[spruett]

Thanks to all of you who thought of Alex on his birthday and emailed or texted us.

A piece of irony the 56 is a car Alex and Dave Ellis built that Alex wanted to only run every year in the Chili bowl but alas never got to race it. This year it ran on Wed night two hours before Alex's birthday and finished almost identical to Alex's first try at Chili Bowl which also was on a Wednesday night. He fell in love with Chili Bowl and wanted to make sure he ran there if he ran no other race he took his own money and traded parts and pieces to get Dave to build the car, even missing the 07 race in order to afford to get the car done.

After Alex died that car was the only thing of his that no one seemed to want to buy since it was a bit of a one off car but Shane Hmiel was sent to us and as a result of that relationship kept us in racing. I think this was a message to us from Alex to keep it going in racing.

Shane has taken a little help from us and has built his own little team and himself into a real force in USAC and this year we will have a #56 dirt sprintcar.

Alex's TV show Three Wide Life is also at Chili Bowl is taking off in a major way with new sponsorship from Iracing.com and new distribution to be announced soon. This show was so important to him to be able to showcase the grassroots racers he loved and competed with.

It seems that Alex's race parts and pieces have found a home with some of his friends and are still winning races. I know that both of his Esslingers have been feature winners since we sold them.

This year we intend to visit Mt Vernon and spread some of his ashes there as this was a place that he loved and the site of his last win.

This may sound a little crazy and a little wistful but we do miss him and all the goofy antics and fun he brought with him. Thanks again for keeping him in your heart

Steve Paula and Stefan Pruett