Believe it or not, we're now a quarter of the way through the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule.
We just completed race No. 6 out at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I wish I could tell you that the trip to Sin City was enjoyable and productive but, alas, I can't do that.
We ended up losing to my Schumacher Racing teammate, Cory McClenathan, in the second round of the SummitRacing.com Nationals. We just couldn't get down what was a hot, challenging racetrack. It was the second straight race we had gone out early.
Of course, given my past, you're aware that my U.S. Army Top Fuel team is used to experiencing late Sundays. We normally advance to the semifinals, finals or go on to win races. For some reason, that has not been the case for most of the season to date.
We did have one bright spot down in Gainesville, Fla. last month when we won the prestigious Gatornationals. But, we just couldn't keep that momentum going as we moved through Charlotte, Houston and Vegas in succession.
With the above said, I remain confident we'll get this thing turned around and begin to move up the standings real quick. Presently, we hold fifth place in the points. While there's a decent distance between us and the leader, Larry Dixon, that's not the case between us and third. We'll just start to peck away and before you know it, we'll be knocking on the door.
After the less-than-pleasing race in Vegas, we stayed an extra day with the rest of the Schumacher Racing fuel teams to test. We tried out a lot of stuff which should bear fruit in short order. We really hauled you-know-what throughout the day. That took some of the Sunday pain away.
While I mentioned we're a quarter of the way through the season, we're also a third of the way through the Countdown to 10 portion of the Countdown to the Championship. Only 11 races remain before the points are reset and the top 10 in points battle it out for the title.
Over these next 11 races, we're going to work as hard as we can to get to the top of the standings. Plain and simple, we want to be the leader by the time the playoffs begin. I believe we'll get the job done.
Actually, we have to get the job done for our Army Strong Soldiers. They work so hard for us, we need to reciprocate. When you meet people like Staff Sergeant Peter Grain, who was our Hometown Hero in Vegas, we want to go above and beyond when it comes to effort. Motivation is never an issue in our pit.
With that I'm going to go enjoy some quality time with the family before getting ready to go to the AAA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis next weekend.
"The Sarge" extends his usual group salute. We'll be back with you shortly after the St. Louis race. Until then, y'all please stay well.
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