As you all know, it’s been an eventful couple of weeks and not in a good way. I have to say though that I am actually doing OK. At least we’ve been running well. Obviously Red Bull Racing has three drivers and two teams for 2011, so something had to give. As of now, I have no other plans for next year so we’ll see what happens. It is what it is; this is life in motorsports sometimes. Things have been going well with Kasey Kahne, we both get along. It’s been a smooth transition, so I believe we can do some good things in the final two races.
While in Texas for the race, Amanda and I got to spend some time in Dallas, which is one of our favorite places to go to. We went to dinner with the Allmendingers, saw a movie and then went to the mall, so there was a lot going on. A funny thing actually happened at the mall. Amanda doesn’t answer her phone very often and it really ticks all of us off.
So, I went into the Apple Store while she went into some other store, I wasn’t sure which one at the time. When I came out, I called her to find out where she was at and she didn’t answer. I called again and she didn’t answer. So I came up with a plan where I would wait until she calls me and however long it took for her to call me back after two tries, that’s how long I would wait to call her back.
She eventually called me and I didn’t pick up. Instead, I waited 20 minutes until getting back to her and she was all panicked, and wasn’t too happy. She claimed that she didn’t have any missed calls. I went to find her, checked her phone and it actually didn’t show any missed calls! So I was the big jerk and had to be really nice to her for the rest of the weekend!
A few weeks ago, AJ and I went golfing, which we do pretty often. He actually managed to beat me once. I usually take the rest. Sometimes though, it is when I play by myself that I have some of my worst performances. Last week, I just went out to practice and was something like three over par through eight holes. Then on the ninth, I went to the four wood, my go-to club, and shanked it off into the woods. I threw the club in my anger, which definitely wasn’t one of my finer moments.
It’s never a good day when your best club doesn’t work out for you. Golf could actually be a relaxing game, depending on who you are. In Texas we also played with a buddy of mine from Sprint who really seemed to enjoy himself throughout the round. If you’re a competitive racecar driver like me though, it is never relaxing.
I have another great Amanda story to share with you as well (there can never be too many!). One of my good buddies and his wife came over and the three of us convinced Amanda that she had to put her fears aside and watch Paranormal Activity with us. We finally did convince her, but turned out that it was still pretty bad for her as she just does not like scary movies. She got me back though as not too long after I was walking around a corner and she jumped out and scared the crap out of me. I screamed like a little girl.
I think it’s funny when that stuff happens though. When she gets scared, she gets mad. Down here one of the amusement parks converts into a Halloween theme and one year we decided to check it out. A guy jumped out at her and she literally punched him in the face. Some people scream when they are scared, but Amanda’s reaction is to punch you. Keep that in mind if you are ever around her!
Once again, I have a lot of big plans for the offseason, which is just around the corner. I plan to go snowboarding, hunting, play some flag football and paintball among other things. Not sure if we’ll make it overseas again like last year, but we might make it happen. I never like just sitting around when the season concludes and this year will be no different!
This will be my last entry for the 2010 season and I just want to take this moment to thank all of you for your support of Red Bull Racing and me. It has definitely been a rollercoaster season and you’ve stuck by me through thick and thin! Enjoy the holiday season and before you know it, we’ll be revving back up for Daytona. I can’t wait!
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.