Those who know me understand that I have the type of personality where I will try anything once. My latest thing has been line dancing at a local bar down here in Charlotte. It’s one of the most entertaining things I’ve done in a long time, even though I am mostly making fun of it the whole time. I’m going again this week and this time one of my buddies and his girlfriend will be joining us. He rarely goes, if at all, but he is one of the funniest dudes I know. So we’re both going to go out and find some cowboy gear, it’s going to be fantastic. You’ll have to check out my tweets for pictures.
This bar where we go is like one out of Talladega Nights. I bet you’ll find hay around some where. This whole experience is scoring me tons of points with Amanda though, which is always good. I hate country more than anything else in the world, so she knows how much of a sacrifice it is. But I have to say it’s a good time.
There has been a lot going on at Red Bull Racing lately, led by our latest driver signing of Kasey Kahne. I think anyone in Red Bull’s position would have done the same thing, so it is a good thing for them. I feel confident that I’ll still be around so it doesn’t change my program and in fact, it will give me another resource to work with.
We’re starting to come around with our performance but the last four weekends have been rough with the luck. For example, we had a strong top 20 going at Atlanta until the engine blew up. Last weekend at Richmond was the worst of the four and we still finished 24th so things are starting to turn around. There’s no question that we got our cars better than we had a month ago.
Earlier in the summer, both teams weren’t running well and it was not the easiest time for us. We’re starting to turn the corner a little bit though and the morale at the shop is getting much better. Now we’ll continue to work to improve and catch up to everyone else.
Mattias Ekstrom worked with us for the first time on an oval at Richmond which was really cool. I got to show him some things this time around because he was like a fish out of water when he first got there. We had a blast though, we’ve always got along really well and to have him come over and experience what I do on a regular basis has been a good time. Now he knows what I’m talking about when I’m describing to him how this stuff works.
He and I both have our fun outside of racing as well. Before the race on Saturday, we went jogging for about four miles around the track. I only had one set of shorts so I let him wear mine and I wore a pair of Amanda’s shorts. You wouldn’t believe all the people who were making comments. It was an interesting experience. He pretty much lived in our motorhome because we were the only place that had food that he could eat. The European diet is much healthier than ours here in the states. I can relate because after my F1 tour, it took me about a year to get used to the food here since everything is so fattening.
During the off weekend back in August I went to Myrtle Beach to get some golfing in. My game is really going well. In fact, I’m ready for another match with Kevin Harvick. A few weeks ago we put some money on the line that I gracefully took from him, and I’m ready to do it again! It was me and my pro buddy and he and the pro he works with so it was a lot of fun.
I had a different type of work day last week. It required me driving a Red Bull taxi around Chicago and it was a blast. We were picking up random people throughout the city and filming it. We got some great shots so keep an eye out for those. It’s very entertaining, we got some good reactions from people.
As you can tell, it’s been a very busy month and it will stay that way right until the end. It’s been an up and down season, but I feel confident that the final 10 races are going to go well for us. Thanks as always for your support of both me and Red Bull Racing Team through thick and thin! See you at the track!
About the author
Tony Lumbis has headed the Marketing Department for Frontstretch since 2008. Responsible for managing our advertising portfolio, he deals with our clients directly, closing deals while helping promote the site’s continued growth both inside and outside the racing community through social media and traditional outlets. Tony is based outside Philadelphia.
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