I will never forget the night Josh called from Lincoln Nebraska looking for a ride home to race the next night here in Kokomo. Josh had hit the road like he had done for years with Tony Elliott and Jeff Walker, this time it was for the C.R.A. tour, the next stop was in Colorado on the asphalt, Josh had wrapped up the track championship at Kokomo (Quarter Midget) and was not going to race the last race to chase the sprint cars like he had done in the past with Tony. Josh had also spent some time at Jack and Judy Yeley's home to catch the west coast races, well Jack had teased Josh about being a racer and being a race fan, a racer races a fan goes and watches so needless to say Josh needed a ride home. The call came after the feature when I was getting ready for work (midnight-er) I told Josh I would leave as soon as I got off of work at seven am and have him back in time to race, ten min. after Josh called the phone rang again and Josh said Jack had found him a ride back to Indy if we could met them in Indy, I ask who the ride was and was OK with the ride back. The next morning we met Josh and his ride, Josh looks like he has been up all night so I ask him why he did not sleep on the way home, Josh told me that him and Jack were walking thru the push off line and that John had fell asleep in line so he was not going to take any chances on John falling asleep coming home. Needless to say John got my best friend home safe, Jack and Judy sent him with someone we could all trust. Josh won the feature that night and to this day loves Tony,Jeff,Jack,Judy,and John. John is as tough as leather,Tom Chalk told us after a hard crash at Eldora. John and the people involved in getting Josh home that night from Nebraska are as tough as leather and as smooth as silk. Josh was ten years old at the time and to this day tells us things are not the same.

John you are always in our thoughts and prayers.



Jerry Spencer
stida.com