Sad new today! Last night at our Fan Club Day event at the Toledo Speedway we learned the long time member and club supporter Neil Perlick passed away just hours before the race night started. Neil owned Action Video Productions and was the video man at both Flat Rock & Toledo Speedways for many years. Our thought and prayers go out to his wife Margret and his family at this time. “God’s Speed our Friend”
Sincerely,
Bill Barnhart
President MARFC
From the President
What a way to get the season started with rain outs all over and cold weather to keep fans away and gas prices still rising. Truly a rough start to the season and now we have heard about Late Model driver Donnie Nelson from the Galesburg Speedway who was very badly injured and will be out of action for a very long time with a severe neck injury. We send out best thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
I would like to thank all of those who helped sponsor our patron name page in the National Conventions 2008 program. Once again you did us proud and beat the other clubs by a very big margin. MARFC was once again well represented at the Convention and we saw both columnist Dave Argabright and Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman inducted into the Hall of Fame. Our own MARFC member Eddie Sachs Jr. was on hand to induct Troy Ruttman into the Hall of Fame and Troy’s daughter was on hand to accept for her late father and thanked all the MARFC members for remembering her Dad and nominated him for this honor.
We can still use more volunteers to help out at our fan club day events.
Please check the schedule and if you can assist at any of them please contact me and let me know as soon as you can.
As Always, Keep Racing!
Bill Barnhart
President MARFC
May Fan Club Days
KALAMAZOO SPEEDWAY: Mother Nature won the first round of fan club day events at Kalamazoo Speedway. We will try to reschedule this event later in the season if at all possible.
SPARTAN SPEEDWAY
Cloudy & cool weather on hand along with a nice field of cars for our annual trip to Spartan Speedway. Modified driver Ron “One R”
Parish the leader of the Parish clan and long time supporter of Spartan Speedway was presented our MARFC/Uniform Helmet Bag. Many thanks to “Poor”
Paul Zimmerman and Jim Leasure and staff for having us.
I-96 SPEEDWAY: Some great dirt track racing was seen by all members who attended our night at the speedway. The MARFC members raffle was won by Debra Blasdell. Thank you to Mike Mouch and his entire staff for a great time.
AUTO CITY SPEEDWAY
One again cool weather in the area but racing went on.
Our MARFC/Uniform Helmet Bag was awarded to Late Model # 71 Terry Bogusz Jr. for his support of the division at the speedway. The MARFC membership prize was won by Randy Kinne. Club members Jay & Sue Woolworth donated part of their 50/50 winnings from the track to the club. Thanks so much Jay & Sue.
To Joe DeWitte and crew we say Thanks for having us.
We here at the Michigan Automobile Racing Fan Club are very saddened to hear of the passing of a true racing legend car owner & builder Stan Yee, Sr. We send our thoughts & prayers to the entire Yee Family at this sad time. Stan was honored by our club in January 2003 for his Lifetime Achievement in Auto Racing. He will truly be missed by all who knew him. “God’s Speed Stanley!”
May 2008
From the President
It is hard to believe that this season has already started and we look to hard times for fans, racers and track owners with the rising cost of gas prices now over $ 3.50 per gallon. We all are going to have to pick and choose what races we will go & see and if you do much traveling to other racing facilities. I know it will be hard for us all but, I hope we can all continue to support the sport we all love.
Local short track racing is the true heart and soul of auto racing across the nation. With out it we have no future for our sport. No young talent pools for the bigger racing series to draw from as well as the way for them to earn the skills and the right to move up to the bigger series. I am hoping that all of our great local tracks right here in Michigan can survive through these tough times. So let us do what we can to help when we can and keep our sport and great local racing facilities alive well into the future.
We are in need of volunteers to help out at our fan club day events. If you can assist us at any of our membership tracks this season please contact me.
I thank you in advance for your assistance. We also have a new contest for all members and new members who sign up at each track. All members will be asked to sign in at our MARFC table when you arrive and your name will be put into a raffle for that night and one member will receive a surprise gift if your name is draw that evening.
As Always, Keep Racing!
Bill Barnhart
President MARFC
April Meeting
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| Scott Menlen – Aspiring race car driver | Jeff Horan – Lionel Trains |
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| MARFC members enjoy the model railroad exhibit at Lionel Trains. | |
What a fantastic time we all had at Lionel. With over 50 members on hand all seemed to enjoy the tour after our guest speaker Scott Menlen spoke about his racing career so far. Scott has raced go karts, bandoleros, and Legend cars and now makes his 2008 start in Late Model competition at Auto City Speedway at the age of 15. He hopes to climb the ladder to ASA, ARCA, and up to NASCAR in the near future. Then Jeff Horan informed all about how the tour would be done and we were off. First we saw a video on how Lionel got started well over 100 years ago and how the trains are made. Then we all went into the train show room with all the different kinds of trains form years gone by and Chuck Horan who has worked there for nearly 39 years showed everyone in the room the dozens of trains they have set up and running in an awesome lay out. Many thanks to Chuck & Jeff Horan for setting up this private tour and to Scott Menlen for coming by as our guest speaker for the afternoon.