One year ago, I had the bright idea to start my own blog. I had big plans to write consistently about mostly racing and little bit of my own life. Unfortunately, the year I decided to implement all this was 2020. Oops. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Races and schedules were constantly being changed or canceled and, for a planner like me, that was hard to deal with. Eventually, some racing resumed and hopefully we are closer to getting back to “normal.”

Obviously, last year didn’t let go .00 and run dead on. It was probably more like LB3A, crossed the center line, and then ran out of fuel (translation: NOT GOOD, for those unfamiliar with drag racing).

All that being said, I promise to be more present with you here on my website this year. Good, bad, or ugly, I’ll make sure to share it all. You’ve been warned. 😜

Thanks to Kevin Smith for the photo!

Before we dive into the future, let me catch you up on what went down last year. I can’t be totally pessimistic about 2020 because we there were some good times!

2020 Highlights

The Fireturd had a face-lift with it’s new paint job in May. There were a lot of blood, sweat, and sanding dust involved in this project. Side note: I do not want to do paint and body work, ever again.

In June, I accepted a job offer with the sportsman drag racing website, DragChamp! I get to write about big money bracket racing, drivers, promoters, sponsor companies, and more. This little blog I started gave me the opportunity and I have loved every second behind the keyboard.

Of course, DragChamp takes a lot of my spare time, in which this site suffered. This year I will make sure to take time for my own personal projects and goals!

We competed at the World Footbrake Challenge in July during the largest car count in Footbrake racing history. Here’s a little recap I wrote on my personal Facebook page.

In August, other than turning 28 years old, there wasn’t much to talk about for me. Cody continued to make final round appearances all year and wrapped up the Greer Dragway Summit Super Series Championship in Sportsman for the second year in a row! That earned him another trip to Memphis to try for a World Championship.

September brought the highest paying Footbrake race, ever, to Bristol Dragway thanks to Coalburg Racing Promotions. Steve Stites and Jared Pennington are also the creators of the WFC. They invited me to write the weekend recap articles for their Labor Day $100K event – which was such an honor for me to even be considered! You can read the race recap I wrote from the main event on Saturday by clicking here.

Notice the baby wheelie
Photo credit: Terry Ferrell

Besides writing, I was also behind the wheel that weekend. I didn’t come home with a win but I made a few decent laps, even though the wagon decided to vary two tenths over the weekend. When I went through my weekend reaction time stats, I was pretty pleased with my consistency.

The twelve elimination rounds that I kept it on the green side, my average was .017 and the six elimination rounds that I turned it red, my average was .008. I had two perfect lights as well as a bunch of .00s, but just not quite as many win lights as I had hoped.

When a drag racer gets married…
Photo credit: Katrina Serene Photography

October was a super busy and exciting month. The first weekend we traveled down to Darlington Dragway in South Carolina to race the IHRA bracket finals.

The next weekend, on October 10th, Cody and I got married after seven years together! We had an awesome time celebrating with our family and friends at a beautiful venue. Instead of a first dance we had a first race with our full size practice tree. Check out some of the photos below from Katrina Serene Photography!

The pandemic altered our honeymoon plans and I hope to be able to reschedule our trip sometime this year. Instead, one week after getting married, we hit the road to Memphis for Cody to race in the IHRA World Finals. Cody finished 5th in the world, which wasn’t as high as he had hoped, but I’m still very proud!

November brought Thanksgiving and a trip to North Carolina for Loose Rocker’s Fall Footbrake Frenzy. Neither of us had stellar performances but we had fun at a well-run event.

We spent Christmas with our families in December and brought the New Year in with a case of coronavirus. Luckily, we all had mild cases and have recovered completely. 🦠

Cody and Dad have been working hard on his S-10 build. It is getting so close to completion and I can’t wait until he gets to bring it out to the track. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek. 👀

That is some quality craftmanship, if I do say so myself!

Will 2021 be better?

I sure hope so!

At the end of January, Cody and I made the trip to Murfreesboro, TN for the 1/24 Scale Million Dollar Race. The winner took home $30,000…for a slot car race! 💰

Unfortunately, the money didn’t come home with us, but it was honestly the most fun I’ve ever had at a slot car race. If you know me, I’m usually not a fan of those, so that is saying a lot. 😂

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. You’ve survived the long recap of 2020. I’ll try not to be so long winded going forward, but I had a lot to catch you guys up on!

I’ll be taking more photos and videos at the racetrack this season and plan to include racers and cars that aren’t in our pit area. I’d like to try some new things, so I’ll be posting and asking for opinions on my social media pages.

Make sure you have “liked” the Too Tall Racing Facebook page or follow me on Instagram to get the latest updates. As always, drop a comment or send me a message on what you’re interested in seeing about drag racing!

Until next time,