This week was filled with some time at the Bill McAnally Racing shop, two days on the race track, some family time, and more traveling and frequent flier miles!

It all started Monday morning, as I spent the morning with Tony Oddo, who built our championship-winning late model engine last season, at his shop in Suisun City, Calif., which is about an hour from the BMR shop. I feel as though I've got a fair amount of understanding of shocks, springs, roll centers, and the like, but I lack any real understanding of carburetion. Since, as the driver, I do have some input back to Tony when discussing whether or not the carburetor is performing at its best on race day, I feel the need to learn more about it. Although the Holley carburetor may seem somewhat simple initially, there are actually a number of different ways that fuel is delivered into the engine. Just as I'm not seeking to become a crew chief with my limited chassis knowledge, I'm not seeking to learn enough to become an engine builder with my carburetor knowledge. Rather, I'm looking to be able to give him accurate feedback so that he can make the most informed decision.

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After that, I headed back to the BMR shop to work on some shocks for the Infineon race. I am able to use some of the same shocks that I've been using all season (at ovals) at Infineon, but there are a few others that I needed to build. That continued into Tuesday, where I had a short break to deal with a minor issue with the Shock Dyno in our trailer. I've been working with the guys at Roehrig Engineering, who have been extremely helpful, to get all of that sorted out.

On Wednesday, all three BMR cars headed to Thunder Hill Raceway in Willows, Calif., (about an hour north of the BMR shop) to shake down our road course cars. Thunder Hill is nothing like Infineon, so we knew that this test would only serve to make sure that everything was in working order and that Eric, Moses, and I were all comfortable in our race cars. We were able to try a few changes so that I could feel the difference between some radically different setups. Each of these changes, however, was just so I would know what they "felt like" before we got to Infineon, hoping to maximize our practice once we got there. The day was a success, as we left the track feeling comfortable with what we were heading to Infineon with.

I flew south out of Sacramento airport immediately after the test, as I was going to drive a Late Model at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif., on Friday. I flew down on Wednesday so that I would be able to spend a day relaxing with my girlfriend, who only lives an hour away from Irwindale. Thursday was a lot of fun, as she and I spent the day cell phone and e-mail free, relaxing near the beach and walking on rock walls. I'm extremely blessed that Ashton understands how much time racing consumes and is completely supportive of my goals and aspirations. Spending the day just hanging out was awesome.

On Friday, Ashton and I drove up to Toyota Speedway, where I drove a Racecar Factory Late Model that was very similar to the car I won the championship in last season. I was able to get about 30 laps on the track, which was just enough for me to get a feel of what the track was like before we get there for our Camping World West race on July 4. The track was a lot of fun, but much different from any other short track I'd been to. The preferred line is basically at the top of the track, as the banking is progressive. Even though it's still considered a short track, I would say that, of the tracks we race on, it's most similar to Iowa.

After the test, I flew back to New Jersey for some time at home. Flying back on the red eye worsened my already-screwed-up sleep schedule. I think my body clock has just surrendered, as I haven't had a regular sleep schedule since about 2006.

Even though it's still before the halfway mark of summer, I ordered most of my textbooks for my fall classes on Saturday. For the coming fall semester, I only have two races that happen during the semester (Iowa and Roseville). By comparison, if I were running in the Camping World Truck Series, I would have 10 races during the fall semester. So, assuming that I am able to move up the racing ladder, my racing schedule will only get more and more hectic each year. As such, I'm trying to get most of the big workload classes done early. This means that I'm doing what Duke calls "overloading" next semester, meaning I am taking one full class more than the standard load. In order to do this and manage good grades, I am going to try and get as much of a "head start" as I can. For example, I am starting to fulfill my foreign language requirement in the fall by taking my first course in Arabic, so I am going to learn the alphabet, including how to read, write, and speak each of the basic letters, before the semester starts. I'm fortunate in that, even though I am overloading, I still was able to create a schedule where I have Fridays off!

The week ended with a relaxing Sunday with my family. My sisters and I had some friendly competition in the pool and my grandparents came over for dinner.

I hope everyone has a great week. If you're at the race at Infineon, make sure to introduce yourself.

Paulie Harraka, a native of Fairlawn, N.J., is a student at Duke University. He is a member of the Drive for Diversity program and races in the Camping World West Series for Bill McAnally Racing. Harraka won the 2008 track championship at All American Speedway.