Las Vegas and Pomona

Hey guys! It's Taylor again blogging for the team! Hope you guys aren't sick of me yet :-)Well….we just got back from Las Vegas and Pomona! Three weeks on the road and we are ready to be home! Hopefully this off-season doesn't last too long though because Shawn will start to get "the itch" in about a month…I will put money on it! Although it is nice to be home for a bit, I do NOT like coming home to snow after being in hot weather for a month! NO BUENO! I'm already in a freaking ski jacket! So both of the Vegas races weren't exactly how we pictured it going but that is the way it is sometimes! You win some and lose some! Shawn sure had a wild ride first round at the National in case anyone missed it…he went bowling with his dragster! All we saw from the starting line were orange cones flying everywhere. A little scary to watch but at least nothing serious happened…nothing like having your freaking stomach in your throat. HELLO! While we are on the subject of Vegas, I just want to take a second to thank Paul and Davina Grant for taking all the pictures for our team…you guys are such a joy to be around and do wonderful work! We absolutely loved it and we can't wait to see the books! After the racing, we got to have a little vacation during the week which was nice. On Halloween, we all went to that new PBR Rock Bar at Planet Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong…it was an absolute blast BUT I would advise anyone who has never been on a mechanical bull before to wait until the END of the trip to do so and DO NOT ride it seven times (*cough*Shawn and Kyle*cough*)! You will more than likely not walk for a week and in Vegas, you kind of do a lot of that. I will say I have not laughed that hard in a long time watching all these people in their costumes try to ride this thing. Poor Al did a full-on cartwheel off the front of the thing! We also got to see that new Cirque du Soleil Viva Elvis! Very well put together and the acrobats were phenomenal. I feel like a Vegas critic for goodness sake. Anyways! So, Pomona went WAY better though…we went to the final! We were having a lot of transmission problems in Vegas and thankfully, we think we have it all figured out! Unfortunately, we lost to Michael Manners in the final but we really have nothing to be angry about…I think we had a great year! 3rd place in the national standings is awesome and we improved from last year which is what we wanted! Congratulations to Bill Reichert and his team on another championship! 5 in a row…unbelievable! Pitted awning to awning with the Hough's was so much fun as usual! We ended the weekend at the Coco Palm for Bill's birthday and enjoyed some DELICIOUS food! That place is just unreal. I mean where else can you get fried bananas? They are so dang good! A big thanks to the sponsors this year! Mundie's Towing, ABC Recycling, United Petroleum, Lordco Auto Parts, and NGK Spark Plugs…you guys are awesome! I really want to mention this, I know Shawn will agree with me when I say that I am so honored to be part of such a great team. You guys are absolutely amazing and you work your butts off all year long. You take time away from your families and jobs and I know he is appreciative. You have a positive attitude no matter what and that is what makes racing so much fun! OK…I will stop being mushy now but in a phrase…THANK YOU TO THE TEAM! Cheers to a great season and a hopefully even better one next year! I hope y'all enjoy the holiday season and we will see you all in February! Can't wait!