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