March 2008
From the President
Once again I can smell the cars and tires getting ready for racing here in 2008. I like to thank all of our membership tracks for a great 2008 fan club day schedule. With out their continuous support we as fans would not be able to see the best racing in the country right here in Michigan. Many Thanks to them all! Thanks to all who renewed for 2008 and hope the rest will soon follow as we don’t want to leave anyone behind the year. Also just a quick word on our Vice President Dave DeHem and Linda Walters who both hand knee replacement surgery right after the banquet in January they are both doing very well and send along thank you to all who sent get well wishes. Also I need to advise all members that wish to purchase MARFC Wearable’s you need to use the 2008 order form only please. The older newsletters have discontinued items on them and are no good to order with. Thank You for your understanding and hope that many of you are proud to wear our clubs items to show that you are a supporter of our club. Remember as we are renewing memberships we are also updating our e-mail list so please contact me with your current address or new one so we can update this ASAP and if you would like to have your monthly newsletter e-mailed only please advise me of this as postage is going up again.
As Always, Keep Racing!
Bill Barnhart
President MARFC
March Meeting
 |
 |
 |
| ARCA President Ron Drager |
Kelly HANTZ Group |
Larry Henry MIS Announcer |
Another great meeting was held at the Toledo Speedway Bar & Grille. Many folks who attended the Old Timers Reunion meeting earlier in the day stuck around for our meeting later that night. Ron Drager talked about how ARCA’s
2008 season is going and then treated us to a tribute video to Benny Parsons that was shown at the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series Awards banquet as well and a
2007 ARCA year in review tape.
Then Scott Schultz advised us of the few changes at both the Flat Rock & Toledo Speedways for 2008. One being handed dripped ice cream! They will once again have one 4 cylinder rental car available at both tracks if you wish to give that a try contact Scott and the speedway for more information. The Buckeye 305 Sprints are on the schedule at Flat Rock in August making this the first open wheel event in quite awhile.
We also had Kelly, a representative from the HANTZ Group, on hand to tell us just what they do as a company as well as sponsoring some great races in the past few years and the upcoming season. Kelly also raffled off a couple of autographed items from Rusty Wallace Racing and we thank her for that.
MIS announcer Larry Henry was on hand to let us know the he is no longer with WWJ Radio and the he is working on things for Fordracing.com at this time and will once again be the announcer at the Detroit Grand Pix for 2008.
Our meeting at KART 2 KART was on outstanding one to say the least. This was our last meeting at the old facility and hope to get one scheduled soon at the new location in Madison Heights, now called the APEX Conference & Karting Center. Just a couple of days before our meeting I was informed that guest speaker’s Chuck Silva’s wife Gail was badly injured in a car accident and thought he was going to be unable to attend our meeting so we contacted Randy Gallagher and Robbie Loving to fill in and then Chuck was able to make the meeting and spend some time telling everyone about his racing career that started over 32 years ago. Chuck and his brother Chris have raced under the Gori11a Racing banner for all those years and he has gone on to win back to back modified championships at Auto City and was the 2007 Dixie Modified Champion. And we send a Get Well Soon to Gail Silva!
Bob Capps was on hand to give us a little bit more information on when the new APEX location will be opening. He says they are looking at early April sometime if all goes well.
Todd Hutson gave us some updates on his company The Stadium Events that plans motor coach transportation to some racing events like the Indy 500 he has some great one day and two day deals for more information you can go to his web site at www.thestadiumevents.com and check out his complete list and information to all his events planed for 2008.
Randy Gallagher 2007 Michigan Legends Masters Champion who at the last minute was able to fill in gave a very interesting account of how he started racing and what he had done up to now. Randy started is Hobby Stocks at Mt. Clemens Race Track and then on to Go Kart racing across the state and then to the Legend cars he has two cars that he & his son Randy Jr. race as team cars and have done well in the short time in this series.
Robbie Loving was also on hand to fill in and told everyone about what being a second generation driver like his father is Frank Loving. Robbie talked about how he got started in the figure 8 division and moved to Late Model & Sportsman division but ultimately returned to great success in the figure 8 division capturing 2006 & 2007 Championships and Flat Rock & the 2007 Championship at the Toledo Speedway. He credits his car owner Robby Martel for the success he has had in the last few years. He also mentioned about running the 3 hour endurance race and the Indianapolis Speed Dome for many years with a best of 6th just a few years back. Originally Scott Menlen was to be with us also but do to a rescheduling of a Late Model Testing school in Florida he was unable to make it and we hope to have him at our April meeting to tell us of his career and where he is headed to this up coming season.
The 42nd MARFC Annual Awards banquet is now part of history. With a record crowd on hand a fantastic time was had by all who attended. “Shut Up” Roger Williams did an outstanding job as master of ceremonies for the evening keeping everyone entertained through out the entire award ceremony. Phil Parsons was on hand to accept the MARFC Presidents Award and was truly humbled by the honor. Phil talked about his racing roots here in Michigan and talked a little about his family who were in attendance.
Artie Sommers was on top of his game when Eddie Sachs and I presented him with the MARFC/Eddie Sachs Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award. Artie said that it was made possible for him to do so well in his racing career because of great car owners and all the crew who worked so hard on the cars through out the years.
Verwayne Greenhoe received the MARFC Electronic Media Award for his dedication to bringing local short track racing to many folks through the use of the internet and stream netting local radio shows so that our troops across the world can keep up with racing here at home. The MARFC Motorsports Publication of the Year went to the MARC Times Racing News. Unfortunately Dick Beebe was unable to attend after having car troubles in root to the banquet but, Darcie Fuzi was able to accept on his behalf and said that Dick was grateful to all who read and subscribe to the paper and he credited to the staff that does most of the work to get it out to the public.