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11-04-06 The last time I turned a lap at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway was the Snowball Derby in 2005. With all that has happened since, last year’s Derby seems like it was a lifetime ago. Our guys spent the last few weeks prepping our Alltel machine for our first test session at Pensacola. A new car at a track for the first time is always cause for an anxiety attack, add the last few months of inactivity and it will keep you up at night. After a few laps of knocking the rust off, OK maybe more than a few, we started to make head way on making our car faster. Our test gave us a list of changes a legal pad long to accomplish before we go back again. In previous Derby’s we were one of the cars to watch, this time we’ll be one of the cars to watch out for.
NEW
SEAT-READY TO ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY
To say that this deal has gone better than I deserve would be an understatement. The surgery itself went off without a hitch and a day later the doctors would deliver the big verdict. The tumor was cancer, which was expected, and then it was all good news. All of the pathology reports and the visual inspection of the all the adjoining organs, tissues etc say that the cancer was contained to the tumor that was removed. As Dr. Sanderson told me, “I can’t give you a better report than what I’m giving you now.” It was like hearing my favorite words in the racecar, “Your clear.” The plan over the ensuing months and years is for me to be continually checked and tested to make sure the cancer doesn’t come back and if it does we catch it soon enough to treat it. I can’t thank everyone enough for their support over these past few weeks. Cards, calls, emails, flowers, plants it has all been overwhelming and I really appreciate it. Over the next few weeks I’ll be rehabbing to get back up to full strength. I made an appearance at the race shop on Wednesday and I plan on being on hand this weekend at Mobile International Speedway for the O’Reilly Super Truck Series on Saturday night. TOMMY
PRAYTOR OUT FOR REST OF 2006 REGULAR SEASON Three weeks ago I was diagnosed
with a tumor about the size of a 4" potato on my left kidney that the doctors believe
is kidney cancer. Because more than 90% of kidney tumors are cancer, we are undertaking an
aggressive treatment program. Later this week I will undergo surgery to remove my left
kidney. That’s the bad news. The good
news is that I have completed a battery of other test and it appears that the cancer is
limited to the left kidney only. I'll be laid up a few days in the hospital and then
several weeks for a complete recovery. Because of the type of surgery, I have been told by
the doctors that driving a racecar over the next couple of months is not a very good idea.
Therefore I’ll miss the balance of the 2006 regular season at Mobile and Pensacola. I’m grateful to our long time sponsor, Alltel
for their continued support and standing behind me over the next couple of months as I
heal up. Our Max Force Racing team will continue to send Thomas to Mobile International
Speedway on race night as he closes in on capturing the Rookie of the Year title and a top
5 in the Championship standings. For me, my
goal is to be back in the Alltel Late Model for the 39th Annual Snowball Derby
at Pensacola Five flags Speedway in December. Tommy 
7-8-06- Mobile International speedway
rolled out the red carpet for the Hawaiian themed Ronald McDonald House and the fans loved
it. With it raining everywhere in Mobile except the race track, only the heartiest of fans
made their way to the high banked oval for Ronald McDonald House and as usual their
enthusiasm for RMH and the Speedway showed during intermission. While the fans settled
into the stands for some racing on the track our Alltel Late Model was doing a little bit
of Hawaiian hula dance all by itself. The first night at the track for any racecar is
always an adventure and for our Alltel team Saturday night would be no different. We changed more on our car on Saturday night than
most teams change in a month. We tried 3 different gears 2 springs a spring rubber and a
sway bar adjustment before most of the fans got in their seats. The hard work by the guys
paid off with a solid qualifying effort that put us in the 6th spot and just a
few tenths off the leaders. Along with a new car on Saturday night Thomas was also racing
the Outdoor Channel Pontiac in the Super Stock division. While the team was thrashing on
the Alltel machine the Moose broke a motor during practice and it sent us scrambling
looking for a ride to borrow for the night. Bo Wilkinson saved the day for us with his car
and the Moose stayed in the hunt for the Rookie of the Year title and remained in the top
5 in points. With Thomas racing I was doing double duty from the spotters stand for Thomas
and back to my car to race. For the heat race I was a late getting in line and missed my
spot so I had to take up the tail end. Not where I wanted to be so we ended up using the
heat as a test for the feature, that’s where they pay the money for RMH. During
intermission the RMH folks helped us distribute USA T-shirts and support bands to the
fans. (See Picture above, courtesy of Gerald Hodges)
TEAM ALLTEL BEGINS TESTING Months of hard work came to fruition as Team Alltel tested the latest Max Force Racing machine at Mobile International Speedway this week. As has become tradition with our race team we tested the new Alltel late model with no stickers. Now that the shake down cruise has been completed we’ll add the Alltel logos to our Alltel paint scheme and get ready to get down to business for our annual fund raiser for Ronald McDonald House on July the 8th. We’ll be a little behind the teams that have had an opportunity to fine tune their machines all year but we were very happy with our first test and will test again on July 3rd to get better for RMH. |
