Rockingham and new friends

Completing our first year of AFC competition has been both an enjoyable and also at times a frustrating experience. We met some goals but also spun our wheels a lot and, at times, progress did not seem possible. As we are all sad to see the season end we could not have ask for a more exciting finish than what we witnessed at the Rock. Hats off again to the IHRA and the great show the put on for the fans and the racers. I can not imagine all the work that the IHRA crew goes through at every event as the show moves around the US and Canada. As a new team we were strangers to all at the races, IHRA officials and the other competitors. While we did not compete at all the races we were able to attend several events. To our surprise we found out how quickly we were accepted into the IHRA family. Both the officials and the AFC teams were more than gracious in their welcoming us to the racing circuit. On race day all the AFC teams are competing for the win but we still experienced a friendship and willingness to offer help and advice from our competitors on race day. This is truly a reflection of the friendly, family atmosphere at the IHRA events.

The race at the Rock was terrific. Hats off to Mark Thomas and his team on their championship. As already stated by others, Thomas’s team is a first class act. Congratulations also to Laurie Cannister and all the Kalbone team members and the performance they are achieving. Special congratulations to Bunny and the Boys and their making the show. Growing up in the Englishtown, NJ area, seeing Bunny compete was always special. Her team putting up that 83 was inspiring to us. We unfortunately could not put down the big number and did not make the show but did run our best ET to date. A good ending to the season for us. Bunny is a great inspiration and like all teams we can not wait until next season begins.

During the season we got to meet some great competitors who made a point to introduce themselves to our newly formed team. Congratulations to Dale Brand and his team for their record breaking performance and the friendship they extended to our team. Special thanks to Tim Stevens and his team for spending time in our pits at the races. Also thanks to Matt Naves Jr and Naves Racing for coming over to our pit at our very first race at Rockingham, last fall in 2006, to help us rookies, and to Rocky Hummel’s and Paul Noakes teams for their concern and support during our pit accident at Milan.

Thanks again to the IHRA and all the AFC teams.


MCNIECE RACING