Paulie's Blog: Hectic week has good news all around

This week has probably been the busiest academic week I've ever had. I've had to write four papers, with topics including The Army's Leadership Model to World Hunger, as well as take a statistics exam. To be honest, I'm pretty worn out of talking about schoolwork, and I doubt you'd like to hear about probability or statistical inference. So we move to some other things ...

Duke University has some rules concerning dorm rooms that are quite different than many schools. Duke is one large piece of property with three separate campuses: East, Central and West. East Campus is home to a mix of classrooms and dorms, Central is home to apartments, and West is home to classrooms, dorms, Cameron Indoor Stadium (yes, basketball fans, I know we lost to Villanova), the Duke Chapel and much more. West Campus is what you have probably seen pictures of, and it's adjacent to Duke Hospital.

Harraka

All freshman -- and only freshman -- live in the dorms on East. It's a Duke policy that's meant to bring the freshman class together and make the transition into college easier. I love it, as do most of my peers. All sophomores live on West, juniors live on West or Central, and seniors live on Central or off campus.

As a rising sophomore, my roommate, Mark, and I were given a lottery number for when we would pick our room. We, as well as eight other guys, formed a group and requested to have the same lottery number, allowing us to all pick our rooms at the same time and live in a cluster (called "blocking"). We picked our rooms this past week, which worked out extremely well. At Duke, buildings (both housing and academic) are split up into "quads" of four buildings. The room we picked (which we were happy was available, since our lottery number was pretty poor) is right on the main quad and overlooks the center of West. Living in a group with 10 of my closest friends will be a lot of fun!

As I mentioned in my first blog, the winter was extremely busy for many reasons. In addition to my studies at Duke, I worked to lay a lot of groundwork to make 2009 a successful season. Many of those things came to fruition over the winter. However, some of those things are just now beginning to show returns.

The first of those things is the announcement that Mike Curb and Curb Records have become a part of our 2009 NASCAR Camping World West program. Mr. Curb has partnered with Bill McAnally and will be the owner of the car, with Curb Records logos displayed on the sides. As a driver, driving for Mike Curb is extremely exciting, as I'm now in a group with some of the best. Dale Earnhardt won his first Cup Series championship in 1980 in the Mike Curb Productions car. Richard Petty got his 200th win at Daytona in a car that Mike Curb owned in 1984. And Mr. Curb is the first car owner to finish in the top 10 in point standings in 14 major auto racing series. I'm fortunate to be a part of that group and look forward to the opportunity to add to Mr. Curb's legacy.

Briggs and Stratton has been a huge part of my career since I started karting in 1997. I learned a ton racing Briggs and am fortunate in that the company has remained a part of my career after I moved out of karting. Last week, we finalized plans for Briggs and Stratton Motorsports to be on my 2009 NASCAR Camping World West Series Toyota, as well as for Briggs to be on my helmet. I'm really excited to have Briggs on board, as it's a great opportunity for me to connect with up-and-coming karters who are looking to make their NASCAR dreams come true. When you look at the record books, it's amazing to see how many of today's heroes started out racing the same way I did: Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards and the list goes on.

The third announcement is the complete overhaul of PaulieHarraka.com. While at the PRI show last December, I spoke with a gentleman named Brian Faircloth. Brian was introducing a new company he had founded -- Victory Marketing Team, or VMT. VMT's goal is to help young drivers get into one of NASCAR's touring series, and Brian wanted to know if I would be willing to speak at a seminar that he is organizing. As Brian and I spoke more and more about it, it became very apparent that he really wanted to help young drivers. Coming from Briggs and Stratton karting myself, I really appreciated what Brian sought to do and a friendship was formed. I agreed to speak at the seminar and Brian, as well as his partners at Discovertec, began to overhaul my Web site. After spending the last few weeks working with an impressive group at Discovertec, we've finally unveiled the site.

As you can see, there is always plenty going on. Still, I live for race weekends and can't wait to run at All-American Speedway in Roseville, Calif., this weekend. AAS is where I won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship last year, as well as where I qualified on the pole in the NASCAR Camping World West Series, so I'm really looking forward to this race.

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.