I’ve seen races on TV and the Internet from the ‘Big E’, and I’ve raced countless times on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series games. However, I’ve never been lucky enough to go to the facility. When I was in Ohio for the All Star Circuit of Champions Speedweek last summer I was within a half hour of the track, but didn’t have time to at least drive over to the place.

Eldora is the start of a ton of great tracks coming up. The following week we return to Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa., for the first time in 14 years before a doubleheader at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Then it’s off to New York.

I’m just praying that the weather decides to turn for the better and we’re not faced with nasty conditions, which has been hounding us all season. Somehow we lucked into getting four of the five races in during the last trip. I can’t wait until I’m complaining about heat.

Also, I want to thank my buddy, Jimmy Jones of Jones Sports Media, for the picture of me interviewing Sammy Swindell after he won at Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Mo., on April 20.

Let’s get caught up …

I had Easter weekend off and I did absolutely nothing. I ate a bunch of food and watched a ton of movies. It was the last weekend I have off until the third weekend in October, so I definitely soaked up the free time.

Since then I headed to Paducah, Ky., for my first visit to Paducah International Raceway. It was a cool track and is co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who happens to be my favorite NASCAR driver. The racing was intense and we avoided wet weather, which has plagued us this season. In fact, it rained out our event at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Mo., the following night.

I had to fly out of St. Louis on that Sunday morning and the track in Farmington, Mo., was racing, so I thought I’d check out a new venue. It was my first time sitting in the grandstands at a race for as long as I can remember. It was a neat track and the sprint races were hard fought. I felt a little weird being at a race and not having anything to do.

Unfortunately, that night I got a nasty spider bite on my right hand. It started to swell up once I got back to North Carolina on Sunday afternoon. By Monday I had to see the doctor because my entire hand ballooned. I never realized how everything in my life would be affected when I couldn’t use a hand, but I learned that on Monday. From getting dressed to driving my car, it was challenging to adapt to only using my left hand. I was put on antibiotics and the hand felt a ton better by the time I had to fly to Kansas City on Thursday for a five-race swing throughout the Midwest.

I got in to Sedalia on Thursday night as Lucas Wolfe and I had some radio interviews to do early Friday morning at a local station. We did one live and one taped interview, and when we were leaving I heard a taped interview from earlier in the week playing on the radio. That was a weird feeling to hear myself on the radio as I was driving down the road.

That started an intense 40 hours. I got to the track at 1 p.m. and didn’t finish work until a little after 4 a.m. I was able to catch about two hours of sleep before I had to hit the road for the six-hour drive to Haubstadt, Ind., for Saturday’s event. I got there just in time to check into my hotel before my arrival at the track at 1 p.m. And I worked until about 3:30 a.m. Actually, I was so tired that I literally passed out at some point for a few minutes. When I woke up, I was slumped over my laptop and hadn’t finished my press release. I was able to throw together the rest of it, post it, send it and crash.

I had planned on attending the nonwing race at the Terre Haute Action Track on Sunday, but was so exhausted I crashed in my hotel. I haven’t been to Terre Haute and was really looking forward to checking out that historical facility. However, at that point, my energy level was anything but high.

I’m in Illinois for a few days as we have our first race at Farmer City Raceway in nine years on Wednesday. Then it’s off to Eagle, Neb., for a race on Friday at one of my favorite tracks. We wrap up the weekend on Saturday at the famed Knoxville Raceway. I catch a flight back to North Carolina on Sunday afternoon, then will fly to Ohio on Thursday for my first-ever appearance at Eldora Raceway that weekend.

This is an intense lifestyle, but I love it.

Just like for the drivers, it’s tough for the staff and media to get into a rhythm when Mother Nature plays that game. It’s also pretty boring to sit in a hotel on what’s supposed to be race day. We have this weekend off before four consecutive weeks in the Midwest area through April and the first week of May. Then it’s off to the Northeast for six races in 12 days.

I think I’ll take this weekend off to relax because it’s about to get really busy. I’ve booked most of my travel arrangements for the next month and it’s intense. I think I have three round-trip flights and another week of driving around Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa.

But that’s what I signed up for. I really enjoy the road. So far I’ve been blessed during the weekdays to be around people I know. That was the best thing about the West Coast trip; I was able to see a lot of friends and family I don’t get to visit with often.

On this next trip we’ll race at Paducah International Raceway, which is co-owned by my NASCAR favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr. I doubt he will be at the race, but I’ve heard great things about the track. The following night we’ll be at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, which I am stoked about. I’ve never been to that facility, but I’ve watched a ton of videos from there.

In the meantime, I’m back in the office for the next week and a half. It’s kind of nice having a desk to work on rather than putting my laptop on the bed in front of me. The local indoor go-kart track reconfigured the track so I’m going with a couple of co-workers to check it out tonight. Let’s see if I learned any tricks after racing at the country’s biggest indoor track in California a couple of weeks ago.

Aaron and I have some awesome stories about causing trouble in high school. It’s always fun to relive those episodes. And no, not one of those stories will be found on here. Let’s just say we both had smart mouths and were quick to instigate people.

His children are 3 and about 18 months, which made them the perfect age to wrestle around and play games. It’s always a blast to act like a goofball and have people enjoy it. I guess that’s what little kids are best for.

I then headed up to Chico, Calif., for the Mini Gold Cup last weekend. And like the previous weekend, rain won the Saturday event. It’s so frustrating to deal with this weather. I was talking to someone earlier today about it and said, “The guys race for a living so we have to schedule as many events as possible. And we go where the weather is the best, but at this point in the season sometimes the best weather isn’t good enough.”

We’ve got a race at Merced Speedway and one at Calistoga Speedway this weekend, so I’m hoping and praying that we can get those two events in without weather issues. I then fly back to North Carolina on Sunday for a week and a half before heading to the Midwest for a couple of weeks. I’ve only lived in North Carolina for two months and have actually been there for a combined four and a half weeks, but I do miss it. People appreciate and accept racing in that area and it’s so refreshing to not have to explain yourself there.

Tuesday morning I woke up to rain and it hasn’t let up. We were able to squeeze in the first race of a weekend doubleheader at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., last night, but a nasty storm overnight has rained out tonight’s event. Actually, I saw a picture of the track and it’s more like flooded out.

While officials are working to find a makeup date, it’s a bummer that the wet weather postponed tonight’s race. Thunderbowl Raceway is one of my favorite race tracks and Tim Kaeding put on a thrilling show last night to become the first repeat winner this season in World of Outlaws action.

Instead of being at the track tonight, I’m in my hotel watching Supercross. It amazes me how popular this sport has gotten in the last two years. I think sprint car racing is right there in terms of excitement. It’d be really neat to see sprint cars take off the way Supercross has. I think it would take a big gamble — mostly financial — in order to accomplish that goal, but I believe the sport would pick up a ton of new fans given the opportunity.

Our next event is Friday and Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., for the Mini Gold Cup, and we’ve got a media luncheon for some of the drivers on Thursday afternoon. I’m excited to get back to that track. I’ve heard track officials made a couple of changes, but the quarter-mile track has always been one of my favorites.

Also, I have to admit that my NCAA Tournament bracket is toast. I picked two No. 12 seeds, all four No. 13 seeds and a No. 14 seed to advance beyond the second round, and a couple of those schools to make it to the Sweet 16. Unfortunately, those schools weren’t good to me and I didn’t pick Norfolk State or Lehigh. My final four picks — Michigan State, North Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio State — are still alive at this point, but that’s about as good as it gets for me.

Our trip to Vegas was long last Wednesday. I stayed up the night before so I could sleep most of the flight, but that didn’t work out as planned. We had a flight that lasted an hour and 15 minutes from Charlotte to Atlanta, then a five-hour flight to San Diego. I was able to crash for about the first two hours before my legs started cramping. Those last three hours on that tight plane was anything but fun. Once we landed and picked up the rental car, we drove about five hours to Las Vegas.

I then became an old man and fell asleep by 10:30 that night. Ahhh, the exciting life on the road, right? I learned a couple of years ago that you have to sleep when you can because you never know when that opportunity will present itself again.

Somewhat well rested, we headed over to the track the next morning and put on a solid show. It lasted longer than anyone wanted — the feature took about an hour — but three red flags and nine total cautions will do that to any race. Tim Kaeding pulled off his first World of Outlaws victory since 2009 and it was neat to interview him after his celebration.

We then drove four hours to Perris, Calif., on Friday and had a staff meeting for a little longer than two hours. The positive on that day was the dinner that we all went to that evening. It was great to mingle with coworkers in a casual environment.

The following day we put on the first World of Outlaws race at Perris Auto Speedway since 2007 and I think it was pretty successful. It was cool to have a winged sprint car race in the Los Angeles market and I got the feeling that the spectators felt the same. Joey Saldana led all 30 laps to pick up his first victory of the season.

That brings us to yesterday, when we drove to San Diego, ate lunch on the bay and did a light site seeing. I also met up with a friend I hadn’t seen since college. It was a relaxing day in a gorgeous setting. Despite being a little windy, it was 75 degrees and sunny all day to create a nearly perfect atmosphere.

Now most everyone else is back in North Carolina or will be in the next couple of hours. I’m staying in California for the remainder of this swing and I get to stay with some close friends during the weekdays. Therefore, I am now waiting in the San Diego airport people watching and trying not to overhear this annoying conversation from two people next to me. I’ve seen some interesting characters walking around in here, including two ladies who were walking small dogs.

I’ve got a 6 a.m. flight from Charlotte to San Diego (by way of Atlanta) tomorrow morning. Then, we’ll drive from San Diego to Las Vegas prior to Thursday’s World of Outlaws event on the half-mile oval. We’ll head back toward Southern California on Friday to prepare for Saturday’s event at Perris Auto Speedway, where the WoO hasn’t raced since 2007.

From that point I’ll fly to San Francisco and hang out in NorCal for a couple of weeks as we finish out the West Coast swing in Tulare (March 16-17), Chico (March 23-24), Merced (March 30) and Calistoga (March 31).

During those weekdays I’ll get to stay with a couple of my best friends from when we were children. I’m looking forward to that as much as the races. I’ve also heard the weather has been solid out there and I hope the sun remains for the next few weeks so we can get all of the races in.

Additionally, a couple of my former clients are scheduled to run most of that West Coast swing, so it’ll be great to catch up with them.

Lastly, I’m excited to try out a couple of new ideas within the series. Our introduction to live updates on the website — www.woosprint.com — at the season-opening event in Florida two weeks ago was fairly successful. We’ll continue to provide live updates each race day there and I’m going to put together a couple of other segments to hopefully debut in the next couple of weeks as well.

It’s an exciting time to be an Outlaw!

I’m excited to get back out on the road and into the swing of things. Also, I get to stay with a couple of friends between the weekend races in Perris, Tulare, Chico, Merced and Calistoga. It’ll be nice to see them and their families.

Hopefully the weather stays dry and we can get all eight of the races in out there. I did get my weekly fix of racing in a couple of nights ago when a few co-workers and I raced at Victory Lane Karting in Charlotte. It’s an indoor go-kart road course. The video is some on-board stuff from my boss and I’m the one in the white suit at the end.

I did get spun around by a co-worker trying to make it three-wide, but I flipped him off so we’re all good. I’ve found a couple of go-kart tracks in California that I haven’t been to, so hopefully I can check those out as well.

I’ve been on big-block modifieds duty all week since the sprint cars were last week. There are a lot of people who don’t care what kind of racing they see as long as they are at a track. While I won’t complain about being at the track, I’m a diehard about sprint car racing. That is what fills my passion and makes the nights with only four hours of sleep worth it.

With that said, it’s been neat getting to see a different crowd than I’m used to. The late model fans are a different breed than sprint cars. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it is evident as you walk through the pits and stands. However, both weeks have produced great crowds and really good racing. I have to give a shoutout to the track crew, who have done an amazing job of keeping a pretty consistent track for two weeks of racing each day. There is no other dirt event or track that puts on 12 straight days of racing and track prep is the one variable that could affect the outcome more quickly than anything. Well, other than weather.

It’s been a great experience down here. I’m lucky to work with such a great organization and live such a fun life. It really is a blessing to travel the country going to races for a living. And the past two weeks have also given me a couple of new perks. One is that a ton of NASCAR drivers and team members have made appearances here, including five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. I had the honor of interviewing him last week, which is posted on the video above.

I also got to talk with Richard Childress, Austin and Ty Dillon, Kenny Wallace and Kenny Schrader among others. This event is growing each year and I’m glad to be a part of it.

Also, in our final prerace meeting of the event, we each drew two names of NASCAR drivers for tomorrow’s Daytona 500. The person with the winner gets some prize and I love getting prizes. So everyone root for either Tony Stewart or Brad Keselowski, who are my random picks. I’d be happy if my boy Dale Jr. picks up the win, too.