So far in 2004, members of my crew and I have volunteered over 600 hours to repair the car and trailer and an additional 200 hours to attend events on our time without pay or compensation. In addition we have driven over 5,000 miles so far this year to attend the various events. Here is what we have done each month with the program:

January/ February – Unfortunately delays with our engine builder prevented us from making any appearances during these months. The engine finally arrived on the last week of February.

March – After spending several late nights at the shop, the new engine from Bennett Racing was dropped into the racecar and fired up. We then attended the following events this month:

3/6-3/7 FUN FORD WEEKEND Orlando, Florida. This was our first race with the new engine and we did not have an opportunity to test the car prior to attending this event. During qualifying, I ran a personal best of 11.03@126mph and ended up qualifying #5 out of 9 cars on Saturday. During eliminations on Sunday we won the first round and ended up losing to the eventual overall winner in the second round. We still managed to finish #4 out of 9 cars despite lack of testing time, fighting gremlins all weekend and discovering some changes that needed to be made. We discovered that the 4.56 gears in the rear end were not quite enough and that our rear sway bar was hitting the floorboard. We managed to speak to several hundred people about our program over the weekend.

3/17 We attended Test and Tune at Moroso Motorsports Park in W. Palm Beach, Florida. While there we encountered more problems with the car and I was only able to make one pass down the track. While there I spoke to approximately 50 children and young adults about our program.

3/19 I attended the Tower Shoppes Classic Car Show and displayed the car for a few hours. While there I talked with around 200 people about our program. I will be making an attempt to return monthly to this event, as there is always a large group of children and young adults that attend this show.

3/26 We took the car to the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida and made several passes with all of the changes we made since Orlando. I did manage to run a personal best of 10.92@125mph as well as our best 60-foot mark to date of 1.44. We talked to roughly 50 people about our program while there but ran into yet more problems with the car. During startup we heard a problem coming from the engine. While conducting a compression check of the cylinders, we discovered that several of the cylinders were low in pressure. This would explain our slower times to date. We were expecting at least 10.20-10.30 passes with our new engine and transmission setup. I contacted Bennett Racing who agreed to fix the problem.

April/May - We were unable to attend any events again as the engine had to be removed and shipped back to our engine builder.

June – After locating and repairing the engine problem, our engine was shipped back to us and after many long nights the racecar was running. We attended the following events:

6/18 I attended the weekly Tower Shoppes classic car show and displayed the racecar for a few hours. While there I talked with around 200 people about our program.

6/23 I attended Test and Tune session at Moroso Motorsports Park in W. Palm Beach, Florida. While there we made a few passes without any problems. While there I spoke to approximately 50 children and young adults about our program.

6/25-6/27 I attended the Fun Ford Race in Richmond, Virginia. Our year of bad luck continued as we encountered rain all day during test and tune on Friday. Saturday was not much better as I managed to break the rear anti-sway bar and clutch. After repairing the sway bar and clutch on Sunday morning it seemed like the day would be better than the previous two. Unfortunately the transmission broke during the first elimination run, ending our weekend.

July - After our new Performance Automatic C-4 Transmission arrived near the middle of the month, we made the installation and finished installing the crankcase evacuation system as well. Due to the late arrival of the parts, we were unable to attend any events this month.

August – We attended the National Night out display at Davie PD on 8/3 and displayed the racecar for the town residents. This is an annual event in which the Police Department has an open house and promotes community and policing partnerships. The racecar was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. There were several hundred residents on hand for this event.

We also displayed the racecar at the Tower Shoppes car show in Davie on 8/20 and there were several hundred people in attendance.

I decided it was time to hit the track and test out our new transmission after making a few public appearances, so on 8/27, we loaded up the trailer and went to a test and tune session at Moroso Motorsports Park. Again luck would not be on our side as we experienced a minor electrical fire with the main fuse box.

Once we got the car back to the shop we also discovered that one of the front drag struts were leaking.

September – The entire month was spent rewiring the racecar after the minor fire that we had in August. As of today the electrical system had been completely rewired with a much improved Painless Performance harness kit with switch panel. The entire front suspension was also rebuilt with new struts and sent over to Steeda to have the entire suspension realigned. And a faulty rear end gear set was also replaced.

October - On Oct 1, I was released from active duty after 18 months with the Coast Guard and we took the car to Moroso Motorsports Park for a Test and Tune session. We managed to make two passes before rain moved in. The car did manage to run a best 60' time of 1.38 and MPH of 128mph. While there we spoke with approximately 50 kids and young adults about the program.

10/6 We decided to return to Moroso Motorsports park to make a few more passes since I am in need of practice with the new automatic transmission. We managed to make only two passes due to the heavy number of racers in attendance. We ran nearly identical times of 10.90@128mph on both passes. While there we spoke with approximately 50 kids and young adults about the program.

10/8-10/9 The Broward Sheriff's Office and the Davie Police Department beat the heat racing teams hosted the annual Beat The Heat World Finals in south Florida. We kicked off the event by having all 45 teams on display at the weekly Tower Shoppes Classic Car Show in Davie on Friday Oct 8. There was a huge crowd on hand as well as local media to cover the event. Teams from as far away as L.A. County Sheriff's Office were in attendance. There the teams had an opportunity to talk to several hundred kids and young adults about their programs. After the car show, the cars were loaded up in the trailers and we were escorted up the Florida Turnpike to Moroso Motorsports Park. On Saturday Oct 9, the World Final Races were held in between the regular Ford Power Festival races. We ended up going out early but it was an enjoyable race anyway. Once we were out of the race we continued to display the car for the rest of the day, talking to several hundred kids and young adults. On Oct 10 we continued to display the car during the last day of the Ford Power Festival and spoke to several hundred more people.

10/29 I displayed the car at Loxahatchee Groves Elementary School as part of show and tell for my son. We spoke to 200 children and handed out pictures and "Jr" Police Badges. The car was a huge hit with the kids.