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