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There would be one more piece of drama for my new team and me before we got to Gainesville. Before we left for the race, being the ever-paranoid racers, we called the track just to make sure that everything was cool. I talked to an NHRA official at Gainesville Raceway to tell them we were coming and he quickly informed me not to bother; my name wasn't on his list.

It was panic time! I knew I had an invitation, I had seen my name on the list published in DRO. Seems like when I moved to Michigan my invitation from NHRA hadn't followed me, so I never got it and never returned it, so NHRA wasn't sure I was coming. A call to Graham Light at NHRA solved the problem. We were on the list. We all started breathing again and headed out to Gainesville.

The first appearance of the Pro Mods on NHRA turf was a piece of history many racers around the world would like to be involved with. The NHRA took good care of us and made our stay a pleasant one. The track proved to be something all of us had to come to terms with. The first qualifier was a decent start for us, running a 6.42 to put us in number 9. Next run was a 6.372, only just putting the Majesty Group Willys in the show.

The third qualifying round just happened to be against my old boss John Rocca. This was a good run. Chuck Ford and his tuning and the talks we had as a team paid off for this run, stopping the clocks at a 6.26 for number 2 spot in the Pro Mod field. After it was all said and done we ended up third in the field.

The feed-back from the fans walking in the pits was nothing but positive; they all said that they hope Pro Modifieds are a regular thing. It was tough fighting for an 8-car field as it is tough fighting for a 16-car field or any field for that matter.

By qualifying for the field at Gainesville, the team and I are assured of an invitation to the next NHRA Pro Mod invitational at Bristol and the Pro Mod race at this year's NHRA U.S. Nationals as well. So, there will be at least a couple more of these entries in my journal.

I hope that I can do my best this year for Roy and Chuck and that the Majesty Group Willys can run with the big dogs at both IHRA and NHRA.

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