Artie congratulations. I haven't logged in here in a while. I had gone down to West Virginia to race go-karts and a couple days after I came home I got the flu. I was feeling better for a few days and for the banquet but it came back and lasted another five weeks. Worst flu I've ever had by far. It's funny, as Joe was speaking I was clueless but as he went along I knew it was you. Very well deserved. I've seen all that you have done and accomplished over the years. From the early years before you got together with Tommy, the years we worked together with Tommy, and the recent years with Carl and Roger. You've never had a car that was not a top runner. I went to the banquet wondering if one of the chosen was going to be Tommy. I was at least as shocked as you were. I literally could not speak. This means so very much to me. I've loved figure eight racing for half my life. I first would go into the pits at Islip after the show was over and hung out with the Jimmy Hendrickson group. That's where I met Bill Stockert for the first time. In 1974 I made the change over to figure eight. What actually made me pick him I'm not really sure but I started going by Ernie each week. Being a big Ford person it very well might have been that he had a garage of Falcon bodied figure eight cars. I learned the basics of the car from Ernie. He got me the deal that enabled me to buy my first car. The first year I kept and worked on the car at Ernies. Championship Day 1977 I destroyed the front of the thing and over the 1978 season Ernie and Barry Estler helped me clip the chassis. Actually we halved it, lol, it was bent back past the firewall. The car then became my mustang bodied car in 1979. During the 78 season I met Tommy Kraft and it began a relationship that will never end. We've worked together, lived together, and raced together. Every award I have received from the club over the years has been important to me. The John Kraft Memorial in 2006 and now the Ernie Maynor Memorial Hall of Fame are the ultimate. I'm still speechless, lol. Two names that mean so much to me and my racing career. It's very special that we share this year together Artie. Over 35 years. Wow. Again, for everyone who had a part in my receiving this induction into a very special group of racing people, I thank you.
Rick
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