Since I was riding with Ben & Leanne, I got up extra early to get ready, get Spike (my dog) to the boarder’s, and get over to Ben’s house by 8am. I was so excited, I showed up around 7:30, hyper and pumped to get going.
We pulled out of Grant around 9am and started our 10 hour journey to Gainesville. I got the back seat, which meant I had plenty of room to stretch out for a nap. Between packing and the company event I went to the night before, I didn’t get into bed until after midnight, and had to get up extra early to finish off packing. Ben handled driving duty all the way until Gainesville.
We arrived at the hotel around 5:00pm in Gainesville. Leanne and I got changed to head over to the Ale House. The Ale House is always the unofficial hangout for drivers and crew since it is right across the street from the hotels that most all the teams stay with. We got there around 6pm to make sure we got seats, and waited for everyone else to show up.
Since I grew up in Orlando, the Gator Nationals have always felt like my “home” national event. The last couple of years, I use the event to meet up with and spend time with old high school friends, and my family. My sister, Melanie, has a birthday in March like mine, so I treat her to the event for her birthday. Frankie, Tommy, and Mikey are all my high school buds that love NHRA just as much as I do, so they were pumped to come up as well.
Around 9pm, the place got packed quickly, and with 5 dollar buckets of beer, our table had a blast. There were plenty of drivers and teams hanging around, and if you didn’t make it, you really missed out. Just a few that we saw during the evening: Dave Connolley, Morgan Lucas, Ashley Force, Del Worsham, JR Todd, and several others.
Not wanting to ruin my Friday, I decided to call it a night early around 12:30am. Its off to the track for a good wake up whiff of NITRO!
