Daily Archives: November 9, 2011

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Thoughts from the President for November!

Well, what can I say? Fall is nearly done and we are staring down the face of winter. Now comes the string beans and mashed potato circuit of awards banquets. Enjoy everyone that you go to as Champions and individuals are recognized for their accomplishments of the past season. Our MARFC Banquet will be here in January and at this point I can share with you that the recipient of our President’s Award this year will be Dr. Robert Hubbard, creator of the HANS Device which has done so much to help save lives in racing.
   

The recipient of our Eddie Sachs Jr. Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award is the “Varney” Family. Family patriarch Bob Varney got involved in racing many years ago and brought along his entire family for the ride which is still taking place three generations later. Just as in the old days there seems to be someone from the Varney family racing something at some race track or is involved in supporting racing in some way, shape, or fashion every weekend.
      

Our Media Award winner for 2011 is the SPEED Program “NASCAR Raceday Built by the Home Depot”.  I don’t know at this point who will be at the banquet to accept the award but I have been assured that they are very honored to be selected for this award and that someone from the show will be there. A few of our other secret awards have been decided but you’ll either have to wait until the February updates to find out or get a ticket to the banquet.
   

It has been a tough month in professional sports as within a week, Dan Wheldon lost his life in an accident at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway while driving an Indy Car and Motorcycle Racer Marco Simoncelli lost his life in an accident at the Malaysian GP Moto-GT Race. I have also been informed that one of our club founders Marion Flokstra is in a rest home in Zeeland and it is not certain when she will return home. Marion along with her husband Willis, Bob and Norma Lewis, and Vito and Barbara Lopiccolo founded our club way back in 1965. I attended the induction ceremony for the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame and it was a very nice affair and it was a thrill to see so many of my past heroes and others who have formed the history of racing here in Michigan. Congratulations to the 2011 inductees: Jerry “The Bear” Makara, Doug Finley, John Doering Jr., Doug Kalitta, the late Scott Kalitta, Alan Brown, Ernie Beckman, Marv Carman, Joan Simmons, and Doug Flannery.

Yours in Racing,

Dave DeHem MARFC President