~Talledega Journal~

Hi Y’All Well, Talladega certainly lived up to its reputation this weekend didn’t it?! I’ll tell you what, this track is something else. For some reason, I was just never able to get in sync with things this weekend. It all started with qualifying on Thursday. Throughout the whole day we were having problems keeping the motor cool during our second lap. At first we thought the problem was a radiator cap that was not properly sealed. We later determined that the belts we were using we slightly defective. The point is, I did not have a lot of confidence in our machine going into first round qualifying. While I was able to post to decent run, it was not enough to get us into the show on Thursday. The fact that our first practice session on Friday morning was even slower forced us to stand on our Thursday qualifying effort. It turned out to be a smart move. By the end of second round qualifying we were in 26th ; the best possible position we could have hoped for. By the time Happy Hour rolled around, I found myself running a bit conservative. In part because I still did not feel 100% confident with the car; although Lance and the rest of the crew were able to change the feel of the car considerably with a few minor adjustments. Even though we were still not running in the top 10, by the end of Happy Hour I felt better about the car than I had all weekend. Later that evening, I was sitting in my parent’s coach by myself trying to pass the time by watching TV. So I’m watching ESPN and all of a sudden this show about the greatest wrecks in NASCAR comes on. Maybe y’all have seen it; it’s the one where Rusty and Dale and others relieve their most spectacular wrecks; in slow motion nonetheless! Now why in the world would anyone want to relieve their most terrifying wreck? Needless to say, I changed the channel! Man, what I wouldn’t have given for a good episode of South Park right about then to take my mind of those wrecks. When Saturday finally rolled around I felt pretty good. My first order of business was a short appearance at the Talladega Speedway Club. After that I made my way down to the garage to check in with the crew. The 2:30 PM start time for the race really threw me off because I’m so used to starting around noon. It’s amazing how those extra two hours drag; although I really enjoyed watching that thrilling finish in the IROC race. Man, Earnhardt’s great on that superspeedway’s! I hope he’s still racing when I make it to Winston Cup. There was a massive crowd on hand for the Busch race; probably our biggest crown yet! I was a little nervous as I made my way down the starting grid after driver introductions. Once I was inside that #45 Spree Prepaid Foncard Chevy though, everything was fine. I swear, I feel more at home inside that race car than I do just about anywhere else! When the race finally got underway I knew that I had my work cut out for me back in 26th position. Being in the middle of the pack like that in Talladega is a very dangerous place to be; especially the first 10-20 laps of the race when the cars are bunched up so tight. After those first 20 laps, I was really glad to see the field start to spread out a little. With some room to race, I started to drive much more aggressively. After picking off 2 or 3 spots, I noticed my good buddy Casey was running strong about two cars in front of me. I knew that if I could catch up and get behind him, the two of us could work our way up to the front in a hurry. Somewhere around lap 30 I finally managed to catch Casey and tuck in right behind him. Man, we were running well together. We were picking off drivers right and left! Before I knew it we had both worked our way into the top 20. That’s when disaster struck! Again, y’all know that I’m always the first one to stand up and admit it when I make a mistake. In this case though, the #93 car of Dave Blaney just up and wrecked me in the process of trying to put some kind of funky World of Outlaws ‘slide move’ on me coming out of turn 4. There was literally nothing I could do except tag the wall. Fortunately, I was able to maintain control and avoid taking 6 or 7 other cars with me. Still, I was pretty upset that my chances of a top 10 finish in this race were over. I guess it just goes to show how difficult it is to win a race at this level. In any case, the damage to the right front side of the car was so severe that it had to be towed to the garage. Once inside, my crew began to work frantically to get the car back into the race so that we could salvage some much needed points. Seeing the damage, you would have thought that there would be no possible way that this car could make it back onto the track; at least not by the end of the race. But then again, this is no average pit crew. The fact that we were able to finish this race at all, let alone in a respectable 23rd place, confirms how good my pit crew really is; like I said before, I’ll put these guys up against any pit crew in the business! My dad even made the comment after the race that Winston Cup crew couldn’t have gotten that car back out on the track any quicker! What I’m trying to say is that my guys deserve all the credit for this race because without their brilliant work and hustle, we would have finished this race close to dead last! Of course, that huge wreck certainly helped too! Thank God no one was seriously hurt. Man, what a scene that was in the garage as the wreckers starting bringing in all the mangled racecars one after another. When someone told me that Schrader’s spin caused the whole thing, I realized that I would have been right smack in the middle of that mess had I not gone out earlier. In that sense, maybe my wreck was a blessing in disguise, you know? Whatever the case, the crew and I were happy to be leaving Talladega knowing that while we did not pick up any ground in the pursuit of our ambitious goals, we didn’t lose any either. I guess you could call our trip to Talladega a draw. But that’s all right, I’ll take a draw over a loss anyday; especially at Talladega! Well, I’m sure y’all are interested in knowing what I did last weekend. I hate to disappoint you, but all I did was eat, sleep and go to my Dad’s race. Man, what a great weekend for Petty Enterprises! I told you my Dad would figure out how to turn things around! Mark my words, the #44 car will be in victory lane sometime this year! I noticed that a lot of you wanted to know what ‘Double Chicken Money’ is all about. Basically, chicken money is nothing more than bonus money that the crew earns when the #43 or #44 car wins a race or finishes in the top 10. When both cars finish in the top 10 they call that Double Chicken money. We have a similar bonus program on our team only we do not call it chicken money. Actually we don’t have a name for it. Y’all have any suggestions? I mentioned driving schools in my last journal for those interested in becoming racecar drivers. Well, there was a cover story article in last Friday’s USA Today on that very subject. In addition to a great story on my Grandfather’s Driving Experience, they had the names and numbers for a whole bunch of other places too. Make sure you check it out if you are interested in knowing more about driving schools and experiences. As I was reading your comments on the discussion page, I couldn’t help but notice the little bit of Jeff Gordon bashing that was going on. I know it’s a popular thing to do these days, but maybe you’ll think a little different when you hear this. Two weeks ago, Jeff sent me a really cool 2 page fax. The first page was a brief note encouraging me to hang in there and stay positive in my rookie year. The second page was the race results from Jeff’s first 10 races in the Busch Series. What made it so interesting was that his best finish that year was 37th! The fact that he would take the time to send me an encouraging note like that speaks volumes for the kind of person Jeff really is, you know? Sure, he’s not perfect, but who is? Keep in my too that it is extremely difficult to live your life under a media microscope. Anyway, just thought I would share that with you. I apologize that I don’t have any Talladega pictures for y’all. Seems that the digital camera my marketing guys use to capture the shots for the web site went on the blink this weekend. I’ll be sure to remind them to take twice as many in CA! Well, that’s about all for now. I have a really busy week next week. In addition to helping my Dad get ready for his big Charity Ride Across America the following week (I’ll be riding in it on Monday and Tuesday following the CA race) I’m shooting my very first TV commercial (Coca-Cola) this week. It should be very interesting. I’ll tell y’all about it in my journal next week. As for the Fan Club, I think we are about two weeks away from making a formal announcement, so hang in there. I also want to say thanks to all those who have spent their hard-earned money on my merchandise. I promise I’m going to make y’all really proud to wear my stuff someday soon. And as always, an extra special thanks for all your words of love, support and encouragement. Y’all are the greatest fans in the world! I’m going to give y’all something to cheer about in CA next week; make sure you set those VCR’s because something special is going to happen in Fontana, I can feel it! God Bless, ADAM

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