April Thoughts from the President!

It is time to go racing again. The cars are finished up and the paint is dry. The wraps are wrapped and the lettering is getting done. I will keep this short as there is a lot of information in this regular mailed newsletter. If your name is highlighted in GREEN it means that this is your last newsletter as you have not renewed for 2012 and we will be taking you off of our mailing list and you will miss out on the great racing action provided to us by our member tracks on the 20 different fan club events this summer. Enclosed in this newsletter are your 2012 pocket schedules and once again, we are asking those who have an e-mail address to contact us and let us know if you would like to be put on the e-mail list only. If you can send me a quick note by e-mail at president@marfc.org so I will be sure and have your e-mail address and name just in case it has changed. While you are at it please include “Wild Bill” at vicepresident@marfc.org as well. At the April MSPA Meeting, I extended an invitation to all Promoters who were in attendance to come to our April meeting and we would provide at least five minutes for each promoter in attendance to come and share a little bit about what they have on tap for 2012.

Yours in Racing,
Dave DeHem President MARFC

Condolences!

We were saddened to hear of the untimely passing of Jeremy “Jake” Dickman. Jeremy was a key figure at the Mount Pleasant Speedway along with his wife Debbie. He was also a driving force in the “Cans From Race Fans” organization along with Alvie Haynes. Jeremy did much for not only the Mount Pleasant Speedway but for all of Motor Sports in Michigan and his presence will be deeply missed by all of us who knew him. It just won’t be the same on my visit to Mount Pleasant this season and not being able to sit and talk with Jeremy. Jeremy leaves behind his wife Debbie and Daughter Maggie as well as many friends. There will be a Memorial Race for Jeremy at Mount Pleasant Speedway on July 13, 2012. It was also learned that longtime Car Owner Jim LaMay passed away in March. Jim fielded cars at Mount Clemens and Toledo and was the uncle of long time MARFC Member and Late Model standout Larry LaMay. We here at MARFC express our condolences to the Dickman and LaMay families.

2012 Tentative MARFC Fan Club Day Schedule!

2012 FAN CLUB DAY EVENTS AS OF April 1, 2012 Note: this list is incomplete and will updated as soon as possible. At this point it looks like we will have at least 18 events this season with a couple of other special events being worked on for later in the year. The full schedule along with the “Pocket Schedules” and directions will go out in the April Newsletter.

I-96 SPEEDWAY SATURDAY APRIL 29, 2012

AUTO CITY SPEEDWAY  SATURDAY  MAY 12, 2012

SPARTAN SPEEDWAY  FRIDAY  MAY 18, 2012

KALAMAZOO SPEEDWAY  SATURDAY  MAY 19, 2012

FLATROCK SPEEDWAY  SATURDAY  JUNE 2, 2012

CHERRY SPEEDWAY FRIDAY JUNE 8, 2012

CRYSTAL MOTOR SPEEDWAY SATURDAY JUNE 9, 2012

TOLEDO SPEEDWAY  FRIDAY  JUNE 22, 2012

SPRINGPORT MOTOR SPEEDWAY  SATURDAY  JUNE 23, 2012

OWOSSO SPEEDWAY SATURDAY JUNE 30, 2012

TRI-CITY MOTOR SPEEDWAY  FRIDAY  JULY 13, 2012

WHITTEMORE SPEEDWAY  SATURDAY  JULY 14, 2012

MT. PLEASANT SPEEDWAY FRIDAY JULY 27, 2012

MERRITT RACEWAY  SATURDAY  JULY 28, 2012

WATERFORD HILLS RACEWAY  SUNDAY  JULY 29, 2012

WINSTON SPEEDWAY  FRIDAY  AUGUST 3. 2012

ONAWAY SPEEDWAY  SATURDAY  AUGUST 11, 2012

AUTO CITY SPEEDWAY WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012 (SPECIAL EVENT $ 10.00 TICKET FOR MARFC MEMBERS)

TOLEDO SPEEDWAY SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2012 ($ 5.00 OFF TICKET PRICE FOR MARFC MEMBERS FOR GLASS CITY 200)

MARFC March Updates!

FEBRUARYMEETING UPDATE!

We had two guest speakers on hand as well and first up was our very own Public Relations Director, Rand Thompson. Rand shared with us how he got his start in racing, who his heroes have been over the years, and gave us a detailed look at how He performs his tasks as a pit tour coordinator at the Michigan International Speedway. Rand has been doing race reports from the Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways and now adds the Spartan Speedway to his resume as he will be doing the race report write ups for Spartan this coming 2012 racing season. Rand also shared his passion for vintage road racing and the events that are held annually at the Waterford Hills Raceway. Rand was able to make a connection with the folks at Waterford and we have been invited to have our first ever MARFC Day at Waterford Hills this coming July 29th which is the weekend of the vintage racing at Waterford.

Our second speaker of the night was Scott Menlen. Scott shared about his racing roots in a go-kart with the Thunderbird Go-Kart club down at Flat Rock and how in his first ever race, He snared the checkers with a win. Later on Scott raced with the Michigan Legends Series in the Bandalero division before moving into the Legends Cars where they raced in Michigan as well as in the KOIL Series which took them to Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and points beyond before moving into the Crate Engine, Template Bodied Late Models at Auto City Speedway. After a couple of years in the full size cars, Scott, like many other racers these days, was forced to park the race cars for a while. Scott being a racer to the core decided that if He wasn’t going to be able to drive then he would do something at the track so he worked for Speedway Safety before moving into the flag stand. In 2012, Scott finds himself as the flag man at the historic Dixie Motor Speedway as well as with the traveling Jegs/CRA Series.  Scott hopes to get behind the wheel at a later time but for now will remain active in whatever way he can. Thanks Rand and Scott for sharing your passion with us. It was especially nice to see how many of our members in attendance have been members over 20 years and two members in attendance have logged over 40 years as members, thanks for your dedication Bill Walters and Joe Hiestand.