Daily Archives: March 23, 2021

Despite having to utilize a new venue and still in the midst of a “pandemic”, the 4th Annual Michigan Automobile Racing Fan Club (MARFC) Presented by Northside Towing and Service Bowling Tournament can be considered a rousing success!  32 bowlers made their way to the Royal Scot Golf and Bowling center in Lansing, MI on Saturday March 20th to gather and raise funds for the Randall Ginter Memorial Benevolent Fund and the Wounded Warrior Project. Bowlers and bench racers were greeted at sign in with a raffle table full of prizes to be won courtesy of the generosity of race fans, drivers, track owners and series officials from around the state of Michigan.  All bowlers who competed were also given a free pass for any one of their house shows or Eve of Destruction events held at Birch Run’s Dixie Speedway.  Other forms of revenue generating for the benefactors came in the form of a 50/50 cash raffle, a Tony Stewart autographed die-cast auction and a Jimmie Johnson jacket auction. With the total raised from the bowlers, donations from Northside Towing and Service, Midwest Classic Racers, Horsepower Happenings, prize table raffle sales, the 50/50 cash raffle, with winners Becca and Zach Hiser’s donated it back, and the Tony Stewart die-cast auction the event raised $1,268! After the announcement of the totals raised, the bowling awards were handed out. Speedway Convenience Stores $25 gift cards and a trophy were awarded to the Men’s High Score (Jeffrey Brennan 266) and the Team High Score (Jeffrey Brennan and Theresa Beckner 984) while the Women’s High Score (Theresa Beckner 257) would receive the trophy and gift card as well as an extra $50 donated by Cindy Kramer.  The Greg Yost Never Give Up Award for the lowest score (Sophia Curtis with a 10) received a trophy as well as $50 donated by Cindy Kramer. The Chris Throgmartin Spirit Award Presented by Talin RV was awarded to Kevin England earlier in the day for his work at Galesburg Speedway.  Kevin’s encouragement of racers from “The Burg” to visit other tracks while they were shut down showed true passion for the sport.  Dave and Dora Howe of Beacon Sales and Service presented $25 to the two farthest travelers who were Rich Frantz and John Jackson. “Big” Ed Inloes was the first guest speaker for the March MARFC general meeting, where he gave an update on working at Birch Run’s Dixie Speedway on Friday’s and the Owosso Speedway on Saturday’s.  Sean Sprague came up next to talk about his switch from the dirt of I-96 Speedway to being back to where it all started for him at Corrigan Oil Speedway.  Zach Hiser and Rich Frantz then spoke about their podcast on Monday nights as well as the coverage they plan to give local and national auto racing from around Michigan and the Great Lakes region.  Jeff Finley was on hand and told of how his family got involved in racing as well as the Northside Towing business and going from being a driver to seeing his son transition from the local short tracks to NASCAR and then back to switch to dirt racing.  The Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame was represented by Dave DeHem as he talked about the history of the organization as well as planning for this year’s banquet to be held in Mt. Pleasant in November. (Photo Top Left: Chuck Darling & Kevin England)(Photo Top Right: Bill Barnhart, Theresa Beckner, Jeffrey Brennan, Chuck Darling) (Photo Center: Bill Barnhart, Sophia Curtis, Cindy Kramer, Chuck Darling) (Photo next: Sean Sprague,  Zach Hiser & Rich Frantz, Big Ed Inloes, Jeff Finley, and Dave DeHem) ( Story by: Chuck Darling)