Wednesday, August 29, 2001:

Indianapolis, Indiana here I come. Big Go East, Woooo Weeeeee. I can't wait.

Well, I'm all packed and ready to go. On the way out of the house I kissed the wife and patted the dog on the head. Or did I kiss the dog? Hmmm. Earlier this morning I hit the alarm off button instead of the snooze at 5:00 AM and ended getting up at quarter to seven instead of six. So I am already running late. I hope this is not an omen of things to come.

Right after work I go directly to BWI (Baltimore Washington Airport). I live a lot closer to Philadelphia than Baltimore, but the airfares are about 20% cheaper out of BWI. I have no idea why, other than Philadelphia is a USAir hub. Let me give you an example on how insane the pricing is.

USAir quoted me a price of $240 round trip from Philadelphia to Indy. I asked about going out of BWI and the quote was $165 with a connecting flight. Guess where the connection was? Philadelphia!. I would have connected to the same flight I was quoted $240 for earlier. It was $75 cheaper to go to BWI jump on the plane, go to Philadelphia and then on to Indy . . . Go figure.

Thursday at Indy is the first day of Class Eliminations in Stock and Super Stock. I really want to see the SS/AA class runoff. Especially since 20 Hemi 'Cudas and Darts are pre-entered. Plus, Chrysler is putting up $10,000 to win the SS/AA class! It should be wild. Most of the journalists I have talked to are more excited about the Hemi shootout than the Big Bud. That tells me something. I also heard that NHRA might hold off the finals of SS/AA until Friday night under the lights. Sounds good to me.

Last week at Cecil County some of the rumors I heard were: IHRA is going to run the Pro Stock Trucks next year. Angelle Savoie is quitting Pro Stock Bike since Winston is taking a hike. Budweiser is going to be the major sponsor of NHRA. Miller is going to be the major sponsor of NHRA. Coke is going to be the major sponsor of NHRA. The Trucks will be returning in 2002. Jeff Taylor is competing at Indy in Pro Stock Truck driving Larry Kopp's truck (well that one might be true). All I know is that by the time I get to Indy the rumor mill will really be cranked up. Between you and me I would not be surprised if NHRA does announce a major deal with a large sponsor at Indy.

Also, in my last entry, I failed to mention it, but by going further in eliminations at the Cecil County Federal Mogul points race Lincoln Morehead moved back in front of Peter Biondo in Division One Super Stock. With only Englishtown and possibly Bristol left on the schedule for Division points, it's going to be a wild finish. Both drivers are great people and both deserve to win the title.

If anybody really does read this stuff and is going to Indy, look me up. I usually park in the West Side pits near the entrance to the Top Eliminator Club next to the tire wall. I have no idea what kind of beater I will be driving, but I will be wearing the familiar NHRA Photo vest. Most of my shirts have my name on them along with East Coast Drag News, my soon to be website, (yeah, file that under never gonna happen).

Go Shirley . . . Go Big Daddy . . . Big Go East 2001 . . .

Any questions, complaints or gripes, please e-mail me at Philip_R._Hutchison@dadebehring.com