AJ Powell: NMRA Awards and PRI

So I wll begin with I wish I was still there!! I came home to COLD WEATHER as I am writing this it is 10degree’s outside and we are expecting snow. So anyway on with the details of the trip. Both my Dad and I went, it was kind of a last minute decision but I am sure glad we went! We left very early Thursday morning and arrived in Florida about noon, the first thing we did was peel out of our sweatshirts and headed for Hooters for a bite to eat. After we got done eating we went to the show and for people that have not been there it is a huge deal from the entrance and the way it is all decorated to the layout and floorplan. Anything and everything that has to do with racing is there. The first thing we did was walk the layout and figure out what was there. Then I had to meet some new potential sponsors and follow up with exsisting ones.

By the time I had talked with a few people it was time for the show to close for the day, but I had figured out how we wanted to deal with it on Friday (didn’t I tell you it was a bit overwhelming!) Now that we were done with the show the night life in Orlando is awesome! We didn’t get to wild on Thursday night but I took some of my sponsors out for dinner and made it a fairly early night. I was back up early on Friday and ready to attack the show, we got to see some old friends of Dad’s Tommy Johnson, Tim Wilkerson, Frank Manzo, Bill Reichert and many more it is funny standing there and listening to all of those guys reminising about how racing use to be but it is cool none the less.

I got to see some of the new things out there also Mickey Thompson’s new beadlock wheel, The twin gear drive, Mark Micke’s new combo and new injector’s and many more things! We left at about 4:30 to go to dinner and Dad took me out for my B-Day and went to a nice restraunt and started our night. Of course we had a couple cocktails there and then went back to the motel and got ready for the awards banquet, I even put a tie on. We made it there for happy hour and had some more drinks and then went in to the hall for the banquet.

The NMRA did a very nice job on everything from start to finish and I am proud to say that I am a racer with there orginazation! I also want to congratulate all of the award winners and the champions of 2008 You all deserved what you got!!! After that we went out and there was a bunch of us! We ended up at an open air bar called Adobe Gila’s they had a band and cold drinks and we had alot of fun! We closed it down and there was about 20 of us and we ended up at Denny’s after close and proceedeed to stay out until 4:30 in the morning! But damn we had fun! Needless to say we were not moving none to well on Saturday morning but I got up and at em and after a couple of Advil’s and a bottle of water I was back at the convention center to walk off my pain from the night before.

I cruised through and saw a couple people I had missed the day before and spent some time at the Pro Media booth. After the show was over I went out to dinner and hooked up with most of the people from the night before all of the Hellion gang The Scarry Crew, John Leslie, Rage Wraps, PTP Performance and My boys from Procharger. And yes we tied another one on but we are on vacation right! We closed Adobe’s down again and after that I called it a night I had to be up at 5:30 a.m. for my flight (short night) We made it to the airport in time for our flight and made it back to the Windy City. Just in time for the rain and the change in temperature change (Boy I wish I was back in Florida!) For anyone that has not been to The PRI convention it is worh going and seeing all of the manufacturer’s and people and the parties after the show are not bad either! Hope to talk to everyone soon! In the meantime get to work on all of your hotrods March will be here before we know it!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
AJ Powell and Powell Racing!

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