Good rebounding race for our team!!!

We regrouped after Atlanta, went with last years car along with some other mechanical changes & kinda got back to where we had that consistent race car that we’ve been looking for all season!

Just look at our runs, starting with Saturday - 4.27 & 4.14 & Sunday - 4.21, 4.16, & another 4.16 on that semi-final race where we lost a very close (less than 6′) one to Capps.

All & all, we left St. Louis feeling like we have a race car that can not only get us back to winning races, but back into the top 10 & further!

Look for another blog by the end of the week where I’ll answer some more of the questions you’ve sent in & as always, “Keep the wheels turning”.

CP

Qualifying Recap:

Friday was a complete rain out & Saturday we qualified 4th with a strong 4.14 @ 297MPH!

Race Day:

1st Round Win!!!

A 4.21 gets the win vs. Jim Head!  That’s it for now.  Our Advance Auto Parts / Toyota will go up against Bob Tasca in Elimination Round 2.  I’ll give more updates throughout the day as I can, so stay tuned….

CP

Tough day, we overpowered the track & lost in the opening round to Matt Hagan.  We had a good game plan which was to be aggresive & send Hagan home but our car lost traction about 200′ out & that was that.

As I’ve said before, we’re still not where we want to be with our cars performance or consistency but that’s what makes winning races & championships so special.  It’s not easy but the good news is, we are still the defending F/C Champs! 

Rahn & I have talked about our game plan moving forward & we’ll look at everything, including using last years car. 

All that said, there’s no team or crew chief that I’d rather have on our side than the team we have, headed up by Rahn Tobler & Shawn Dill.

We’ll keep digging till we get back to the winners circle.  Up next, St. Louis in two weeks….until then “Good Night Now”!

CP

Good & not so good…

The good is we went to the semi-finals.  The not so good is we still haven’t found our rhythm yet, the consistency that carried us to the Championship last season. 

The #1 thing we do have going for us is our team’s positive attitude!  We have a great group of people starting with team leader & Crew Chief Rahn Tobler.  He keeps everyone, including myself positive at all times through thick & thin.  This slow start will pass and when it does, we’ll look back & see how important it is to stay positive, keep smiling, & plugging away until we get it right.  That’s what a Championship team does!

We did move up a couple spots in the points to 11th, so not to bad after five races.  There’s still a lot of racing to go & we’re all looking forward to it!  Right now the team is making the long trip back to our headquarters in Brownsburg, IN, then our next stop on the tour is Atlanta.

For all the Advance Auto Parts team members all across the country to our drag racing team, thank you for visiting this site and allowing me to share some of my insights about our team & the race events.

Thanks again & Keep the wheels turning.

CP

Ashley Force’s 4.11 to our 4.19 was a close race.   Figuring in the reaction times, (Ashley an .84 & me a .20), she won by about a fender length at the finish! 

Part of drag racing is the match-ups & had we run against a different car, the outcome could have been different, our 4.19 was right in there with some of the others.

We’re not where we want to be yet, but I’d say closer now than we’ve been, that run proved that we’re not far off.  We’ll use the data gathered here & take it to Houston.  Our Advance Auto Parts/Toyota team will just keep plugging away at it till we get it right.

For Rahn, Shawn, and the rest of our team, “we’ll get ‘em in Houston”!

Keep the wheels turning…

CP 

Sorry I’m just now updating everyone from Sunday. 

Going into 1st round in Phoenix, I thought if we could run between a 4.09-4.12, we might be ok, but it wasn’t meant to be.  We shook the tires again, were on & off the throttle, & ran a 4.22.

There’s lots of reasons for us to still be excited: #1 - it’s still very early in this new season, #2 - Rahn & I met both Saturday and after the race on Sunday & he explained the tire shake issues we’ve been having and how he plans on correcting it.  After those meetings, I can’t wait for Gainesville to come!

The facts are, even though we won the Championship last year, we still had tire shake issues at times.  It’s something that, if cured or minimized, will definitely “keep the wheels turning” & win more races!!!

We’re off this weekend & next, but we’re still prepping for the season with: race hauler graphics, new awnings, etc.

I’ll keep updating this blog, so keep logging on & I’ll give you the inside scoop as well as answer more of your questions.

CP

The title says it all!

Tough conditions out here for all, including the competitors and the fans. I do commend the NHRA and Safety Safari for putting in the hard work & drying the race track!  Their effort to get this race in the books is important for several reasons: 1) Cost to come back another weekend 2) Previously scheduled events at this track, etc.  So we as racers must accept whatever the race track conditions are and make the best of it. It’s just one of those things we can’t control, so I try not to get caught up in it.

I do know this, being from Southern California myself, this rain is badly needed, there’s been drought conditions for years in these parts so I’m looking at it as a positive for this area. That said, the race itself was not the best, we had track temperature readings way below what I’ve seen in years! We’re talking around 58 degrees track temp & upper 40’s, lower 50’s air temp! Not exactly ideal racing conditions.

Bottom line,  we only made two runs all weekend, the 1st was an on & off the throttle 4.20 (9th), then a 4.61 in round 1 to Beckman’s 4.19. Rahn and the team made the setup calls given the cold track conditions and we missed it, the good news is, it may be a while until we see those type conditions again.

The thing I look at most is it’s a long season and we have one of the best teams in funny car racing, so we’ll now focus all of our attention on our next race, Feb 20-22 in Phoenix, AZ.

That’s it for now, thank you all for logging on, I’ll continue to give updates, especially now that I’m gonna be able to access this from my phone.

CP

What a day! Every round was pressure packed & had championship implications, so to pull this win off was awesome!!!

The semi-final round match up vs. John Force was huge, John’s car was running well, I knew he’d be up for us & true to form it was a close race all the way down, but we got the win!

The final round was the same against the #1 qualifier Robert Hight, running quick & fast all day, but our team rose to the occasion & sent the 2nd team Force car packing!

I can’t begin to express how happy & proud I am right now about our win & to do it under the gun while trying to get into this championship hunt is all the more special, plus it makes two wins in a row!!  For whatever reason, the team & everyone else was even more excited about this win than Richmond, but like I said this is crunch time & we did it!

We’re now the points leaders going into Pomona, the final race of the season.  We can’t stop now, we must finish this out!

We’ve a few days off to enjoy this win & reflect on all that we’ve done but then we’ll be back at it one week from this Thursday. 

I’ll be attending the SEMA show here in Las Vegas for a Snap-On & Toyota appearance tomorrow, then our Midget team runs this Thursday in Phoenix @ PIR’s Copper Classic.  Josh Wise is our driver & we’ll be there to support & cheer him on!

Thank you all for logging on & allowing me to share what are by far my career highlights & that’s what it’s all about!

CP

We ran a 4.18 @ 303 MPH in E-2 to move past Gary Densham.

Now we’re up against John Force.

Stay tuned for an update from E-3….

CP

WOW, WHAT A DAY, WHAT A WEEKEND!! WE’RE THE VIRGINIA NATIONALS FUNNY CAR CHAMPIONS!!!

Our Advance Auto Parts/Toyota was near perfect all day, never skipped a beat! We capped it off by taking out the top two cars in the points, Tim Wilkerson & Jack Beckman.

Rahn made great calls all weekend on the set-ups, reading track conditions etc., as every round we were at or near top times & Assistant Crew Chief Shawn Dill kept the team on their game & focused.  As I’ve said all year, we’ve been knockin’ on the door, we just needed to hang in there, keep at it & the wins will come & that’s what happened. 

Words that describe the feelings I have now: elated, proud, happy, & relieved. As the team owner & driver, to see the look on our team’s face as I was just finishing the ESPN interview, & they pulled up in our chase vehicle with the horn honking & some of the team on the roof cheering, was awesome!! They put in the time, late nights, made the sacrifices, being away from their families, etc, so this is why we all do this, to reach the top & WIN. Our entire team earned this one, truly well deserved. 

Our timing was great, to come here to the 4th of 6 races in the countdown, hanging on by a thread & saw off a win, I still find it amazing! With that win, we went from 6th place in the points to 3^rd and now we’re back to within striking distance, only 3-1/2 rounds from 1^st with two races to go.

We have a great car, great team, & our confidence & understanding of what we’re up against & what we must do to try & win this championship is what makes our team one to watch as we race the Final 2.

Now we have two weeks to enjoy this great accomplishment!

We really can’t wait for Vegas & Pomona but I’m sure this mini break will let us do all we can do at the shop & see to it that we’re at our best in two weeks.

Thank you to all of the great companies that make this all possible. First and foremost, our primary sponsor Advance Auto Parts, they took a chance with me several years ago and have stuck with me through thick & thin & allowed me the years to build the team that we have today!!

Also our associates: Toyota, Sioux City Truck, Herzog, The Palms, Great Stuff Insulating Foam & Snap-On Tools, their support has made all the difference!

I’ll have a busy 2 weeks, so I’ll be updating all with what I’m doing, some of it’s pretty cool, so be sure to log on & check it out.

CP, Is out J