Seems like every fall the rest of the team and I end up heading out east for a couple weeks for some Halloween season gigs at Dodge dealers. By the time October rolls around, the racing season is essentially over, and the big wave of
intensity that surrounds the Indy Jamboree has worn off. Our schedule, however, remains as intense as ever.

Travis Howard started working for Hall Bros. Racing after I had been with them for about a year and a half, and since then we've became pretty good buddies. Travis volunteered for any MT team he could for a long time, as far back as the 1980's when he hung out with the Spikers (All-American, Eagle, Lil’ All American).  After helping Paul Shafer off and on for awhile, Travis landed a gig crewing for Steve Hearly and his Godzilla truck.  Travis wound up driving Steve's leaf-sprung Jeep "Frightmare" for a short time, before moving on.  Not long after that he joined with up with us at HBR, and the rest is history.

Mark's Washington car crush.  The dealership owner's house is in the background.

Mark Hall Excavation, INC. visits NJ.

Who wouldn't want one of these in their back yard?

Anyways, Travis goes to many of the gigs that I take the Raminator R/T to, and we always have a blast.  Most recently, we headed out for Washington, NJ with Mark Hall and his Raminator race truck.  Smith Dodge in Washington had booked us for a two day display with a car crush and a day of rides to help promote the dealership.  Rain would plague us Friday and Saturday, and both the ride truck and the race truck found themselves looking like they had driven through a swamp...a really nasty, gooey swamp.  Truth be told though, driving in the mud in the ride truck is way more fun than on dry ground; cleaning up after mud, well, that's a totally different story.  Travis, Mark, and I found ourselves cleaning the mud off of our rigs well into the evening, until about 8pm EST Saturday night.

Sussex, NJ and the Franklin Sussex AutoMall would be our next stop, but that gig didn't officially start until the coming Thursday, so Sunday would offer a rare chance to kick back and veg out while on the road.  Mark and his wife headed off
to the big city to check out a Giants football game with some dealership people, so Travis and I hit up the local sports bar/grill to take on some hot wings and catch the NASCAR race.  Well, the wings were OK but we got smoked out of the joint, and the cup race was pretty much drowned out by the 93 other TV's that were playing football games.  Back to the lounge in the hauler it would be.

See, I figure, why watch racing when you race yourself?  So out came the PS2 and Gran Turismo 4!  Mixed with some snacks and cold refreshments, and I was hooked for the day.

Gettin' cleaned up in Sussex.

Goin' up.

Monday we split like peas for Sussex, and while Mark took a deserved trip down to Atlantic City for a couple days, Travis and I got to work sorting out the mess that our two Raminators had created.  The guys in the service, parts, and detail departments at Franklin-Sussex are really great to us, and we've gotten to be good friends with quite a few of them, so naturally, the trucks are always welcome there.  Thankfully, they were both in pretty good shape mechanically so aside from some small preventative items, we spent most of our time cleaning and detailing them for Thursday and Friday's displays.

Don't think we are all work and no play, however.  We did manage to hit up our favorite local hangout, Fireman Dan's, for some excellent (read: really good) hot wings on Tuesday night.  See, Tuesday night is 15-cent wing night, so you really can't go wrong.

The Raminator rides went off without a hitch both nights, as did the car crush.

Ridin' around in Sussex.

The Grim Reaper was among the dignitaries that attended the Sussex event.

Dale Benear and Rammunition arrived Thursday and put on a hell of a show alongside Mark and Raminator for the 5,000+ fans that came out for the event.

Yes, I said 5,000+ fans, no joke.  Friday would prove to be a late night for most of the team, as Tim, Mark, and Dale had to haul overnight to Cicero, NY.

Travis and I left Sussex at about 10:15pm for Hanover, MA.  We arrived around 4am, and managed to grab a bit of sleep until 7am or so, when our day officially started.

The snow flies in Havover, as the R/T catches its breath between rides.

I can honestly say I've never given rides in a snow storm, at least until our Hanover gig at Hanover Dodge.  At one point I had to hang my head all the way out the window as the windshield was getting covered with snowflakes so fast.

It was cold and damp, but we stayed pretty busy all day shooting the
breeze with fans and giving rides.  The guys at the dealership were really cool all
the way around, and my only regret is not getting to try any of the local clam
chowder.  Damn.

Heading home, as we pass through Hartford, CT early Sunday morning.

After getting loaded up in the dark and snow, we made a short ways into Connecticut before calling it a night and getting some well-deserved shut eye.  Sunday and part of Monday were spent getting back to the shop, and getting things ready to leave for Texas on Wednesday.  Check out the Blog next
week for another update.  Also be sure to check out the "All Over the Place 2005" music video posted here in the Features section!!  Happy Halloween!!

- KD