April 15, 2009

Hi everyone, Nancy here.  Hope that 2009 is everything and more that everyone could ever hope for and that if you're racing, no matter which class, you're safe and having fun.

Lots has happened since my last blog, so I'll get started.

Veronyca had her 4th birthday last week.  The saturday before her birthday, they celebrated at the ice skating rink.  It was her first time on ice skates and she did pretty well.  Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out very well.

She has her first recital in June for ballet.  She goes every friday for tap and ballet after school.  So more pictures to follow.  She was also working very hard, as you can see, helping get their boat ready to go to Castaic Lake.  Good times for sure.

Her highlight adventure was wowing the Country band Rascal Flats with a verse and a chorus of their song "Bob Head First" at a meet and greet before their concert.  They were so impressed with her, that they scooped her up for this awesome picture.  They really had a blast that night, and personally, I think the picture is fabulous.  My daughter's friend Nicole is also in the picture.

Now, moving along.  As for what I've been doing,  I've been in the studio a lot over the last few weeks.  I did an albums for a local group call The Gringo Kings (pictured). It's Country with a flare of Southern Rock to it.  They are one of the few bands that I've met that are playing just about every weekend through December of this year.  That's really hustling for a band that's not quite main stream yet.  Great bunch of guys, very talented and their schedule is on their my space page at:  www.Myspace.com/thegringokings.

The next project that has taken more than two weeks to complete has been The 2009 Latin American Tour of Peter Gabriel.  He performed in Argentina, Peru, Mexico City and more.  It was a 7 date tour which doesn't sound like much, but they were in a different Country every other day.  There is a possibility that he is going to be touring the U.S. very soon too, when that happens, guarantee I will be out of commission for quite a while until we ship the last discs.  For more information on Peter's most recent tour and the CD's that we just finished, you can check out www.TheMusic.com under the Encore Series.  All of the tours from the various artist's that we've done are at that site.

As for racing.  We're getting there.  Slowly.  There has been a lot of details for the car and honestly, we got a bit of a late start this year.  We'll be out there possibly as early as May, but if in fact this concert series starts, it won't be until mid to late June.  Sometimes that's the way things go, and time will fly by very fast as everyone knows.  To be in an alcohol funny car and starting in June, you can still gain the valuable points that you need, just have to plan your races a little more carefully and closer together to back half the season.

In addition to the funny car, I'm going to cross grade my license into an A/Fuel Dragster.  I'm a full believer in diversity and there is no difference in racing diversity than there is in diversity in music.  Now for those of you that know me, this is not going to be as easy as it sounds.  For some reason, in a dragster, I get pretty sick to my stomach, okay, really sick.  It's all in ones thinking and I believe that for success, thinking outside the box eventually leads to whatever success you're pursuing.

Speaking of diversity, we've also started two additional side business's (no rest for the weary, huh?).  The first one is for press releases for racing teams and drivers.  I've been pretty lucky in the art of communication in writing.  Didn't even know that I could write until moving to Austin.  I guess when you're not interested in your surroundings too much, you find other ways to occupy your time.  My way, when I wasn't racing or in the studio, was writing.  Of late, I've been writing for Tigerflow Racing and other's on an individual basis.  I am also writing some driver profiles in the near future that will be on my web site for Jon Capps, Randy Balough, CJ Curtsinger and more as time permits.  For some reason, I've been blessed with not having to struggle to write, plus I type fast.  It makes it all lay down on the computer much easier.

The second side business is a shop within my racing shop.  Jeremy (crew guy), besides working at O'Reilly's,  builds and services regular and high performance LS-1 cars (Trans-Am, Camaro, Z-28 etc).  We just finished a 1967 Ford Falcon straight 6 that belongs to an 18 year old whose parents are restoring it for him.  It's a pretty cool car and once it's painted, he will have a gem on his hands.  I'm the parts cleaner along with some assembly, when time permits.

A lot of people ask about Wally.  He is doing well.  He hasn't grown much in height though.  I think he is ready to go racing, but heck, so are we.

In amongst all the craziness for the last couple of months though, I was able to make it out to Ennis on Saturday for the Division 4 Lucas Oil Season Opener.  I sat up in the tower with my wonderful friend, Lynn Nickerson, and helped do some commentary during the Alcohol qualifying and first round of action.  It was so great to take a break out of the studio and see so many of my friends.  We even had Chip Rumis and Joe Roubicek from California in attendance.  They both compete within Top Dragster and Top Sportsman and we've known each other for years within the "Team Smooth" camp outings.

Well, enough is enough and I have to get back to work.  Today's task is spring cleaning the trailer as I may not have another day for a while to do this.    Take care everyone and whenever you're racing, be safe and most of all HAVE FUN!!!

NM