[CRA91]

I had a couple of moments that really hooked me on racing,first was when I as a young child my father used to take me to Hartley's Garage in Roanoke Ind. where we lived and as my father would visit with Gene and Ted they would put me in their midget and let me play race car driver,we also visited Lyold Gifford's house in town and he owned a Silver Crown car and he used to let me do the same,those times were really influential for me.
The defining moment was at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1969 when I was 6yrs. old and after A.J. Foyt had won the Hoosier Hundred I got to have my picture taken with A.J in victory lane after he spotted me in the crowd sitting on my dads shoulders screaming his name, he brought me up on the victory stand and gave me his autogragh and shared some watermelon with me and then proceeded to pose for a few pictures with me that my mom took. From that moment on I was hooked! I've now worked on sprint cars for 34yrs. and loved every moment of it and still love it to this day.
I always tell drivers that I work with to always take the time to visit with kids that come up to them after the races as they might make a lifetime fan or influence them to make racing a career,that's what we need to keep this addiction called racing going on into the future.