am writing this and clothes are in the wash. Hopefully in the morning I can throw everything in the suitcase and leave. Oh wait. I have to take kids to school first. Then go by the bank. I need to swing by Chucks. Wait. I need to run to the hardware and bring that stuff back to the house. It is three hours to the Rock. I'm thinking I will be there between noon and 8 pm.

Enough of that. Talked with Sandy a little while ago. Remember the pic from yesterday's blog. Sandy tells me that he is in the same spot from the spring race. And the same neighbor is beside us. It is already starting out good. He has the awning up and that is no quick task. When I get there tomorrow we are going into town to pick up groceries for the weekend. One last race to do some grilling. I looked at the points standings for Top Sportsman and Sandy is in a tie for third place. So yes we would like to go some rounds. The weather shows it to be cool this weekend. So you know that means fast racing. I need to go put some clothes in the dryer. See you tomorrow.

Don

Still On Go!!!!!

Hello again,

Day #3 of the blog. I keep my word...most of the time!!! I talked with the Sandflea today. Everything is still on go for the Rock. The car is ready, but he tells me that he is having trouble with the 12 volt system on the big truck. He said no problem, he'll fix that too. Sandy is sounding more up beat. I know he is tired, but like anyone, the closer the race gets, the better you feel.

I also talked with Jeremy Creasman today. He is coming to the Rock with a whole new combination. I want give it all away, but I will tell you it is not the black GXP that he has been running. Different car, different engine combo, same two speed powerglide. I think he said he ran a 4.13 testing last weekend. Can't wait to see it. Jeremy told us his motto for racing. He goes to drink beer and hang out with his friends. He just brings his car so he will fit in. Love that guy.

The pic is from the spring race at Rockingham. No special meaning. I just thought is was a cool pic. Sandy did win that race and it would make a good ending to a rough year to win the last race. I know the odds are against us. But Sandy did win 3 races in a row earlier this year. That's 15 rounds straight and 3 Ironmen. But let's be realistic. Three or four weeks ago, he did not know if he was going to make the last race. Now that the car is together and he has made a few runs, let's go try to qualify. If he accomplishes that, then let's try to make a round. If the car runs good with no major problems and we happen to lose first round, I still think the weekend will be a success. But who's kidding who. Any racer knows that their is no need to go if you're not planning on winning.

Don

Nationwide Is On My Side...........

What's up my people?

How about this back to back blog? Good news. I talked with Sandy today and progress has been made. With the help of Brian King this weekend, Sandy was able to test Sunday evening at Benson Dragway. He made four runs. Two with out nitrous and two with. Everything went well and it looks like he will be heading to Rockingham on Wednesday. Sandy said other than a few minor things on the car, the biggest project is making sure every thing is in the trailer.

This brings us to our title, Nationwide!!! My self and Chuck Chapman, (Chapman's Auto Body), were giving a chance to go behind the scenes at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Two garage passes thanks to our friend Amy Mosser who works at Haas-Carter Racing. Her team prepared car #61 for rookie Nationwide driver Brandon Whitt. He drove in the truck series last year and seemed to be a really nice guy. He only qualified 35th, but ran a pretty clean race and finished 21st. If not for a car checking up on him early in the race and a couple of bad pit stops, he probably was a top 15 car.

When Chuck and I were checking in at credentials, we run into NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Steve Johnson. Since there were not many drag racers around, we easily struck up a conversation. He was their hanging out with Mike Wallace and the Geico Toyota Camry. When the cars lined up on pit road before the race, we ran into him again. We talked about his up coming races, about sponsorships, and of course about the Sandflea. I gave him a card and he said he was going to check out the website. Steve-O was a pretty neat guy. He's a talker!

One of the neat things Chuck and I did was meet the guys from a new country band called the Williams Riley Band. They were first class. Big tour bus and a big grill. We ate with these guys and listen to how they have gotten to where they are. They have signed with a major record label and were at the race doing some networking. They gave us their brand new CD and we noticed that Bryan White sings on their debut single. Slash from G & R plays on one song and Edwin McCain sings on a another. These guys are going to be big and Chuck and I got to do some tailgating with them. Way Cool.

Overall we had a good time. It was a new experience after growing up around drag racing. We were their from 1:30pm to 1 am. I think I could have been happy with about 3 hours worth. Will I go back? Let's just say Rockingham is in a few days and I'm leaving Thursday morning. Four days of some serious fun!

All hail the Flea!!!!!!!!!!

Don

It's About Time...........

Hey guys,

I am sure that title is what you are saying. I have no excuses, except for work and more work, a wife, kids in football and so on. Still, no excuses.

Let's get right to it. Sandy has been working furiously on his car to get to the World Finals in Rockingham, NC. As of Saturday, the car is basically together. The engine and drive line are in. The new stainless headers that turn out the side are on. These are hot! The main thing is the wiring. It just takes a lot of time. I have only been able to drive down one time to help, so it has pretty much been all Sandy. From what I can tell over the phone, he is worn out. I don't know if he will be able to test before the Rock. This Friday may be the first hit on the track.

I don't have any current pics of the car. But I will give you an idea of what it looks like. Look at the car on the home page and imagine a few scuffs from the wreck with a John Montecalvo front end on it. I mean red, white and blue. Sandy says if it goes straight and we don't have any major problems, who cares.

The first pic is what the car looked like when Sandy picked it up from Bickel's. The second pic is the car at Chuck Chapman's being prepped to have the front clip painted. The third pic is from Jerry Bickle Race Cars. If you notice the chassis in the lower left hand corner on the jig, Sandy's car was taking off that jig two days earlier. These guys waste know time in building a car. The fourth pic is a not so pretty pic of a blown rear trailer tire while coming home from the Carolina Dragway divisional. A 12 hour stay on the side of interstate 85 with a corner of the trailer in the highway. Not good.

I haven't talked with Sandy today, so I am not sure if the engine has been fired or what the progress is. I will talk with him tomorrow and try to up date you tomorrow night. I know you don't believe that, but I will try my best. I would like to blog every night this week up until I leave for the Rock on Thursday. That is only three more blogs. I can do it. I hope everything goes well for the Sandflea so he can race at the Rock. Talk to you tomorrow night.

Don

Z-Max Dragway

Hope all is well. As you can tell I went to the new dragstrip in Charlotte, NC. And what a beauty it is. It is so cool to have a state of the art track an hour from home. Some friends and I only went down for one day. We all had a blast. The neat thing is their were a lot of NASCAR people walking through the pits. Rusty Wallace and his son Steven, Geoff Bodine, David Green, Joe Gibbs, Rick Hendrick and I'm sure many more I did not see. When we arrived Friday morning it was overcast and looking like rain. As the day went on it got extremely hot, but it turned into a beautiful evening. The only problem is we had to sit in the hot sun. Our good friend Chuck Chapman was in the air conditioned tower all day Sunday. Sometimes life is not fair.

Since we are on the Chuck Chapman subject, he is going to start on Sandy's car in the morning. As I am writing this now, Sandy is about four hours away, heading home with his repaired Cavalier. After a brief stay at the Shuford Estates, that's funny, he will head to Chuck's place in the morning to drop off the car. Actually, Chuck will paint the chassis from the fire wall forward and touch up a few things while Sandy waits. Then Sandy will take the car back to Raleigh and start putting it together. Once Sandy gets the car pretty close to being ready, he will then bring it back to Conover, NC for Chuck to finish. It will only be a month till Rockingham from this coming weekend. A lot has to be done. Can't promise a trick paint job. But Sandy only wants to be back at the track with his own car, so I know he will work now stop until then.

Z-Max Dragway had lots of good looking women on hand. And it seemed that my buddy Scott Dennie wanted his picture taken with them all. He is the guy you want in your group. Not afraid to say anything or talk to anyone. He kept us laughing the whole day. We seen a lot of our IHRA regulars racing. Matt & Kelly Cooke, Robert Holloway, Cameron Manual, who got down to the quarters, Steve Furr (quarters), Jeff Edmonds, Danny Waters Jr (semi's), Scott Lawton, Tracy Robbins, & Mark Young. Their were a lot. I also saw the always lovely Lisa Bingham hanging out in Pro Stock pits. The cool part? I will get to see all these guys and gals at Carolina Dragway this coming weekend. See you there!

Don

Charlotte & Carolina Dragway!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What does the new Charlotte Dragway in NC and Carolina Dragway in Jackson, SC have in common? I will be at both. This weekend is of course the NHRA race at Charlotte. Myself and four other friends are going down on Friday to catch some sportsman eliminations and to see some nitro night qualifying. We are taking a rookie to see and smell some nitro. I am going to put him right behind a fuel car during a warm up! Sandy says he might go to the ADRL race at Rockingham on Saturday and then to Charlotte on Sunday. Or he said he might work all weekend. If I know Sandy he will probably be working all weekend.

Good news from the Sandflea this week. First, he tells me that Jerry Bickle is working on the Cavalier. They are finishing up on the engine mounts, which sounds like they are not far from hanging the front end. Hopefully by the end of the week it will be ready. Now that I think about it, I hope Flea is driving to Missouri this weekend. Love ya Sandy. Second, he tells me that he has the green light to race Nicky Miller's 67 Camaro in Jackson, SC next weekend. You probably figured that out by the title. Why else would I go? I mean, I have no car or no where to stay. I'm just a bum looking for a ride. Anyway, Flea bag will be there and it is going to be large. Why not? This will be our second to last race of the year. Well, if we get to race in Rockingham! Looks like Sandy is mathematically out of the championship hunt. Let's go racing and just have fun. We have the car that can do it.

Speaking of. Here is Nicky's car again with Sandy behind the wheel. Picture this now. When Sandy is in his 434 cu in small block Cavalier, we are doing a burnout around 9000 rpm. With the 565 cu in big block Camaro, he is around 6000 rpm. You know his foot wants to go to the floor. Sandy's Cavalier sixty foots its rear end off to a 4.80 run on motor. The Camaro carries the front end 100 feet and makes an easy 5.15 run. With the Darlington runs under his belt, I wouldn't bet against him in Jackson. But of course I am kind of bias.

Regardless, the next few weeks are going to be B.I.G.- large. I hope all of our regular IHRA guys and gals that participate in Charlotte do well. My friends and I will be cheering for you on Friday while Sandy is freshening up your engine. I mean somebody has to work. Later

Don

Darlington !!!!!!

Hello my friends. Finally made it back to the blog. Hope all is well with everyone.

It was good to be back at the track after a month and half away. We got to see a lot of our friends and everyone was happy to see Sandy back behind the wheel. Sandy borrowed Nicky Miller's 1967 Camaro, which Sandy said was awesome to drive. The car was consistently in the low 5 teens. Nicky is the father of Top Dragster and Top Sportsman driver Josh Miller, who also happened to win on Monday. The Miller guys are a great group of people and Sandy is extremely grateful for getting the opportunity to drive their car. As far as the results from driving their car. Not so good. A red light in the first round ended race one. And taking too much stripe ended race two. Over all, just happy to be racing.

Our next race is up in the air. Sandy is trying to get a car lined up so he can race at Carolina Dragway in a couple of weeks. After that, it will probably be Rockingham if he gets a ride. If not, we will come down and support our friends. That may be the best plan yet. We can bring Club 660 and park beside you.

Sandy's Cavalier is still setting at Bickles waiting to be repaired as we speak. Apparently this will take a little longer than we first expected. Speaking of taking longer than expected, Jeremy Creasman debuted his new GXP this weekend at Darlington. How about going a couple of rounds while running low 4.30's. I will have his car and the other pics of Darlington up in a couple of days.

Thanks again to the Miller's and congratulations this weekend. Darlington was a good inspiration to get back to blogging. I have plenty of things to blog about. 1. Sandy back at the track. 2. Friends and their new car. 3. Supper and wine with our friends. 4. Lots of whining from Ronnie Proctor (only kidding Ronnie). Someone told me I was not blogging enough. See you in a couple of days?

Don

Stopping By The Flea's Shop!

Hello everyone! Hope you are doing well. It has been a little boring around here. The car is still at Jerry Bickle Race Cars and racing any time this year is not looking good. Soon we will have to start preparing for 2009, but I did not want this early of a start.

I stopped by Sandy's shop the other day to see how things were going. Of course they were hard at it. His number one man Josh was working on one of the lathes while I was there. Josh has been their around a year and a half and continues to do an outstanding job.

You will notice the front end hanging on the wall in one pic. That was the nose that was on the car when Sandy eased it into the wall at Piedmont Dragway. Beyond repair. So he spends a thousand bucks on a new used front end. That nose is in a small box in the trailer, thanks to a steel guardrail at Pittsburgh Raceway. Someone sent Sandy some action pics of his car wrecking in Pittsburgh. I hope to have those up in a day or two.

Another pic is of the office area. T-shirts and parts for sale. Ladies, check out those hot pink Wilkins Motorsports tank tops. A must have for all the females. Also an engine shop would not be complete without an engine for sale. Sandy has this very nice used but not abused PAR 522 BB Chevy. Call for details.

If you are in the Raleigh area, stop by and see the Flea. Better yet, bring an engine by for freshening up or let him build a new one for you. It's not like he's going racing this weekend. WOW! Sorry Sandy! That was my Smart A.. getting the best of me. Talk to you fine folks in a few days.

Don

Nitrous Wrench

What's up everyone? Can you believe it! Two blogs in one week. Working from daylight to dark and then trying to have a little family time makes writing a blog difficult at times. But I do enjoy it. Since I do not race any more, working with Sandy keeps the adrenaline going. Plus it is alot cheaper.



Most of you know that Sandy manufactures a successful line of wheelie bar wheels as well as wheelie bar wrenches. These products are used by many IHRA and NHRA pro stock racers as well as many sportsman racers. Some of Sandy's customers include Jerry Bickle Race Cars, Tim McAmis Race Cars and Rick Jones Race Cars. You can view these products from the home page. Sandy is always thinking of new things and now he wants to introduce his Nitrous Wrench.



This is a 4 in 1 combination wrench that can be used on all nitrous applications. It is made with the same aircraft quality material as the wheelie bar wrenches. Removal and installation of the -12an bottle nut, the -8an blow down tube, and either a -4an or -6an nitrous line can now be accomplished with one tool. It will only be available in blue. Get yours today for $39.99.


If you are interested, give Sandy a call at the shop or email him with your info. He has the first batch of wrenches ready to ship. As quoted by Sandy Wilkins, "Be the first on the block, because the Nitrous Wrench is hot".



Don

Stage 2

Since our last blog, Sandy has been burning up the highways so he can get his car repaired. He traveled to Maryland International Raceway this past Saturday to pick up a front end, tires and wheels from pro stock racer John Montecalvo. With those parts strapped down in the bed of the truck, he arrived back home late Saturday night. With little sleep, he left out Sunday morning for Jerry Bickle Race Cars in St. Louis, Missouri. After a brief hotel stay Sunday night, he dropped off the car around 8 am Monday morning. Once business was taken care of, Sandy departed for North Carolina at 11 am. He arrived home around 2:30 am early Tuesday morning. That would be 2400 miles and $800.00 in fuel at about 11 miles to the gallon. Isn't racing so much fun?

Now that the car is at Bickle's, hopefully their will be a quick turn around. Sandy said Bickle had one jig specifically for repairing cars. Their was one car on the jig and Sandy's would be next. Sandy also said that their were so many cars in his shop, that he should leave his car in the trailer until time to work on it.

It looks as if Sandy will have to have a pair of front struts. If anyone has a line on some good used ones, let him know. Preferably Lamb so his brakes will work. Thanks for every ones help. I will try to blog again before the weekend.

Don

STAGE ONE

Hello everyone. As you can see, Sandy has disassembled the car to get it ready to take to Jerry Bickle Race Cars. He had to take everything off both sides of the fire wall so it could be replaced as well as the front end. It also broke the left lower frame rail at the fire wall which will need to be replaced. The car has more damage than we originally expected, so you know what that means. More time and more money.

Pro Stock driver Jeff Dobbins has helped locate a used front end, front tires and wheels and possibly some front struts. Sandy would like to leave for Bickle's this Sunday so he can be there on Monday morning when he opens. The drive will take around 15 hours. Hopefully Bickle can turn the car around pretty quick and Sandy can start the rebuilding process.

Sandy is still complaining of neck pain that may require a doctor visit. Hopefully just a lot of stress, if that is a good thing. He wanted to thank every one who called and emailed concerning the wreck. The racing family is a truly a great bunch of people. Someone asked, "When will he race the car again"? He would love to have it ready for the fall Rockingham race. As you know this is an expensive sport. If you would be interested in helping out in any way, please contact us.

Also, if you have any questions that you would like answered on the blog, shoot us an email. Sandy's is on the home page and mine is don@carolinatools.com. Thanks again to everyone who keeps up with our web site. Stay tune for STAGE TWO.

Don

Pittsburgh--Home of the Steel Guard Rail.

We finally made it back from our not so exciting trip to Pittsburgh Raceway Park. We arrived home around 1:30 am Monday morning. The sad news is we did not bring back cash, trophies or women. Only a badly damaged race car.

Sandy was racing in the first round of the Sportsmen National Event. His opponent was Chris Nyerges who was coming off of the divisional win the day before. Chris went red while Sandy had a .005 green. Both guys make full passes. After Sandy went through the lights the chutes came out late. Sandy went to apply the brakes and the car began to skid hard left in front of Nyerges.Chris turned right to miss Sandy and went under his chutes, ripping off Chris's hood scoop. Sandy had a hard impact with the guard rail and it sent him back across the track barely missing Chris again. He had another hard hit with the right side guard rail and ended up near the last turn off.

As I watched from the starting line, the only thing I could think was please let him be OK. And just like the pro that he is, he came across the radio and said, " I'm OK buddy". That is all a person can ask for in that situation. We know all to well with what can happen. Our buddy Doug West is going through months of rehabilitation on his arm after his crash. And of course the Kalitta crash. Sandy's car may not look seriously bad for a 190 mph crash. But at that speed, all that has to happen is for the car to hit in the wrong spot and it's ugly. We are very fortunate for the out come.

So what are we going to do now? Sandy is planning on taking the car back to Jerry Bickle Race Cars in Missouri as soon as possible. He unloaded the car tonight and is doing his on evaluation. Sandy is second in the Top Sportsman points with 4 races left to claim. He wants to be on the track somehow, someway. The problem is that this car will probably not see the track again this year. We will see what happens.

Let's talk about the people at Pittsburgh Raceway. The track owners were great to us. Not just because of the wreck. From the day we arrived until we left these guys were super. Sandy had met one of the owners, Carmen Tedesco, at the PRI show this past winter. Carmen and his brothers went out of their way to make sure we were happy this weekend. This is the only race where we left with more food than we came with. Thanks Carmen. After the wreck, everyone was their to help us. Greg and Gina Slack were out pit neighbors this weekend and went above and beyond. Mark Malcuit and crew. Jeff Solyan, Alan O'brien, Shannon Waycaster and many others that I can't remember. Thanks for all your help.

We hope to see you guys sooner than later. If I know Sandy, he has something brewing as we speak. Their are more pics of the car in the photo gallery on the home page. Drop Sandy an email with a word of encouragement if you have the time. Later.

Don

Winner X 3

Now we are having fun!!!!!!

What a way to start off 2008. Sandy started the year not knowing if he was going to race much due to his engine building business. Wow, how things change.

With his third win of the year coming at the National Event at Budds Creek, Maryland, Sandy is ready to go anywhere this weekend. Actually, this is his fourth win if you can't the win in the combo race at the Piedmont divisional. If you are doing the math, that is 15 round wins and counting. See why he wants to go racing this weekend.

I would say we had a pretty flawless weekend. We didn't have any problems traveling to the track. You know, he does have CDL's now. (some may get that) Thursday we did maintenance on the car. Friday we got our two qualifying shots which were a 7.19 and 7.20. Pretty consistent. The only thing was we were qualified 26th going into our last run which concerned us. So we stepped it up to a 7.01 @ 203 mph to end up 22nd. Sandy won a close round one race and other than the rain that washed out pro qualifying, Saturday was fun. On Sunday, Sandy drove both ends of the track great and ended up with his third Iron Man of the year. Did I mention that was fun?

We did not get to take a lot of photos because only Sandy and I went. That is a poor excuse but the one I'm sticking with. We will try to have some photo's up on the gallery in the next couple of days. Where are we racing next? Sandy called and asked if I had a passport. He must be taking us all to Aruba!!!!!! Did I mention we had fun!!!!!!!!!!

Don

Big Pimping, A Win and Doug West!!!

Hey everyone,

Let's review what has happened in the two and a half weeks since the last blog. Sandy crashed the car. Doug West was seriously injured while testing a car (goods news on Doug later), and Sandy spent about 1500 miles on the road getting the car repaired. That pretty much took care of the month of May.

We did have the make up race at the end of May on Memorial Day weekend. That resulted in a second round red light. Fun weekend, but not real productive on making rounds.

Before we go any farther, I wanted to show you the pic of Flea that will be in Drag Illustrated next month. Big Pimping!!!

That brings us into June. We roll into the Big Dog race at Piedmont Dragway on Thursday, the 5th. We end running a 4.357 with the bump being a 4.32, I think. Anyway, we run the consolation race. Win on a hole shot first round and lose because of too much wheel speed when the second system came on. Fun night though.

The great thing about the big dog race falling on this Thursday night, is that we can leave the trailer parked in the same spot due to the IHRA race here this weekend. So after the Big Dog we do our routine maintainance and also change the rearend, converter, collectors and tires. Now we did all of this about 8 hours ago when Sandy arrived. It has made for a long day.

On to the Piedmont divisional race. I was unable to attend this race because of prior commitments. So we had our old pal Jeremy Creasman help the Flea this weekend. How can this turn out? Two crazy personalities who also like to party. Can't be a good combination. How about a win on Saturday in the combo race and a win on Sunday! Can you say Iron Man! Chuck Chapman said I was fired but Jeremy said he could never take my job. Jeremy followed up by saying, I (Jeremy) am damn good help though. I have told Sandy a number of times that it is not as much about the help as it is him being a hell of a driver. But a lot of thanks does go out to Jeremy Creasman for his big help this past weekend.

Our buddy Doug West is supposed to get out of the hospital today. They did discover a fractured knee when they tried to get him moving. He does have a badly damaged arm that will require a lot of work. But he is going to be OK. What a blessing. I know he thanks everyone who has asked about him and prayed for him and also contributed money. Sandy thanks you.

Well, we are off to Budds Creek, Maryland tomorrow night. Hopefully the June hot streak will continue. Sandy did get to the finals there last year. This is also where he ran his quickest and fastest time. 6.78 @ 204mph. The weather may not allow that this year, but fun we will have. See you in Budds Creek.

Don

Doug West & The Month of May?

As everyone is aware Wilkins Motorsports did not start the month of May off the way it would have liked. To recap, Sandy wrecked on his first pass at Piedmont dragway at the Big Dog race. Then he found a used front end in Ohio and went their and back on a Saturday while using a lot of that high priced diesel. He then traveled to Chapman's Auto Body in Conover, NC to drop off the race car. A week later, (today), Sandy arrived by at Chapman's to pick up what appeared to be a brand new race car. As always Chuck did an outstanding job in a minimal amount of time. Now we are ready for Mooresville.

That leads us to our buddy Doug West. Doug began helping us at the beginning of the year and has been a great help in every area. He eventually went to work for Sandy at his engine shop. Last Thursday night while testing a friends 87 Camaro at Benson Dragway, Doug was involved in a single car wreck. We still do not know what happened. He made a pass in the 4.80 range at 145mph and the car ended up wrapped around a light pole at the far end of the shut down area. He was unconscious and had to be cut out. He is in a Raleigh hospital in intensive care. Doug is in a drug induced coma with a shattered elbow, a fractured eye socket and swelling on the brain. We did get excellent news today. They say that while he is still in a drug induced coma, he is giving the thumbs up to the doctors commands. That is wonderful news.

As you have read, the race car has become the least of Sandy's worries. His main concern now is to see his buddy get better. I can not believe I don't have a pic of Doug in my archive. If you go to the photo gallery on the home page and click on the first place at Rockingham gallery, y0u can see him there. Doug's pic is #28 and #30. Please remember to say a prayer for Doug West today. Come by Sandy's pit and ask about Doug this coming weekend in Mooresville, NC. See you there.

Don

A MOTHER OF A WEEK! Part 2

Hello everyone, i'm finally able to finish my story. As posted in the last blog we spent 15.5 hours and 1045 miles on the road last Saturday. Well of course Sunday was mothers day, and you have to spend mothers day with your mom! So i hopped back in the truck and headed two hours east to Wilmington. I arrived in Wilmington at 10:45 and headed straight to the surf club in Wrightsville beach. The entire family met at 11:00 for a wonderful mothers day lunch! It is always great to spend time with the family, but holidays and special occasions are my favorite. Mothers day is always special but my sister had some incredible news! She informed me after lunch that i was going to be an uncle again, YAY!!!!!!! The picture above was taken just after she told me. I'm a little red in the face. Lol. She had obviously kept the news close to her chest, as she was now in her 10th week. I am sooo excited for her and her husband Joel and son Banks. As you can see Banks is a precious nephew and will make a great big brother. That afternoon my mom, dad, and myself went downtown to visit my aunt Jane and uncle Dave. My cousins were there also and we had a great, but short visit. That evening it was time to head back to Raleigh, so back in the truck and west bound i head. Next weekend "Road Trip!"

Stay tuned
Sandy

A MOTHER OF A WEEK! Part 1

Hey everyone, Don normally handles the blogs but i decided to get everybody up to date with whats happening. Like the title says it has been a mother of a week, literally. It has been busy at the shop which is great, but trying to juggle work and play is extremely hard. Wednesday was my scheduled day to take the CDL driving test. My instructor made it seem like i was taking the SAT all over again! Good news, i passed on the first try. Towards the end of the week Mark Malcuit called and let me know that he had a 2003 cavalier nose for sale. It just so happened i was in the process of purchasing a new nose from GM so the call came at the perfect time. Mark and i made a deal over the phone, so off we go!

So here it is Saturday morning 4:45am, Jeff Whitley and myself head off towards Strasburg Ohio to pick up Marks cavalier nose. We make one stop for breakfast and arrive in Strasburg at 12:30pm. Mark Malcuit is a fellow top sportsman racer, and as you can see has a top notch operation. He is also one of the only other guys running a small block in top sportsman, therefore we have allot to talk about! The front end looks like what we need, so we load it up, grab lunch and head back to North Carolina. It was a marathon trip but we were back at my house at 9:45pm Saturday night. Ok so here are the stats!

Travel distance - 1043 miles

Travel time - 17 hrs. total 15 1/2 driving time

Miles per gallon - 9.5

Average mph - 67.3 mph

So we made it back in time to watch the last 70 laps of the Darlington race, very exciting. Believe it or not i was not tired, but i decided to head to bed around 11:30.

Sunday morning 8am, ROAD TRIP! but i will have to let you know about this one in another blog.

Sandy

Hero to a Zero!!! Ouch!!!

Hello everyone. If you keep up with Sandy, you probably know he crashed the Cavalier last Thursday at Piedmont Dragway. Sandy was OK, but car will need some plastic surgery. We will call this blog, Hero to a Zero.

I say Hero to a Zero because this was the first race after the big win at Rockingham. Sandy was still flying high with emotions and this was the first pass down the track. The car drove toward the center line and when Sandy lifted, the car bit hard left toward the wall. Sandy corrected and the car came around on him. From the starting line it looked as if he was going to save it and then the concrete wall jumped out at him. The front end supports were bent and broke along with pushing the fuel cell into the radiator. One of the fuel cell bars also broke. After checking everything out, Sandy said let's fix it.

With help from Chuck Chapman of Chapman's Auto Body, the front end was reworked and bandaged up to make another run. Everyone performed their routine maintenance while Sandy worked on the fuel cell situation. Can you believe he made it up for the first qualifying run. A 4.39 pass after crashing an hour before. On his second pass he stepped it up to a 4.34, but that fell short of the record 4.27 bump. Sandy ended up 14th and had to run Todd Tutterow in the consolation race. Sandy goes 4.36 to Todd's 4.18. Race over.

While the wreck could have been worse, Sandy estimates it will cost around five thousand to repair the car. He chose to sit out the Madd Dog race at Farmington Saturday night to go over the whole car. He is looking at six weeks on a 04 Cavalier front end. So he will probably miss Milan, Michigan. It will take some time, but he will get it fixed and come out strong as always. If you want your name on a new front end, now is the time to help. Sponsors needed.

Don