We used California Speedway to debut our new 2006 SRT10 Coupe.  Man, this is one gorgeous car!  The lines are stellar and it's so clean looking.  The biggest difference on this car versus last year is it's a hardtop instead of a convertible with an aftermarket hard top we put on it.

It was cool getting the entire team back together.  Scotty went to Phoenix a couple of weeks prior and we didn't go since our car wasn't done yet.  So it was awesome being back on track especially at a place I have never raced before.  Not too bad of a track ...

The new car unloaded from the transporter and it felt really good on the track.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Very comfortable to drive.  Fred, Dave and all the guys did such a great job building this car ... my thanks to everybody!

We managed to sneak by and put it on the pole for the National race.  It was a nice way to start the weekend.  Unfortunately, the race was another story.  On the 2nd lap of the race, my transmission started to fail and couldn't find 5th gear.  And on an oval track, we use 5th gear a lot!  My day was done.  So cruising around in 4th gear wasn't going to do the trick and I just watched the other T1 drivers motor away.  Painful.

Then to top things off ... CJ Johnson decided to practice his police "spin-and-pin" moves on Scotty that he must have seen on the TV show "Cops."  With his front bumper, CJ tagged Scotty's rear bumper and turned him around hard in one of the corners.  The contact ended Scotty's day with a broken suspension.  The stewards of the meet placed CJ on a 3-race suspension for the contact, which in my opinion was extremely light.  But they are the boss and we live with and respect their decisions.

So at first glance, we were pretty disappointed in the outcome for the weekend, but hey, things could have been a lot worse.  We will go back to our shop, get things all fixed up and ready for the next race.  The plan is to have Scotty's new SRT10 Coupe ready for the next race.  Then we hit an extensive test schedule!!  Testing is one thing we really believe in and work very hard at finding speed.

Thanks for tuning in.  We sure do appreciate all your emails of support!

Cindi