Being in St. Louis is the most wonderful kind of nostalgic experience. The city grows, alters, changes, and adapts, but so much of it stays exactly the same, and it feels like I lived there yesterday. Growing up in a sports family, it’s a bit jarring that old Busch Stadium is gone, as is Busch II, and now we have Busch III, but it looks like it’s always belonged right where it is. The old St. Louis Arena is also long gone, where I saw concerts and attended hockey, indoor soccer, and basketball games as a fan, usher, and front-office executive, but across the highway is Forest Park, home of the 1904 World’s Fair, and just down Oakland Avenue is my high school, St. Louis U. High, where the main classroom building looks much like it did when it opened in 1924. Throughout all the change, the place stays very much the same.

To that end, you can still see elements of the 1904 World’s Fair in Forest Park, including the world-famous St. Louis Art Museum. And there is still a youth baseball field where old Busch (aka Sportsman’s Park) stood, on Grand Avenue. And on and on and on… 1904 Olympic Games? Yes, the main gate is still there, on the campus of Washington University, just west of Forest Park.

I arrived at Lambert Airport right on time on Friday and checked into the Homewood Suites, in Clayton. It’s the perfect place for me to stay, because I can get to the track in 15 minutes and get to Farotto’s in 5. Plus, I know every shortcut and backroad. Being there at 3:00 left me three hours until pizza with Kim and Chris, so I made a brilliant decision. I’d drive over to the track to pick up my credential and parking pass, thusly saving myself as much as 30 minutes on Saturday morning.

It was a bad decision. There’s construction on Highway 40 (yes, it’s I-64 now, but anyone my age still calls it Highway 40) and it took me one full hour just to get from the hotel to the Mississippi. Once at the track, things flowed a lot smoother, and I picked up my stuff at the VIP Credentials trailer with the sounds of Top Fuel cars serenading me. Yes, it’s a bit odd to be at a track and not actually go in, but by then I had to hustle to make dinner.

With my local knowledge, I skirted around the backed-up rush hour traffic on Highway 40 by zipping off at the Forest Park Parkway, taking it past the northern edge of Forest Park, then past Wash U. I took a left on Big Bend Blvd. (taking a look to my left to see the aforementioned Olympic Gate) and took that to Clayton Road, just a couple of miles from the hotel. You might want to print this out if you’re ever on your way to the Gateway City and need to get from downtown to Clayton while staying off the highway. You’re welcome.

Dinner was as marvelous as anticipated and, after we’d boxed up our leftovers, Kim and Chris invited me to see their home in Kirkwood, the same suburb I grew up in. I knew their neighborhood, but had never known anyone who lived there, so I had to follow Chris to make sure I pulled into the right driveway. Their home is charming, warm, inviting, and beautiful. I’m really glad I took the time to spend an hour with them there. Thanks guys!

On Saturday morning, I left the hotel a little early and hoped for the best in terms of traffic. Being a Saturday, though, I shouldn’t have worried. I never slowed down until I was at the entrance to the track. I wanted to get there a little early, because I also have enough experience to know that the Media/Gold Key parking lot at Gateway can fill up. It hadn’t yet, when I arrived, but when I went back to my car to get something a couple of hours later, there was a guy circling in his car, and he rolled down his window to ask me if I was leaving. The lot was full.

I headed straight for the Team Wilk pit area, to say hello to everyone, and that’s always a joyous thing. Krista Wilkerson’s hugs are legit. And, with this being the St. Louis race, the list of friendly faces was far lengthier than Sonoma or Brainerd. When I saw Jon and Susan Cagle in the back of the pit, and headed back there to see them, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Annette Schendel was there, as well. Annette and I joined the team in 2009 at the same time. We’ve shared a lot of mutual experiences, and nobody does hospitality management better than she did. It was great to see her. It was great to see everybody!

Shannon Heisler, who heads up marketing for LRS, appeared before my eyes and surprised me, because I had bought into the unsubstantiated rumor that she wouldn’t be in attendance. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with her for seven years. LRS also has an auxiliary hospitality tent, trackside, at St. Louis because of the great number of guests and staffers they host at their “home race” so I went out there to see Shelley Williams, who was always so great to have with us whenever we’d have a “big race” in terms of hospitality. The definition of “big race” would generally be one at which Dick Levi himself would be in attendance, and that’s exactly what happens on Saturday in St. Louis.

Longtime Wilk friend and backer Tom Meyer has taken over many of my duties, in terms of the hospitality area, and he does a great job at it. He took the golf cart out to the main gate and escorted the limo (party bus) right to the pit. Well played, sir!

It was great to see Dick, and he smiled broadly when he saw me. He is, of course, the much-deserved center of attention when he’s at the track, so I spent a few minutes catching up with him and then let the masses surround him. Dick Levi is a class act. Period.

It was simply awesome to see everyone, including Andy Krug, Dan “Dozer” Hough, the Team Wilk crew guys, Leah Hook, and dozens of familiar faces in the hospitality area. At least two dozen fans shouted hello to me, in the pits, as well. It was good to be home.

It’s also great to be “home” with my former PR colleagues. Whenever I walk into the Media Center, it’s like I never left. Well, almost. As time passes, even just since this time last year, a few new faces have popped up in the room, and a few familiar ones are gone, off doing other wonderful writing and PR things (I’m talking about you, Kelly Topolinski and Pat Caporali.) Todd Myers, who doesn’t do the full tour anymore but did do the graphic design for the cover of my book, was there to do some contracted work for Rob Geiger, so it was awesome to see Toddly as well. Like a Todd bonus!

Elon Werner, Sadie Floyd, Cody Poor, Leah Vaughn, Laz Denes, Allison McCormick, Lee Montgomery, Jeff Wolf, Rik Anthony, John Procida, Scott Smith, John Bisci, Brandon Mudd, and everyone else I saw made it feel just like where I needed to be. And laughs were not in short supply.

I spent some time with Tim, up in the lounge, and once again it was like I’d never been gone. Good times. Dan Wilkerson and his brother Kevin were also there, but working on Brian Stewart’s car, so deja vu was in full force. In the staging lanes, I ran into Del Worsham and we chatted and laughed for a good 10 minutes. Del is being kind enough to write one of the “Forward” sections for my book, and we’re getting that done these days, as well. I spent 12 years with a very good man.

In terms of the racing, it was great to watch that happen from the Media Center, just to get that perspective on it. And it was incredible. The crowd was huge, right about at capacity, and the cars were flying. But, and this was the only downside to the day, the heat and humidity were pretty tough. It was St. Louis on full display, despite the fact it was the middle of September. It was the kind of day where your glasses would totally fog up the second you stepped out of any air-conditioned environment. I’d call that “blinding humidity” and I spent much of my life dealing with it, there. It comes with the territory. Here in Woodbury, it’s only 64 degrees today. And dry. I accept.

I stuck around until just before the final Funny Car session, and then beat the traffic getting out. Gateway’s staff does the best they can getting the traffic out after racing, but they’re mostly dealing with a lot of cars all trying to get out the same few exits, so it can be difficult. I had leftover Farotto’s waiting for me at my room. I needed to get there fast! One must be dedicated to one’s priorities!!!

On Sunday, I had booked myself on a late afternoon flight, just to have some options. When I got up, I knew I wanted to tour around some more, to see old neighborhoods and familiar places, but I also thought to check the Delta website to see if I could get on an earlier flight. Being Diamond Medallion (for a few more months) I can make same-day confirmed changes to my flights with no penalty, but only if seats are available. There was one First Class seat left on a flight two hours before mine, so I made the call. Getting home to Barbara, Boofus, and Buster was way more important than seeing old stomping grounds. And, since Barbara had to leave on Monday to go to Boston and New York, it was a good idea to get home and have a few extra hours with her.

I mostly drove around Kirkwood, the suburb I grew up in. On Sunday afternoon, the main downtown section, bisected by Kirkwood Road, was absolutely bustling. It was amazing. When I was a kid, we’d ride our bikes there and have the place mostly to ourselves. There was a Rexall Drug, a bakery, a hardware store, a couple of small shoe stores, a sporting goods store (Casey’s, where my dad worked during the baseball off-season) and an ice cream shop. Now, the whole area is full of bistros, restaurants, wine bars, and other cool destinations, and the sidewalks were packed. We call this “gentrification” I do believe.

I made a point of driving by Woodleaf Court, where I grew up, and I took this photo of 513 Woodleaf. It’s a little sad the basketball hoop is gone, because I spent endless hours shooting baskets out there, but the house looks fantastic. I also noticed that the house next door, owned forever by the Hargis family, is for sale. To say I was stunned to see it listed for $295,000 is an understatement. Our house cost $22,000 when my folks bought it around 1954. After they moved to assisted living and we put it on the market in the late 90s, I don’t think we even got close to $100,000 for it. The new owners have completely renovated and updated it, tearing out walls and ceilings to create a huge amount of open space (I haven’t stepped foot in it since we sold it, but I’ve seen photos online) and I’d think they’d have no trouble getting $300,000 for it if they put it on the market. Kirkwood is a really hot real-estate location now, and we know what sells. Location, location, location.

If the asphalt on that driveway at 513 could talk, it would have many tales of basketball, Wiffle Ball (home plate was right in front of the garage door and any ball clearing the middle of the street was a home run) and driving lessons. When we were little, and Dad brought home snow skis from the sporting good store, we learned to stay upright by gliding down the little hill next to the steps, then we graduated to the street, before we ever set a ski on a real slope.

Can you tell it was great to be back home again? I assume it’s pretty obvious.

I was happy to get back home to Woodbury, my real home now with my real family, and was happy my flight was right on time.

This week, my new passport arrived in the mail. That’s important because my previous one expires in January and I’m going to need a valid passport this winter. I’ll divulge that fun news at a later date, because our lives are alway in flux and you’re never really completely sure until it’s time to do something like getting on an airplane for a long flight to a place where you need a valid passport.

And, I’ve been waiting for my new Minnesota license plates to arrive and they came Tuesday. When we changed the registration for both cars about a month ago, I gave the clerk some options for new personalized tags, thinking maybe it was time to go with something baseball or music related. I tried 643-DP, and 543-DP, as well as YYZ2112 and 2112YYZ but the clerk kept saying “There’s no way that will be available” before she even looked. She was right. Just as I was about to take regular plates I asked about my old tags, NHRA FC. She looked that up and said, “Well, it’s still assigned to you. Do you still have the actual plates?”

I do, but they’re buried away in a box somewhere and I really didn’t feel like  A) Digging them out, and, B) Having to come back to the DMV to get them re-registered. So, she gave me a temporary tag and we had new ones made. I put them on the car this week. NHRA will be a big part of me for the rest of my life, so I might as well show that to the world.

As for the book, yesterday was a big day. I’d been struggling a bit over the prior 10 days, just not being happy with what I was putting on the page. My allergies were bad, and that made my head feel foggy, and it just wasn’t flowing as well as it had been for months. I was even going back and re-reading and thinking it was terrible, and that’s a bad frame of mind for a writer. Yesterday, the fog lifted and the logjam broke. I did some research in the morning, ate an early lunch, and at 12:30 sat down to do it. At 5:30, when I had to drive to the airport to pick up Barbara, I’d cranked out 16 new pages, and the flow was back. It felt good to get out of the funk, and I might just dive back in this afternoon after this blog gets posted. It’s time to get going on Chapter 33… Because the flow is back, BABY!

One of the things that’s hard to stay on top of are the two different applications I write in (not even counting email, which is a third). I write the book in Google Docs, and that has its own way of formatting and editing. I write this in WordPress, and it’s very different. For instance, when I hit “Return” to end a paragraph, WordPress jumps down two lines with one press of the key. When I do that on Google Docs, it only drops down one line, so I have to hit the key twice. There are a number of other little quirks like that, which succeed in keeping my feeble mind utterly confused. Basically, I’m constantly hitting the Return key twice here, then I have to delete one line to go back, because I write here once a week and I write the book the other four. I only have so much capacity left in my mental hard drive. What’s my PIN again? The struggle is so real.

So, here we are. The tour is already off to Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, where everyone can hope they don’t get soaked. Ah, the fond memories of the year we finished the Reading race on Wednesday… Good times.

I’ll be starting Chapter 33 as soon as I “recover” from this blog. It’s a lot of words and a lot of typing. Until I started “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” I never knew how physically challenging and mentally draining this much writing could be. Or maybe I’m just a wimp.

And, I’ll see you all next week!

Bob Wilber, at your service and home. Home is good.