I know it’s been a bit since we last connected. Once again, I’m very sorry about that. I’ve been a little busy with something called the Countdown to 1.
Yes, the NHRA’s playoffs have begun and, unfortunately, the U.S. Army Top Fuel team has not gotten off to a good start. To date, we have recorded a semifinal round loss in Indianapolis and a quarterfinal round loss in Charlotte.
In Indy, we had high hopes of winning yet another Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, but it just wasn’t in the cards. We ran pretty well all weekend long before matching up with my teammate, Cory McClenathan, in the semis.
Fighting a challenging track, Cory and I both smoked the tires, but he was able to get his car to settle down first and just get to the finish line ahead of me. It was disappointing, to say the very least. To make matters worse the points leader, Larry Dixon, went on to beat Cory in the finals and thus put us father back in third place.
When we traveled to zMAX Dragway in Charlotte last weekend, we had clearly put Indy out of our minds and were looking to rebound in a big way. We wanted to return to serious championship contention. However, the cards were not kind to us for the second straight race. We squared off with Dixon in the second round and lost yet another tire-smoking race. Of course, Dixon went on to claim another victory to put us even further in the hole.
While it hasn’t been an enjoyable couple of weeks for the Army team, we know we still have an opportunity to get back in the game. But we better do it quick or the curtain is going to come down on our season minus the Full Throttle title trophy.
This weekend we head for the Texas Motorplex outside of Dallas for the O’Reilly Super Start Batteries Fall Nationals. Given this race marks the halfway point of the playoffs, it’s pretty much put up or shut up time.
We know if we can go out and win this Sunday and get a little help along the way in the form of an early round Dixon loss, we’ll be right back in the thick of the action. I’m of the belief the championship is still up for grabs. This ain’t over by a long shot.
We’re definitely going to keep fighting. Our Army Strong Soldiers never accept defeat and we won’t either. If we can get on a roll starting Sunday in Texas, who knows where we’ll be by the time we get to Pomona (Calif.) in November.
I’ve managed to win four times in my career at the Texas Motorplex, which leads the Top Fuel class. As an aside, my first pro win came there in 1999, so it’s a pretty special place to me. Hopefully, we can add to that success statistic this weekend.
So I guess we’re off to the Lone Star State. “The Sarge” salutes y’all. We’ll be back with you real soon, I promise. Tough staI hope y’all stay well and, as always, please remember our hard-working Army Strong Soldiers in your thoughts and prayers.
