I'm sure most of you have already seen that he passed.

I realize his passing has nothing to do with sprint cars or the local Indiana scene, but I feel it is very noteworthy. In a way(many ways),Indianapolis had a very profound influence on his life and gave him his introduction to racing. It became a life long passion for him and he loved what the Indy 500 stands for and what it represents.

His passion for racing was obvious with his driving in the sports cars and owning Indy cars, but he loved all forms of racing and his trips to Sprint Car schools and going to Saturday Night Races is well documented.

I only met him once as I was trying to get an autograph from him to complete my collection of signitures in the "Fast Masters" program. He and Ted Hollingsworth gave me the "Heisman", but that was alright as I knew he didn't sign. He was very kind though. I just hoped to catch him at the right time.

In a way, while his signiture would make the program more valuable, it really wouldn't have been authentic.

For many people over the years he represented the essence of cool,others he represented the best that can come from giving, but to me he was probably as hard core of a racer as anyone and losing him is a loss for the entire racing community.