Well, Ladies and Gentleman, the 2004 season kicked off today at the Norway Speedway, and it sure was a WILD one. I am happy to announce that I did SURVIVE the wreck-fest without a single scratch on the car. I qualified faster than I ever have before, sailing across the line at a 15.053, which put me on the pole for the 2nd heat race. I ended up being stuck on the bottom of the track for the whole race and with a bunch of big hitters behind me, I slipped back to 6th place by the end of the race. The feature was nerve racking, that's for sure. I managed to avoid every wreck throughout the feature (all 5 of them) which just happened to take place right in front of me every time. The car was overheating throughout the race and I had a hard time keeping it running right, but I managed to pull off a 5th place with many high priced vehicles in there such as Bruce White (who ended up winning), Scott Stanchina, Adam Menor, Brent Hanson, and the Coleman Racing car (not sure who is driving it yet this year). The A-feature was a mess, taking almost an hour and a half to run their 35 laps, and only 7 cars finishing out of the 16 that started. Many cars went home trashed, including the number 16 of John Novara, who went flipping end over end off of turn 1. It was definitely a crazy afternoon, but all-in-all, it was a wonderful start to the 2004 season for the Widdis Racing Team. Also, I would like to welcome aboard Suzy's Shadowbox and Nascar Collectables as one of our new sponsors. The company sells Nascar collectables and is owned and run by Karl and Suzy Krumrey. Tomorrow, we have practice at Thunder Valley, and then next Friday we race at Norway once again. Thunder Valley's season kicks off next Sunday at 2 pm. Hope to see you all at the races!!!

- Bret Widdis