|
Treecitytornado touched on the fact that Rich was about to make his NASCAR debut that weekend. 2nd hardest thing I have ever had to do at a racetrack was helping to reload our hauler for the trip home from Pocono to Lansing. This was back in the day of 2 rounds of qualifying in Cup and we had missed the show on Friday. Rich and Joey discussed several things that night and during morning practice on Saturday, they hit on a combination that really suited Rich. We were the 2nd fastest qualifier in 2nd Round and were scheduled to start 28th. Rich told us just before he left to hop on the plane and go to Salem that his plan was to win the race and announce his retirement from USAC in Victory Lane. Little did any of us know that it would turn out the way it did. That whole Sunday is still a blur as someone came up with "In Memory Of" decals for all the starters, NASCAR allowed us to withdraw the car and left Rich's spot open on the grid and pace laps, and the Stavola Brothers team had a deck lid size decal made and placed on their car for the race. I know several teams helped us pack and load our equipment and car that morning. It was an extremely hard thing to do for all of us as we were all kind of numb knowing our driver was not going to be back.
Brent Seelman
D-R Racing Enterprises
|