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I just want to personally thank Rex Guy and EVERYONE from FUPS for a great night in the first ever FUPS Triple 50 event this past Saturday. You would have never know that this was the first event for these three divisions under the FUPS banner, as the night ran as smooth as silk. These guys were certainly up to the task of handling not one, but THREE new Touring Series in one evening. The only problem during the night was that us Sportsman guys could not get out sh*t together, as our event was a hot mess. Kudos to FUPS in deciding to count the first three laps of yellow later in the event to move things along. It is this kind of on-the-fly thinking that will make this Series a success. I also have to thank Rex for not losing his patience with us, as he made sure his staff had the racing surface completely clean to race on, even after a bazillion yellows! I have been involved in too many events that turned into wreckfests and had the track turn us back loose racing on either an oily, wet or speedi-dri saturated racing surface because they grew tired of our antics. Hopefully us Sportsman guys will learn to "Play Nice" when we come back for the second race of the Tour next month! I am not without fault, as I too, caused one of the yellows. Fortunately for the fans, the Truck and OWM features went off much more smoothly. After a lot of people questioning if this thing would work, I would have to say that the night was a smashing success (no pun intended)! The grandstand had a big crowd and in the pits we had 21 Sportsman, 17 Trucks and 14 OWMs. Rick Williams announced in the Driver's Meeting that he had one new track signed up for the Series and two more that he is in negotiations with. That should clear up a lot of the uncertainty surrounding the Series. Every track should consider the benefit of having a full grandstand AND pit area that this deal will bring. On a personal note, I had a very busy weekend. After missing the Friday practice chasing a motor issue all night, we struggled all day trying some new set up stuff. In a go for broke move, I decided (after completely embarassing myself in Time Trials) to go back to our old stuff and pulled every shock and spring off the car right before the feature. Let me tell you, my Crew thought I was crazy but, to their credit, they worked their tails off and made it happen. Luckily this made the car very drivable and we were able to avoid most of the melee and come home with a palateable 8th place finish. I had never turned a lap at A-Dale before Saturday and, at the very least, I got some good seat time. I can't wait to go back next month with a much better prepared Hot Rod. In the end I had a lot of fun, made some new friends (one I loaned a clutch to so that he could race), put the car on the trailer in one piece, put a couple of hundred bucks in my pocket and went home with a smile on my face. Isn't that what racing is supposed to be? 