FLYING PIG RACING: ANRA SEASON OPENER

Man, I love drag racing! And you meet some incredible people...like Captain Kirk, and two honeymooners and a dog riding a 2 wheeled BMW with sidecar (complete with surfboard rack) across the country. We must be doing something right.

Once again the Flying Pig Racing pit was full of, um, characters: Autohaus Dan, Weldo Plasmoski (not Dan), my "new photog" Dave- with Jann and a dog in a minimouse dress, Kenny the nuke and his sidekick Ash, were joined by the south coast gang: surf gods Wayno (with wife Ai and Zena princess warrior pit), and Woolly Bear and Frank. The south coast crew had a couple drop-ins that added tons of color- Captain Kirk skated in from the Big Island, and the honeymooners cruised up from SoCal to join the fun. And then Wayno's sister and her husband rambled in from the desert to camp for a couple days and shoot some incredible pictures. In the next pit over, included in the festivities, was Chuck (if you don't share your toys...) and Cindy. Wow what a crew!

New friends were made, stories were told, great food was eaten, and we did some racing too. Wayne and Woolly showed up with plenty of new parts on their respective hot rods. (Haha-they are still figuring out that consistency comes from -don't touch that thing!)

Wayne was having plenty of issues with some wild temperature fluctuations, which ultimately manifested in what looks to be a head gasket or cracked block...suffered in round 1.

Woolly Bear found a busted valve spring a couple days before the race and showed up with a bunch of new stuff installed last minute. All was good, but he went too quick in round 1.

Me, in the mustang, had the best day racing in some time! I finally found some consistency at the starting line...due in large part to Wayne Rich talking me through his winning mentality. As a pro surfer and Hall Of Fame shaper, this guy has the cred and the experience I needed to learn from. He has helped get my head right...knowing how to approach qualifying and narrow the focus on race day.

Anyway, I ended up going 6 rounds, losing in the semis to friend and nemesis Dale Thomas.
I won several rounds on the tree, got lucky on one, and had a bye to the semi. When it was all said and done, I finished 3rd (in a field of 83 cars) and set us up to make a legit run at a championship this year. Can't ask for more than that!