What an eventful week

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY!!! I would like to take this time to wish my loving wife Donna a Happy Mother's Day, since our 10yr old forgot (way to go Selena) and another Happy Mother's Day to my Mom (Carol, yes the old woman who used to ride on Woody. Don't worry, my Mom won't know I said that because she doesn't like computers, so she won't read this, please no body call her and tell her I said that). Welcome back, it is Sunday night May 10th, and yes, I'm watching the final hour of Celebrity Apprentice, remember I predicted Annie Duke will win. Wow, what an eventful week it has been for me, when I last left you I was on my way from Knoxville to to Indy. I arrived in Indy on Wednesday afternoon at my friends Greg & Ann Tyler and Randy Frank's place. Thursday after getting my laundry done, Randy & I went to Indianapolis Speedway to watch practice (only $5), after we were there for a little while, Randy got us hooked up with some Pit & Garage passes (Thanks Mike). That was great, being on pit road at Indy during Indy 500 practice was awesome. I got some great pictures, GO TO MY GALLERY TO SEE THESE PHOTO'S (yes that is Ashley Judd and that is Danica looking at me saying to herself "Man, thats Work 'N Woody, I've got to meet him and get a ride on his Woody" Just kidding Danica, don't sick your lawyers on me). What a great time I had at Indy, I got to see Matt who is working on Penske's car that Robbie Briscoe is driving, Matt used to work on Lonnie Parsons Casey's General Stores #6 back in 2006.

Friday it was off to Eldora, on the way there Randy & I stopped at the Flying J in Spiceland, IN and when we left I didn't notice that the trailer brakes stayed on, so about 25 miles down the road I finally noticed and thank god I stopped when I did, because the left rear brake rotor was glow red and smoking. After fixing the electrical problem, we were back on the road. Thank goodness I have great brakes (Kodiak Disc Brakes) they held up and I didn't have to replace anything. We arrived at Eldora around 11:00am with the weather looming all day. I did have to repack the left rear wheel bearings (all the grease got cooked out of them) again though, if it wasn't for the best grease in the world (Red Line Oil High Temp Synthetic Grease) I would have lost the wheel for sure. I only had to repack the bearings with more Red Line Oil Grease. I got down to the pits around 3:30pm and thought heck, we might get this race in. Well, we did get all the heats completed, then it sprinkled for about an hour before the skies unloaded big drops of rain. Thanks to Lenoard Lee, I was able to hide in his hauler until the rain slowed down. I got over to the WoO Command Center to see if anybody needed any help and I ran into Linda & Lucy, they looked like drowned rats because they are the ones who have to collect all the radios & transponders that are borrowed from the racers. They walked around the pits in the driving rain and collected everything. When it rains, they are the hardest working officials in the pits, hey racers, please thank them with a hug the next time you see them.

Saturday, I woke up to blue skies and strong winds, just what Eldora needed to dry out, Eldora opened up the pits to all the fans at 3:30pm to 5:00pm to walk around and meet the drivers and crews, there was a great turnout and a lot of smiles on the fans faces. Larry Boos, you and your staff did a great job and I think all the other promotors should follow your lead and have pit parties like that. With all the wind, Chad did a great job getting the track ready. The heats were typical Eldora heats, except for the 3rd heat, watching Saldana, Dollansky, Lucas Wolfe, & Meyers battle for the transfer spots. It was very important for Dollansky to make the dash pill draw. Saldana was the one who lost out, but man not for a lack of trying. I have to give mad props to Saldana's crew after the B-Main, they had to replace the motor, drive line & rear end in less than 20 minutes, they might not of made it in time to start in there original start position, but they did make it out before the 4-a-breast and had to start at the rear of the field. The A-Main was pretty exciting, Sides led for a little while before Steve finally got by him, Schatz was making a charge and got to Steve's tail, but wasn't able to get by him until Steve's rear end blew up on lap 28. So, Schatz wins again and takes the points lead. So all in all, Eldora was a good weekend and its off the Delmar, DE for Tuesday nights race.

Today, my plan was to make it to Cumberland, MD without any problems. Well, one out of two isn't bad, I made it to Cumberland, MD, but not without problems. Everything was going great until I got to Morgantown, WV, if you have ever been on I-68, there is a 6 mile steep climb leaving Morgantown heading east, right when I started the climb, I started to smell diesel fuel but couldn't see anything wrong in my mirror, I just thought maybe Morgantown, WV just smelled like diesel. Man was I wrong, about half way up the climb in 4th gear with the throttle matted, I started to see smoke coming from the back of the RV where the motor is. There was absolutely no shoulder to stop on, so I had to continue the climb hoping I wasn't on fire. As I was getting to the top, the smoke was getting thicker and I thought I was on fire, I got off the freeway on the first exit I saw and stopped as fast as I could and turned the motor off and ran outside with my Cold Fire fire extinguisher, as I ran to the back, I was relieved to see no fire but just a ton of fuel that was sprayed all over the motor and trailer. I'm not a religious person (I do believe in God), but I'm pretty sure God was on my side this time, I don't know how I didn't catch on fire. With how hot the turbo gets when its working hard, I should have engulfed in flames with the atomizing of the fuel. I'm very thankful that all of the WoO road crew are one big family, we always come to the need if one of our family has a problem. I got on the phone and called Bill & Linda because I knew they were about 30 minutes behind me, then I got a call from Jim & Lucy to see if I was OK, after they passed by me, they didn't see me until they were pass the exit, they told me Carlton & Justin were behind them so I called them also, I told Jim & Lucy to continue on since I had help coming. Carlton, Justin, Bill & Linda showed up soon and between the 5 of us, we were able to temp fix the hole I found in a fuel line by wrapping rubber tubing around the fuel line with 3 hose clamps. Fired up the motor and no leaks, so with Bill & Linda following me, I continued on to Cumberland, MD with no further problems. Tonight I'm staying at a Comfort Inn and letting the RV air out, (smells like a truck stop inside the). I had a good dinner at Ruby Tuesday's with Carlton & Justin, and washing my bed linen at the hotel to try and get the diesel fuel out of it. Fun Fun, traveling the WoO Trail is always an adventure. Just like the US Navy, "Not Just a Job, its an Adventure".

Again, I want to thank all the fans for supporting me and Work 'N Woody and the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. So, until my next blog, stay safe and keep all four wheels on the ground.

Work 'N Woody,
"Just Push'n Off"