Thomas Praytor Orlando, FL 12-12-09: With the 42^nd Annual Snowball Derby in the rear view mirror the Moose headed to Orlando Florida for the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show. The PRI show features over 1,200 racing exhibitors in a million square foot convention center. Our team has been attending the show for years, in order to find new equipment and an opportunity to meet with the vendors we talk to by phone all year long. G-Force, VDL Carburetors, Hans, CV Products, Brakeman Brakes, Gale Force Suspensions, Penske, Quartermaster, ISP Seats, Gibbs Racing Oil, Intercomp, Longacre, Racing Electronics, Pitboxes.com, Champion Systems and Hedman Headers are just a few of the vendors at the show that we use on our G-Force Fusion every day. Having the chance to talk with our suppliers face to face gives us an opportunity to discuss issues we’ve had during the year and new technology they may have developed or are developing that we can use in the future. When we bought Midnight earlier this year, we inherited a set of Brakeman brakes on our car. Brakeman brakes are some of the best in business but are not well known in this area. The brakes have worked flawlessly and meeting with the folks at Brakeman was high on our list.  The show gave us an opportunity to meet with Warren Gilliland, CEO Brakeman Brakes in person.  Our meeting gave us an opportunity to get advice and tips on how to make our car go faster not just from the company, but from the man who designed them. Like the MasterCard commercial “priceless”. While it is the “off season” there is no time for rest, the Moose and some of our Max Force team will be headed to Daytona International Speedway to help Grant Enfinger test for the ARCA ReMax series race in February. 

Thomas Praytor Pensacola 12-6-09: A month of prep work followed by 3 days of practice at 5 Flags Speedway for the 42^nd Annual Snowball Derby’s Allen Turner Snowflake 100 all came down to 2 laps on Saturday afternoon. Last year the team turned a 17.58 second lap just missing the field. On Saturday morning a mock qualifying run produced a 17.12 second lap and the team had high hopes of making the top 30. During the morning run the weather was overcast and very cold, by the 3:00 in the afternoon the skies had cleared and the temperature was 20 degrees higher than our morning practice session. The warmer track made our G-force Fusion tight in the center scrubbing off speed producing a lap time of 17.21 seconds. Last year the Moose would have been 7th, this year it would be 4 one hundredths of a second too slow and the Moose was forced to the last chance race. Only the top 2 finishers from the last chance race transfer to the main event. The Moose started 3^rd and was battling for the 2^nd spot when the 4^th place competitor and ARCA ReMax Series driver body slammed the G-Force Fusion in turn 4. A great save by the Moose kept the team from buying another racecar but it also put the Moose at the tail end of the field. With the Derby hopes fading the Moose was in full charge putting the horn to anyone who stood between him and the transfer spot. By the time our G-Force Fusion returned to the hauler the hood was crushed, the left fender had been pushed in 6 inches, the right front fender had been pushed back into the tire and was taking chunks of rubber out of the right front tire each time it turned and the right rear had been cut ending the race with only 4 pounds of air instead of 30. Our car was just like our driver, there just wasn’t anything left to give and unfortunately, there wasn’t enough laps left to get back to 2^nd and a Derby start would have to wait another year.