Hi!

There has already been so much going on in 2017!  The very fun ride of the Search for a Champion has come to an end.  We are really honored to be a part of #TeamChampion for the year since we were one of the twenty five finalists.  So many people were voting everyday and I appreciate you all.  It was a long road for us all to remember to vote and then wait to hear results but so much fun too.  I'm sure my many vote reminders got to be annoying to some.   Champion has a whole lot more than spark plugs to offer so be sure to check out their products out for your vehicle, lawn mower, motorcycle etc.  

As we were finishing up putting the car together to go testing in April I was also patiently awaiting the arrival of my niece.  Avery Rae came into this world on April 19, 2017.  She was perfect from the start (I may be biased).  Her parents are doing so well with her already and I love my new title "Auntie".  Sorry but I'm not really sorry for all the adorable baby pics to come on social media.  I have to break up the racecar posts with a little bit of what makes me, me and being an aunt definitely is important to me.

We have already had a few challenges in 2017 as a race team.  Unfortunately it's very difficult to try to race in the spring in the Midwest.  There has been rainy weekends after rainy weekends or no place open to test.  We made the trip out to Earlville IA in April for a beautiful day.  The track was great and the car ran fairly well but not as good as we would like so we took it back home and made a few updates to get ready for the Indy NHRA northcentral region race.

The Indy race brought more rain than any other weekend.  Looking at the weather we knew it wasn't going to be favorable so dad and I went down there to look the car over with tech.  Being a brand new car we wanted to make sure we would be prepared for the Joliet, IL race in June and everything looked good.  We watched one round of qualifying before the pits turned into a lake (literally) from all of the rain.  It was kind of an entertaining day because of it.  (Also I highly suggest the garlic rolls at Sal's)

After Indy we were on the hunt for another place and time to test.  We tested at our local track Route 66 in Joliet, IL in May.  I finally got to see a time slip in the 6 second range and signed off on one of the three passes needed for my upgrade!  Definitely progress in the right direction.  We have been learning and updating a few things since then and we are finalizing everything to go to the race in Joliet next weekend.  It will be a fun weekend.  I will be able to make 3 runs after the other alcohol cars qualifying runs to try to finish up my TAD license upgrade.  I definitely can't wait to get back in the drivers seat.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Marina