Happy Birthday Flea!!!

Happy Birthday to the Flea. The man with the small block that does. Mr. Wilkins the engine doctor. The man that always smiles. That's right, the flea turned 40 this past Sunday. That's May the 24th so you can put it into your memory bank for next year.

This past weekend at Kinston Dragway, Sandy Wilkins reached a milestone in his life by reaching the big 4-0. He had a lot of friends come by and wish him Happy Birthday and basically give him a hard time. You will notice in one of the pictures that someone gave him an old fart hat with curly grey hair. Thank you Lisa Bingham. He also enjoyed the company of his parents this weekend since the race was so close to their Wilmington, NC home. He even had a birthday cake to share with his friends. If you look close enough in the cake pic, you will notice the end of the propane torch used to light the candles. When you do not have a lighter or matches, a torch is the next best thing.

So since it was his birthday and he was having a great weekend, Sandy probably went on to win the race. Well the fun stops here. The car ran good on Saturday and Sandy was stellar on the tree, but Sunday came and luck just wasn't on the Flea's side. Sandy was 20 on the tree and tapped the breaks to let his man back by him for a .004 margin of victory. To the house. So where does he go from here. Let me think.

In case you haven't heard, Sandy is having a 40th birthday

party/bash at his house this coming Saturday. Anybody that is anybody will be there. Of course I want be there. Something about a leg. Anyway, if you haven't let Sandy know, you better call him now. A person only turns 40 once and Sandy likes to celebrate, whether at winning or getting old. Ha

I personally want to wish Sandy a Happy Birthday and many more. Ive only known Sandy for four and half years and it seems like I have known him all 40. Thanks for the friendship Sandflea and I hope this is your best year ever.

Don

Piedmont Payout!!!!

Tuesday I told you that Sandy had won the Renegade race at Piedmont Dragway the Thursday before the divisional. Well, Sandy sent these pics of the two winners checks. I think who ever come up with the idea two hand out these huge checks to the winners is awesome. It's just another way to celebrate what you have accomplished. Sandy also received a trophy that will go in the office. But the big check will go in the shop on the wall with the others to remind the guys and whoever else comes in that they are dealing with winners. Way cool.

Back in the day while bracket racing, I remember only getting cash for the win and a that a boy. You would come home jacked up knowing you had won, but had nothing to show for it. When I ran some IHRAI they gave you a plaque when you won a divisional. Now they give little iron men. I would like to do some trading. How many remember while bracket racing you got a business card for a time slip with only your E.T. and no reaction time. I have a few of those.

Anyway, I just think it's cool that racers get lots of "stuff " when they win. And having the trophies, plaques, pictures, checks and other " stuff " visible to people, makes them want to do business with you and just be around you. Everybody wants to be around winners. That's why I have decided to quit hanging around Sandy Wilkins. Only kidding! That's why Fleabag has so many friends. He is a winner in everything. By the way, this is not a paid advertisement. I better stop. I think the meds are kicking today.

The leg injury? I went to the plastic surgeon yesterday. He told me a few things I can do to help myself, but overall the leg is looking good. I do not have to wear my splint any more and he wants me to air the wound out more. I still have to keep it elevated for now. I have some good pics of the leg, but I don't know if you are ready for that. I go back in two weeks, so keep me in mind while I sit around and go crazy. Talk to you soon.

Don

Let's Try This Again!

Hello Everyone,

I hope all is well with everybody. It has been a while since I have written and we have a lot to catch up on. As some of you know, I have been down for a while with a leg injury. You may ask why would that stop you from writing. I will explain shortly. As far as not writing in the blog over the winter, well that was just being lazy. Let's start with some racing

The last time I blogged was when Sandy was runner up at Farmington Dragway. That was my first and only race of the year so far. The next race was the Moorseville divisional and Sandy had a third round loss. Then it was onto the Spring Nationals at Rockingham. Coming into this race Sandy had qualified for the Summitt All Star race. Sadly he was a first round causality in that race as well as the national event. Not a good weekend. For me, all I could do was follow along on the web. We do have a photo of some of our friends hanging out in Sandy's trailer at the Rock.

From there it was on to the Renegade race at Piedmont Dragway the weekend of the divisional race. The Renegade class is a new class that Piedmont created this year to draw more race cars that have a hard time running the Big Dog race. It has the basically the same rules as Top Sportsman, but you can only use one nitrous system. It is also heads up, first one to the finish line, which Sandy loves. Finally, his first win of the season. In the finals, he ran good friend Stacy Hall. The neat thing is that it was an all small block final. Winning E.T. 4.45. The Piedmont divisional was not as good. A second round red light. The photo is our old pal Doug West working hard for the Sandflea at Piedmont.

Let's talk about a leg injury. That day at work was slow and I continued the cleaning out of one of our buildings. I was cutting all the metal up to take to the scrap yard. I had cut up some barrels and cut on one that had not been vented. Big explosion. Totally my fault because I did not prepare. Been around cutting and welding my whole life. Can't explain why I screwed up this time. But it happened. Moving on.

The barrel was laying down and the blast hit my left lower leg. I fell to the ground and was dazed. I heard my torch still burning and reached up and turned it off. I wondered how bad my leg was bleeding and when I looked, I could only see a couple of spots on my pants. When I raised my leg to see if their was a pool of blood (their wasn't) my leg went 90 degrees about half way down below my knee. That's when I panicked a little.

The next thing I wondered was where was my phone. By the way, I was there by myself. I realized my phone was in my jeep about 30 yards away. I crawled to my jeep and got my phone and called 911. I am leaving out a lot of little things that you can ask me later. But basically the first responders came and took care of me. Then I was air lifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC.

While in the hospital for two and half weeks, I received a titanium rod with lots of screws and staples. I lost the front muscle on my leg because of the blast. Believe it or not, they cut my stomach, leaving about a 10 inch scar while taking a stomach muscle and transplanting it to my leg. Ugly! Also a nice skin graph from my left thigh.

It has been 5 and half weeks since my accident. They say it will be 6 months before I can put any pressure on it. I still have to keep my leg elevated, so I only have three spots to sit. Bed, recliner and wheel chair. I went to the ortho doc yesterday and he said all is good. I go to the plastic surgeon tomorrow and I hope I will get another good report. But for now, I do a lot of sitting and surfing. I finally got everything set up so I can blog at will. Trying to get up to date . Even set up a Facebook account.

I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me, called, sent cards and came by to visit. I am truly lucky to be alive and my life has changed for the best because of it. The Lord has always been good to me, even though I have let him down a lot in the past. I will keep you up to date from here on out. My goal is to be at the Fall Nationals in Rockingham. Talk to you soon.

Don