I am making a few changes to my own racing for 2009. I am parking my dragster and joining forces with good friend, Nick Jeffrey, to drive his Olds Cutlass in the Foot-Brake (No Box) races. Sure, it still has the plug-in for a delay box. I have raced with a delay box for over 20 years, so to say going Foot-Brake racing is a change is probably a bit of an understatement.

What can I expect from this change? Good question; I think it will bring back some of the fun that was missing from my racing. It looks like there are a lot more racers with a smile on their face in the Foot-Brake (No Box) staging lanes that there are in the S/Pro (Box) lanes. I think they are all having fun but the S/Pro (Box) class has gotten brutal and the cost of a winning car is getting out of reach for me.

I am more excited about racing in 2009 that I have been for years. The learning I am going to try to condense into a short period of time will be fun and probably frustrating at the same time. We are going to try our hand at a few Big Bucks Foot-Brake races and that, my friends, is a real change.

I will keep you posted on our progress with our Foot-Brake Project in the tech section of DRO. Nick is building a 420” small-block OLDS engine and we are updating a few things to get ready for 2009. One thing that will be missing is a “button” on the steering wheel, now that will be a change!

I want to close this column by mentioning a new website I encourage you to take a look at:  www.ThisisBracketRacing.com, it is a bracket racer’s website. It was put together by one of the best bracket racers in the country, Luke Bogaki. I met him when he was a “little guy” at Texas Raceway. He has proven you can make a living bracket racing and his insight on our sport will be awesome. It is a subscription-type website to get all the features he will offer, but I agree with his theory, if you learn just one thing off his website and turn into a semi-final round win it has more than paid for itself. I just wanted to mention his site as I see it as one of those CHANGES that are taking place in bracket racing.

Hope to see some of you at the races in 2009! Have a great season.