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The latest update as of March 29, 2012

On the road again: Tucson and Vegas

If anybody's been paying attention in the last few months - and frankly, why would they bother? - this page has remained dormant since the 5th of November (2011). Nearly five months without an update. Waay too long, but there's no excuses, reasons, caveats, just too many of the mundane details of real life competing for my attention and getting in the way of throwing words on the wall that I call Northern Thunder.

When last we left the tales of intrepid explorer, Bobby Thunder, (hey it's my sandbox so I get to make it grandiose when the muse strikes me) he was nearing the end of his Mexican interlude before dealing with the harsh reality of the NHRA Full Throttle AAA Auto Club finals at Pomona, California. That five days was an adventure worthy of its own chapter, with four days of burn-it-to-the-ground drag racing action at the Fairplex, two back to back Canuck games (Los Angeles and Anaheim), hundreds of freeway miles in the world's largest automotive rat maze, and generally some really fun times.

Then it was to the harsh.... well, harsh-ish reality of winter weather in Vancouver and many months of hibernation from the racing scene. Adding to the bleakness of the long winter was the loss of some really fine people during that time, with Ken Rempel and T.J. Jeffery being foremost among them, with the only escape from the dark, gloomy days being a two-week trip to Maui (first time to Hawaii, believe it or not) in January.

Before cabin fever reached its zenith, I committed to do my personal "southwest circle", starting in Tucson at the IHRA Nitro Jam Arizona Nationals and ending with the NHRA Full Throttle SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Wrapped around and between the events was the better part of a week of adventures in the desert and on the famed Vegas strip. Fun, fun and more fun.... except for all the "donations" I made to the casinos. I've just got to remember that throwing "bad money after worse" is not the smart way to play.

My Tucson report can be found at SpeedZone Magazine and starting on Friday, lots more from the Vegas event. As soon as I've got a chance, we'll get some pics from the off-track acitivities posted.