Southbound

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March 15th, 2018

Greetings from 35,000 feet. I’m jetting southbound to Tampa, leaving the snow behind for a few days. Looking at the Twin Cities forecast I’m going to assume (hope) that a lot more of the snow will be melted when I get back on Monday. For now, the focus is the NHRA Gatornationals at historic Gainesville Raceway. Can’t wait to get there.

Trivia Question: What was the first NHRA national event I attended? If you’ve read “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” you might remember.

Trivia Answer: After Bill Kentling hired me to be the general manager at Heartland Park Topeka, right after January 1, 1991, he sent me and much of my staff down to Gainesville to see the spectacle that is the Gatornationals. That was, indeed, my first NHRA event and my first drag race of any kind. I had no clue what I was in for but the white polo shirt I wore on the first day was beyond being washed. It got thrown away after my introduction to “Goodyear freckles.”

See ya, Minny. I’ll be back soon.

We left from MSP about 40 minutes ago and within about 15 minutes after takeoff we passed the “snow line” where everything turned from white to brown as if there was a real boundary line. In a few hours, we’ll be approaching Tampa over the Gulf of Mexico and shortly after that I’ll be hopping (stepping) into a rental car to head up to Ocala. Tomorrow morning, somewhat bright and early, I’ll be making my first of three consecutive drives up to Gainesville. Each day, I’ll leave a little earlier.

Right now, I have to put the laptop away to make room for the chicken sandwich that is on its way to my seat. Back in just a few (you know what to do… Play theme music).

25 minutes later…

I’m back. The hot chicken sandwich was actually more like a chicken-parm panini, if that makes any sense. I enjoyed it. We are now somewhere near Louisville and the Ohio River.

I’m listening to tunes, of course, as we fly southbound. One of my “go to” themes back in the early blogging days was “what I’m listening to on my iPod” but I don’t own any iPods anymore. Change one letter, though, and you’ll get “iPad” and that’s what I use on flights for my music. The playlist today is called “Trip Mix” and I put it together for our long drive back to Minnesota, with the boyz, when we finally moved back in 2016. Lots of eclectic stuff, and a lot of my favorite current bands. Currently playing: “Eraser” by Fight or Flight. Fight or Flight is a side-project band for Dan Chandler, the frontman for Evans Blue. You didn’t recognize either of those bands, did you?

One of my plans for this blog was to announce the opportunity for any of you who haven’t bought my book to do so, at a discount, directly from me. The caveat, though, was that Amazon needed to drop the price some more so that I wouldn’t be undercutting those purchases too much. Yesterday, Amazon had “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” at $39.99 ($10 off) and I figured I’d offer the limited-time offer of $35 (shipping included) in today’s blog. But…  Just as I was about to do that on this flight, Amazon jumped the price back up to over $49 and a 26th review appeared on the page.

Thanks Kevin!

It’s from a guy named Kevin McMullen, whom I do not believe I know (so that’s cool) and it’s short and to the point, but the key is it’s the 26th review and it’s yet another 5-Star critique. That’s 26 for 26! Wish I could’ve had a streak like that as a ballplayer!

Now playing: “You’re Going Down” by a band called Sick Puppies. There’s a story for this. In 2015, before the NHRA banquet, the producers of that show sent emails to all of us PR folks, asking if we had any suggestions for music. “You’re Going Down” is about a head-to-head battle and it has a lot of drag racing references (“one of us is going down”) in it, so I sent it in. It was chosen as the “walk up” music for Antron Brown when he was awarded his Top Fuel World Championship trophy. So there…

As for the special close-out offer on the book, I’ll just keep watching Amazon and will announce it in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes peeled!

Just passed over Nashville, so we got that going for us. Now playing: “Look In My Eyes” by the band Rains. I told you it was an eclectic mix.

I know this has been a short one, but this tray table is unsteady and it’s making me crazy. When I type I have to hold the left side of the tray up with my left knee. Yeah, I’m whining.

No big deal. Just shooting a scene with Alec Baldwin…

I shall leave you with this screen grab, which I also posted on Facebook the other day. As detailed in my book, I “met” Buck Hujabre via email after the blog I posted about our cat Shasta passing away, more than 10 years ago. We quickly connected on a special level and not long after that he landed a role in the touring company for the hit Broadway show “Jersey Boys.” We’ve been fast friends ever since, and I’ll see him and his family in just a couple of weeks out in Vegas.

When he “retired” from acting to pursue a career in real estate, he told his agent to turn down any new offers. And then his agent said, “No, actually you really need to take this one.” I guess so.

If you have Hulu you need to watch “The Looming Tower.” Buck is only in a couple of episodes, but it’s a legit role standing next to a superstar. As he said “All I had to do, to get my big break, was retire.” Well done, my friend. You’ve officially made it big.

Now playing, as we wrap this up: “Aenima” by Tool. If you know the song you know the line “Learn to swim.”

Finally, as always, if you just skimmed through this nonsense and thought, “Well that wasn’t terrible” please indicate your approval by hitting the “Like” button at the top.

Sorry so short, but… Let’s go racing! I shall not wear a white shirt in 2018.

Bob Wilber, at your service and heading for the Gatornationals.

 

 

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