SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

The “Strip” at LVMS, NV- There is nothing in the world like being at an NHRA National event on Sunday morning. The people were everywhere, the cars were all shined up and the weather could not be any better. However, as much as I was in awe about the surroundings, what I found in Tim’s briefcase was SHOCKING!

It was ME!…but not me? There was ANOTHER FLAT STANLEY IN HIS BAG! Uh, why didn’t anybody bother to tell me I had a brother? Well, Tim explained to me that the other guy was Flat Stanley 2 and that he was going to also become FAST STANLEY. Honestly I was appalled. Like the Highlander once said, “There can be only one!” But, Katie taught me to have good manners so I welcomed him to the world of NHRA drag racing and briefed him on what it would be like to ride in a race car. I was slotted to ride with Mike Edwards Pro Stock car during the day and Stanley 2 was going to ride with Jeff Arend’s DHL Toyota Funny Car.

Mr. Edwards and his crew are some of the nicest people on the planet. His lovely wife and his crew chief BIG AL were nice enough to offer me a seat in Mr. Edwards’s fire suit. Stanley 2, however had the best seat in the house for his round one ride with Jeff Arend. Mr. Arend is also one of the coolest people in the world, who also has a wonderful (and really pretty wife) named Windy. One of Mr. Arend’s crew members said, “I have the perfect place for Flat Stanley…the SIDE WINDOW!” Flat Stanley 2 was taped to the side window of the DHL- Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car, (lucky guy).

Unfortunately Mr. Arend lost traction about half track and started to smoke the tires. He lost that first round match-up but Stan 2 had a great view.

I on the other hand helped Mr. Edwards win his first round race. A Pro Stock car is so much different than a Funny Car. It has an engine that runs on racing gasoline, not Nitro methane like the Funny Cars do. The driver shifts the car four times as they drive down the track and driver reaction time is very important.

Mr. Edwards unfortunately left the starting line a little too early in round number two and our weekend adventure on the race track was over. Before the final round, Tim decided to meet up with a very good friend of his, Chris Cook. We watched the final rounds from behind the starting line. Chris then took me to victory circle. We got to meet Tony Schumacher, Ron Capps and Jeg Coughlin in the post race press conference in the tower.

I really had a great time at the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals and the city of Las Vegas. It was truly a sensory overload, but now I AM A NITRO MANIAC! I want more. Hopefully Tim can arrange another visit for me soon. Perhaps, with another guy named Tim?

FAST STANLEY NUMBER ONE…. OUT!


Photo courtesy of Roger Richards at CompetitionPlus.com

A night out on the town…

Las Vegas, NV- After my exciting day with Fast Jack, I needed to work off all the adrenaline flowing through my body, (just because I am FLAT does not mean I do not have guts….after all, how many of you have gone 300 mph?…OK I won’t get a complex). So Valerie and Tim decided to take me out with them on Saturday evening.

Our first stop was dinner. Valerie wanted to take Tim to a special dinner, so she made reservations at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris Hotel and Casino. Valerie sure has good taste! This is one beautiful eating establishment. We rode the elevator up about 30 stories from the ground. When the elevator doors opened up, a very nice lady named Yvette met us and welcomed us to the restaurant. We only waited a few minutes until our table was ready. AND OH WHAT AN AMAZING VIEW!

We could see the fountains at Bellagio show going on across the street. We could also see all the way down the strip from the Mandalay Bay Hotel all the way to the Stratosphere (where Fast Jack and his Don Schumacher Racing team-mates and his crew members were staying this weekend). It was a very romantic setting. For dinner, Valerie had some type of chicken dinner, and Tim had steak. They both smelled really good. I decided to be easy on their pocket book, so I just had some of the crumbs from the baguettes they had earlier.

After dinner we went down stairs to a piano bar called Napoleon’s. Playing the dueling piano’s this evening were a couple of boys from Cleveland, Ohio. Billy Kraus and David Mauk have been playing their amazing show at Napoleons for a few years. Every time Val and Tim head to Vegas, they always make sure to catch their act. This night, they did not disappoint anyone. They played all types of music, from Abba to ZZ Top, (seriously Billy actually sang Dancing Queen.. He has more guts than I do!)

The show was awesome, but the evening was just getting warmed up. We headed down to the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino. Tim wanted to play a card game called ‘blackjack’, and Valerie liked this place a lot. Tim saw quite a few of his racing ‘friends’ down stairs. He played a few hands of this game blackjack with Chad Head, the team manager for Alan Johnson Racing. Chad is really cool! He saw Bob Vandergriff sitting at a slot machine (hoping to win the mega bucks I guess) and a few other racers that night.

We had a great evening, but the sun was getting ready to come up and we had a big day ahead of us on Sunday, so off to bed we went.

Fast Stanley passing out…


Photo courtesy of Bob Wilber

LET’S GO DRAG RACING!

Las Vegas, NV- Good Morning from ‘The Strip’ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is Saturday morning and today is an absolutely beautiful day. I have a very busy day in store as Tim has arranged for me to make my first run down a National Hot Rod Association drag strip in one of the fastest cars on the planet. I will be riding with Tim’s long time friend, Fast Jack Beckman.

Jack is the driver of a car called a Funny Car. They called them Funny Cars back in the late 1960’s because the bodies of the cars stretched out longer than the wheels of the cars. The cars were fixed to look normal, but the name was cool- so they kept calling them Funny Cars. These cars will accelerate from a standing start to over 300 miles per hour in less than 4.10 seconds. The engine in one of these cars has more engine horse power than 400 mini-vans, 250 police cars and eight NASCAR race cars. It should be a fun ride!

Before the ride of a lifetime (I am only about two weeks old) Tim is going to take me to his work. While at this race, Tim is working as a news reporter. His job is to report on the stories happening here at the racetrack and write reports for a drag racing web-magazine called competitionplus.com. Tim has been coming to these drag races since he was a four-year-old boy. He has worked on these race cars, driven these race cars and even been a member of the track safety team, called the NHRA Safety Safari. This is the first time Tim is reporting and writing stories. He is very excited.

We are getting ready to head down and see Fast Jack in a place they call- the pits. The pit area is a place where fans can actually watch the race car teams work on the cars and actually meet the drivers. We walked up to the Valvoline/ Mail Terminal Services Don Schumacher Racing pit area and there was Jack.

“Fast Jack”, as they call him is a really nice man. He is married to a very nice lady named Jenna and they have a two-year-old son named Jason. We also met his crew chief, Johnny West and the rest of his team. They work very hard making sure this car is safe for Jack to race. Now…..it’s Magic time! TIME TO GO RACING!

Jack decided the best and safest place for me to ride with him was inside his three-layer fire suit. The fire suit is used by the drivers to make sure they stay protected in case the cars engine breaks. Jack put me in his fire suit and the crew strapped us into his 8,000 horsepower race car using six seat belts.

When they started the car, I felt like I was in an earthquake. The car was rattling and shaking, it was louder than anything I had ever heard. We rolled forward about ten feet and drove through a puddle of water, ready to do something called a ‘burnout’. Jack eased his foot on the accelerator pedal and the tires started to spin, creating friction between the tires and race track, heating up tires until they started smoking. It was AWESOME!



As we stopped about 300 feet down the race track and prepared to back up to the starting line, I noticed the thousands of race fans sitting in the grandstands, though the little windows on the side of Jack’s Dodge Charger Funny Car. These fans really love drag racing and everybody was watching Jack and me!

We backed up the Valvoline sponsored race car to the starting-line. There was a crew member in front of the car and one behind, who made sure Jack was in the exact center of the race track. Once we stopped, a crew member lifted up the body of the Funny Car as the crew checked the engine, making sure the car was safe to head down the 1000 foot track. Once crew chief Johnny West looked at Jack and gave him the thumbs up, we approached the starting line.

Jack slowly guided his race car to the starting lines staging beams. He lit the first stage bulb with his front tires. He then pulled on the hand brake, took his foot off the foot clutch pedal, pulled another fuel pump on and rolled six inches forward until the second stage bulb was lit. Four tenths of a second later Jack slammed his foot on the accelerator pedal and I was instantly slammed back at a 4 times my body weight. I now weighed 8 ounces, and not the standard 2 ounces the mail man said I weighed. They call this G-Force!



We accelerated from 0 to 100 mph in less than a second. The car rattled shook and shimmied all the way down the 1000 foot race track until we reached the finish-line. In what seemed like a life time, we finally crossed the finish line 4.20 seconds after we left the starting line at over 302 miles per hour!

I WAS NOW, THE ARTIST KNOWN AS FAST STANLEY!…but… the ride was not quite over yet.

Once Jack reached the finish line, he pulled the parachute lever and we now lunged forward at 4 times our body weight. Since I was sitting on Jack’s lap, I felt his 200 pound body pushing me against the six Impact Racing seat belts. We slowed down from 300 miles per hour down to 170 in less than a second. When the car slowed down a little more, Jack pulled on the brake and we stopped in the shut down area. The cameras from ESPN 2 were waiting for us and Jack told them all about our run.

About 15 min’s later, Tim met us back at Jack’s pit. I didn’t want to leave. I had experienced what less than 1 percent of the population of the state of Michigan has ever experienced. I RODE IN A TOP FUEL FUNNY CAR! I went 302 miles per hour in less than 4.2 seconds. IT WAS AN AMAZING RIDE…AND I WANT MORE! Maybe Tim can set me up for some more fun tomorrow?

- FAST STANLEY…. OUT…for now!


Photo courtesy of Roger Richards at CompetitionPlus.com

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!

Las Vegas, NV- WOW! Is this place cool or what? We arrived here in the ‘entertainment capitol of the world’ this morning at about 10:30am. We went to the rental car place and picked up Tim’s car. It’s a little Chevrolet Aero, but it’s orange and that is one of my favorite colors.

Tim and Valerie were pretty hungry when we arrived, so we decided to head to lunch first. We went to a drive-thru hamburger restaurant called In-N-Out Burger. These burgers look really good! They also have really good French fries and the pink lemonade looks really refreshing. Too bad I don’t eat, because I’ll bet I could eat four of these things.

Valerie and Tim are done with lunch and it’s time to check into our hotel. We are staying at the Riviera Hotel and Casino on the strip in Las Vegas. These hotels are huge and have lots of pretty lights that light up the sky at night. As a matter of fact, one of these Hotels, The Luxor, (which is shaped like an Egyptian pyramid) has a light on the top of the hotel that can be seen from space! It is said; the NASA astronauts can read a newspaper from space just from the light of the Luxor Hotel.

Driving down the strip with Valerie and Tim, it was like I was visiting the world. There is a hotel which looks like it was built in Paris, France. There are hotels from Venice and Rome, Italy. And even a hotel in the shape of a mid-evil castle from England. This really looks like a fun place. Tonight, Tim and Valerie are going out for the night, so until Tim and I head out to the track tomorrow, I will bid you a good night!

- Stanley from Las Vegas….Out!

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH!!!

Denver, CO- Good Morning from the lovely state of Colorado. I woke up from my travels from the postal service to bright, sunny skies. It is very pretty here in the state capitol, the city of Denver. They call this place the ‘Mile High City’ because the elevation is 5,280 feet above sea level.

I really like my new manager. His name is Tim, but people call him “Timmah”. He has pictures of drag racing cars on his walls and there is a very nice lake behind his apartment. There are even ducks and Canadian Geese who call Lambertson Lake their home. Timmah took me out there to feed the Mallard ducks today. They ate all the wheat bread but I think they prefer Wonder-Bread.

After we were done with the ducks, it was time to go to Tim’s work. He works at place called Buckley Air Force Base. There are big golf balls that stick up from the ground, and lots of F-16 fighter planes around here. I feel pretty safe here. While at work, I met Tim’s boss- a very nice lady named Kalyn Nelson. Ms. Nelson is a retired Chief Master Sergeant for the Colorado Air National Guard, who helps Tim make sure all the equipment and people who arrive or leave the base are safe, and arrive on time. He works for the Logistics Readiness Squadron for the 460th United Air Force Space Wing. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty cool.

It looks like Tim has some work to do, so in the brief case I go. I will talk to you tomorrow from the airport.

Denver, Co to Las Vegas, NV- I was not here in Denver very long, as Tim along with his girlfriend, a pretty girl named Valerie, are going to take me to Las Vegas, Nevada today. We get to fly in a really cool airplane with an animal on the tail called Frontier Airlines. We are sitting in seats 7 A and 7 B. Valerie does not like to fly, so I am going to help keep her comfortable during the flight because I love going fast.

It looks like Valerie and Tim are going to take a nap on the plane, so I will write to you guys when we arrive in Las Vegas.

- Stanley Out!

The Journey Begins!

Grand Rapids, MI- Howdy kids - Flat Stanley here. Things have been a bit confusing recently. It seemed only yesterday I was in Katie’s second grade class being drawn, colored and cut into the wonderful work of art by the students of Immaculate Heart of Mary School- that many people say I am. I don’t want to brag, but I think she did great.

The last time I saw her, Katie had put me into some type of space ship or transportation device. This white folded up piece of paper is known as an ’envelope’ and apparently is used to send other pieces of paper to people all across this planet. The good people at the United States Postal Service were prepared to take good care of me.

Once Katie sealed the ‘envelope’ it got really dark and between you and me- I was a little scared. I knew I was going to be sent from my home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the state of Colorado. I don’t know anything about this state. Maybe while I am traveling you can tell me something about the state of Colorado. I will talk to you soon. Wish me luck!

- Stanley Out!


Photo courtesy of John Rogers