Happy Holidays!
All of us at Hartman Motorsports wish each and everyone of you a very happy holiday season. It has snuck up on us quickly!Megan just turned 12 years old last month, John and I celebrated our 15th Anniversary, and now we are celebrating Christmas in just 9 days!
Looking back at the year, it's amazing how much John has traveled for racing. He has been all over the United States following some of the NHRA tour here and there with various teams he's worked for and they selected races he drove for his dad, trips to Europe which included England, Finland, Germany, and Sweden, and now he is in Australia. The unfortunate part is that he will be away for Christmas. We will celebrate Christmas early with him, but it will be sad not having him around Christmas morning. He is working with a new team out of Perth and they will be racing their Nitro Funny car, which will be their first event December 26th. John is excited for the new opportunity to tune for this team and we are thankful that work has picked up and he's staying busy.
We set up our Skype accounts so that he will be able to see the kids on video opening their presents Christmas morning. What would we do without the wonderful technology we have these days. I would be so lost without my DROID and laptop!
The kids are getting excited about getting out of school for the holidays and eager for Santa to make his stop to our house. It seems like those wish lists keep groing by the minute. We have been so busy with school activities, holiday parties, and basketball practice that I don't even know if I'm ready for Christmas or not. I think I have it all, but there's always those last minute trips to the store!
Our racing plans are up in the air for next year, but we do know Megan will racing her new Junior Dragster next season. She is thrilled to have a new and faster car and has been putting in some hours working on it with papa and her daddy. I just hope we can figure out the tune-up and take it out often getting some experience.
Should be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy & Safe New Year!
All our love ~ The Smith's
Am I Nuts?
Okay, that is a great headline because most of the times I ask that question to myself, and I know the answer, so no need to answer it for me!
John is off to Las Vegas to tune for Stig Neergaard and his Top Fuel team. John has been working hard the past couple of weeks making sure that the entire rig, parts, and equipment made it safely from Denmark to the States. There was a few issues with damages, but it all arrived and Stig made it safely to go pick up the equipment and drive it out to Las Vegas. The team will compete in the tough field for the first time with their own equipment, couldn't believe the entry list when I saw 27 cars entered in just Top Fuel. They will run Pomona and again for the Winternationals and Gainesville next season before sending everything back to Denmark.
I am lucky to be heading out to Las Vegas myself. I am looking forward to a little break and I have my wonderful friend and PR chick, Liz Mellott, heading out with me for a "GIRLS" weekend. The kids aren't too happy about this, but I promised I would make it up to them. I am sure they will be spoiled by Nana and Papa all weekend so they won't even miss me!
Speaking of spoiled, Papa just purchased a new Junior Dragster and Megan can't wait to get in it and run FAST.... She is really excited since she out grew her old Junior Dragster and it just didn't meet the faster speed she wanted to go, hmmmmm - wonder where she gets that from? Now, let's see if we can all figure out how to tune this car up, John has already made calls to Spencer Massey and Del Cox JR. for assistance.
To make things even crazier in the Hartman-Smith household, I signed both of the kids up for Basketball. John and I are running around like crazy each day and I figured why not add more. I know the kids will enjoy playing, Megan has played for the past 4 years and now Dylan is old enough to play. Just hoping their schedules don't have us running around too much.
It's Halloween time and the kids are excited to be carving their pumpkins and getting all dressed up. Dylan will be a pirate, Megan will be a Jabawakee, and Teddy will be a bumble bee. I just love this time of year!
Have a safe and Happy Halloween- Rhonda
Craziness!!
Here we go again, lot
s of craziness going on. Over Labor Day weekend we got to race with John's father Paul and his Nitro Funny Car. The team did a great job getting prepared for the big event in Indianapolis, IN. The kids and I got to the track later than expected since we had flight trouble, but we made it Friday morning. After we flew in and John picked us up at the airport, I got a call from my father and he informed me that a machine in our shop back in South Carolina had caught fire and there was smoke damage through out the entire building. I had a lump in my thoat, feeling helpless since I wasn't there. I guess there wasn't much I could do at that point.The race went as scheduled for the US Nationals and we picked up great sponsorship help from the folks at Triple XXX Family Restaurant and Root Beer in West Lafayette, IN, which was features on John's favorite show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." John made some great, consistant runs, but after a DNQ for being 10 lbs too light in the scales on his best elapsed time of 4.17, we had to wait until the last run to try to break into the field. Unfortunately, he was on a great pass until the blower belt came off and we missed the field.
We flew home Sunday evening and it was gut wrenching to go to the shop and see the damage. Crews were already at the shop through out the weekend cleaning every inch of the offices and building. It's going to take a while to get back to normal, but the bright side is that we will have a totally clean, organized place when all said and done, it will be like brand new. Roofers, painters, electricians, and workers are hard at work getting it back together. 
John drove home with the his pal, Teddy (aka puppy dog). He then had to flyout the next afternoon to London to race the last European race in Santa Pod. The cars he worked on qualified in the 4th and 8th position, Stig Neergaard lost in round one and Micke Kagered lost in the semi-finals.
Now we are off to Charlotte! John was supposed to be consulting for John LaPort's Top Fuel team for the event, now he's driving his dad's Funny Car again as well. Busy weekend for sure, I also had reservations for the kids to hang out at the Great Wolf Lodge for some fun and relaxation!
I thought the end of the year would be slower and winding down, but I don't think between the real estate, racing, and plastics business that will ever happen!
Summer's Over
Summer time is just about over since the kids will be starting school this week. It's going to be hard to see the kids growing up into Junior High School for Megan and elementary school for Dylan. We just finished attending both of their orientations and I am feeling so great about their new classrooms and the new adventures beginning. 
We added to the summer fun by getting a new member for the family, Teddy, a Shih Zhu, is a fun and loving puppy.He is a lot work, but the kids are taking turns with the responsibilities. 
I think the heat has been unbearable this summer. We haven't even been out on the lake as many times as we normally do during the summer. The beach was even miserable since the it was so hard to stay cooled off. We didn't do too much this summer because we couldn't stand to be outside too long. It was even to hot to take Megan's Junior Dragster out. Maybe we'll get her racing at a few events before the season is over.
John has been busy splitting his time working at the business, Hartman Enterprises, and flying over to Europe to tune Stig Neergaard's team. They had changed some of their tune-up this year and have been struggling a bit and dealing with rain. Sweden was cancelled right as they were to race first round of eliminations because of rain and now in Germany they have had to deal with rain after their first round win. They finally found a comfortable tune up with the cars new parts and pieces and now with the rain in play,hopefully that won't hurt their chances to keep going rounds. We're hoping they can bring a trophy home soon, especially with only one more event after Hockenheim which is in Santa Pod. Their most frustrating event had to be in Finland where they set track record with a 4.05 et and after the finish line, Risto and Stig ran into each other and the officials decided to throw out both of their runs. Although Stig brought out the same car and tried to fight the ruling, they struggled with ignition problems and failed to qualify at that event. I think John was most frustrated because of the communications and lack of knowledge of the rules by the officials, who had a few cocktails at the event. Very professional!
I have just listed my first two properties in real estate and have been busy showing properties and working at the office. I would love to get back to racing, but it's been a struggle to obtain sponsorship to go out and race. We have been trying so hard because we'd love to continue racing with the Hartley Family's team, but when it comes to funding, it's hard to get anyone to commit. We are still trying and won't give up and hope to be at a few more races before the end of the year, but until then it's business as usual at Hartman Enterprises and Prudential C. Dan Joyner Co. It's been hard to juggle it all, but hopefully things will start getting easier to manage with the kids back in school and a schedule to follow.
One Hot Summer
John has been setting several teams up with a tune-up and hopes to make some NHRA event appearances later this season. He tested with one team recently and they were pleased with the results and feel their headed in the right direction. He is also getting ready to leave to go over the Finland this week for his second race with Stig Neergaard on the European tour. Poor guy has a suite case loaded with parts to take over with him, which helps the teams out since it's so hard and expensive to ship things over.
I have been busy working on my real estate career, I have joined a great group in the upstate with Prudential C. Dan Joyner Co. and I'm excited by the training and prospects. It's been a learning experience, it seems like I am learning something new every day. This has allowed me the freedom though to continue to help the family business, Hartman Enterprises, and to work on potential sponsorships to get back racing again. If you are ever looking to buy or sell a home in South Carolina, look me up!
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe fourth of July!
RACING, WORK, KIDS, REAL ESTATE
I hope al
l of you special mother's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! I had a very special day with the kids giving me gifts that they made themselves and I will cherish them forever! Megan made me a card of her very own off of the computer and Dylan had made me a picture frame in school with a wonderful portrait of him and a book that he wrote. In the book, he described his mommy. Apparently, I am 16 feet tall and I am 14 years old, pink is my favorite color, the Wii is my favorite sport, my name is mommy, he loves it when I color with him, I like to play, and pork chops are my favorite food. How precious is that!
We had a relaxing brunch with my mom and dad, brother Richard and his family.
The past few months have been a blur. The kid's are almost done with school, which is hard to believe and sad at the same time. It will be sad to see Dylan leaving preschool for kindergarten and Megan leaving elementary school for middle school. The tears will be falling on their last day of school for sure. We have enjoyed this year and they did a fantastic job learning, but now it's on to the next chapter in their lives. It's been tough keeping track of their schdules with field trips, awards, and performances. Megan and I went on a field trip recently with the whole 5th grade to Charleston for two days. Charleston is beautiful, but I was exhausted after chaperoning that one!
Megan has been busy playing softball in the evening and Dylan has been playing t-ball. We are at a practice or game just about every night! It's been fun cheering them on and I love watching Megan play catcher since I have photos of John playing the same position when he was younger. Megan is such an athletic girl, it's fun to watch her play. She makes me a very proud mommy!
Dylan loves to bat in his t-ball games and does a great job running the bases. When he plays in the outfield it's a little bit of a different story. He would rather play in the dirt then stand there waiting for the ball to come to him, many have passed right by him and he didn't even know it. It's hard to keep your attention on the game too long when you're only four years old. Most of the time when another player hits a ball on the other team, the kids will all dodge for the ball no matter where it goes.
I have had so many fans ask when we will race next on Facebook or by e-mail and we were hoping our hometrack of Atlanta would be our next event, but we are still trying to work out some sponsorship opportunities and at this point we are not sure when we will be back out. We are ready to go when the time comes and after our successful outting in Charlotte, we can't wait to be back out! 
John is getting ready to leave at the end of the month for his first race of the season over in Europe tuning for Stig Neergaard and team. I know he's excited to be back out on the track in Europe since they had some success last year. Santa Pod will be their first event and the team is just about ready to go! John is rounding up parts to take back with him to finish it all up.
I have always been interested in real estate and investments, so recently I attended school to obtain my South Carolina real estate license. I enjoyed the class and passed my test, now it's on to taking the state test to finialize my license. It was hard to cram 7 days of real estate and state laws in my head, but I enjoyed learning and can't wait to get started. I have always been the type of person that likes to stay busy, so I am sure listing and selling real estate on top of everything else that I do will be a piece of cake!
RACING AGAIN
On Saturday, March 20th, I found out that I was going to race the Four-Wide NHRA Nationals in Charlotte, NC as we teamed up with Hartley Racing. We had been working on some programs to get back out racing and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to race at such a prestigious event and one that was close to home to entertain some sponsors.
It was a scramble to get everything together at the last minute, but the Hartley's did a great job getting the equipment loaded up the very next day and we were lucky enough to have Lanny Warren, a friend of John's, drive up from Tulsa, OK to pick up the rig and drive it out to Charlotte from Nebraska for us.
Liz Mellott and I worked on our press release and finalized all of the details such as hotel rooms, sponsors, decals, etc. Special thanks to NitroStrike, Hartman Enterprises, Southern Blue Promotions, ProData, General Machine of Anderson, and Competition Products for their support. Also a special thanks to Ray Murphy of T & R Graphics in Seneca, SC for making the decals on such short notice.
The Hartley's and their team flew in on Thursday to set-up and get the car prepared to race. I wasn't able to join them until late Thursday evening since the kids had stuff going on. Megan had her 5th grade open house and performance and Dylan had Tee-Ball practice. I had my parents join me for the drive up and it was great to have the entire family there. 
On Friday morning we had a drivers meeting to go over the rules and procedures for the event. I think there was a lot of questions and nerves in play on how the event was going to happen without any hick ups. There was some confusion on the staging process with four cars versus the normal two. I for one was worried about it, but I have to say that once I got up to the starting line, I was calm and it went smoothly for me. I wasn't so rusty after all! The last time I had been in a car was in Rockingham of last year, but as a full-time driver it had been since 2004 that I qualified at an event and in 2006 I only competed at 3 events. Now we were racing to a 1,000 ft. and the first time I had set foot in the Hartley's car so there was many things going on in my head.
As I got fitted for the car with a few minor changes, the team and I went over their normal procedures. Everything went great including our warm-ups. The first run was a blessing, the car went out and ran a 3.98 e.t. out of the box and it was as if I had never stepped away. Although, when I went up to run, I was racing 2 other cars and by the time I went to stage, I was on a solo.
The second qualifying run didn't go as planned, we smoked the tires and we weren't the only team to have that problem since the conditions were so cold. We came back and serviced the car to get it ready for Saturday.
We experienced a crank problem on Saturday's first run and hurt a motor, but got it repaired for the final session. Once the first pair made their lap, I knew we were solid in the field and couldn't get bumped out and thought that we would take the car back to the pit area and save it for Sunday, but instead the team was in the back of the car working on the clutch to tune it up and they told me they were going for it and that they did! We ran a stellar 3.88 e.t. @ 313 mph, the quickest the car has been to 1000 ft. The run felt great and the team was excited!
The Hartley team hasn't raced since Indy of last year and I know they were just as excited as we were to be out there racing. It must have been a weird feeling for Joe Hartley to be buckling me in the cockpit instead of driving it himself. They were just a pleasure to work with and I appreciate all of the hard work they put in to make this all happen for us. 
Sunday came quickly and we were set to go for the first round. I was up against Cory Mac, Brandon Bernstein, and Morgan Lucas. Mike Dunn had picked our team has the E3 upset of round one, and I guess he knew what he was talking about. The car shook hard about 80 feet out, I let it settle and pedalled it to get down to the other end. We finished second to Cory and defeated Bernstein and Lucas. Cory experienced a rear tire failure and I hit some of the debris at the finish line and it punctured a hole in our front wing. Brandon was gracious enough to offer one of theirs at the end of the track. Although his wing wouldn't fit our car, we were able to patch ours with the help of McMillen's team.
In round two, we were up against Cory Mac, Schumacher, and Kalitta. I had a great reaction time, but the car slowed and the others were pulling away. We found out that a cable broke to the fuel shut-offs and that probably created loss of fuel pressure so the motor got lean and torched the heads. Kalitta and Cory Mac ended up taking the
win lights and going into the final with Herbert and Antron Brown. It really turned out to be a great weekend and we are very pleased with our performance. It was great seeing all of the fans again and I appreciate everyone's support. Hopefully, with all of the great exposure and television coverage we received, we can secure enough funding to be out there full-time again. I have the nitro bug now ~ It was like being back home where I belong!
The Gators!
We were all looking forward to making the trip down to the Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL. I don't even know how long it has been since I have missed an event there. We left early in the morning Thursday and drove down with the kids in the Suburban, I just can't live without that car. The kids each had their DVD players going and it made for a nice,peaceful trip. I learned a long time ago to have separate DVD players for them since they always fought over who would get to watch their movie. When I purchased this car, I had DVD players installed in the headrests for them and that solved the problem fast!
We experienced rain the whole trip down so the trip took us a little longer than normal which was fine, we made it in time to check into the hotel and get some rest, which we needed since John made us get up earlier than everyone else so that we could make our annual trip to Krispy Kreme to get donuts and coffee, then get out to the track so we could get all muddy and sign off on our credentials. The mud from all of the rain they had wasn't pleasant to walk around in and the weather was a bit chilly for being Florida, but we made the best of it. I have to admit, I really missed our motor home out there!
The guys serviced the car most of Friday since this was the first race out for the season. Since it rained all day, there wasn't much to do and I honestly didn't think the teams were going to get a run in, but to my surprise they made one qualifying run, we opted not to and save it for Saturday. By the time we got out of the racetrack Friday night, we all had some frizzy, wet hair along with wet and muddy clothes. After freshening up at the hotel room, we went out to the famous Ale House in Gainesville and had a nice dinner with Stig Neergaard, John's team owner from Denmark. John and Stig spent the weekend going over tune-ups and gathering parts up for Stig to ship back to Denmark.
Saturday was a packed house at the track and the weather was beautiful, but still a bit chilly. John and the team got the car out and it went right down the race track running a 4.23 e.t. @ 299 mph. John was a little bummed out that he didn't run his first 300 mph in a Funny Car, but it was in the field in the 12th spot.
They tuned the car up the second run and it unfortunately smoked the tires so we didn't improve. We were lucky that it stayed in the show and John ended up 16th over all. 
We had to face up against Matt Hagan in the first round. Most of you know that John tuned for Matt Hagan in the 2008 season when Matt owned his own team, so it was strange for the two to compete against one another as drivers. They joked about it and John knew he had a tough order to try to beat Matt, since he was running so well most of the weekend. John saw Matt pull away from him down track as Matt ran a 4.06 e.t. @ 316 mph, the quickest and fastest run by a Funny Car that weekend. John ran a 4.22 e.t. and overall the weekend went well and the team did a great job. They accomplished what they went there to do and that was get a baseline tune up and test some parts.
Sunday afternoon before the final round, we all piled back into the car and headed home and made pretty good time (7 hours). I had never been so happy to be in my own bed! After a good night's rest, we have had a busy week this week at work, working on racing programs to get us both back out on the track, and the kids just started softball and tee ball, so between the two of them, we have been at practice every day....I think I get more relaxation at the track!
