NEARLY 200 ATTEND INDY 500-THEMED RACER REUNION AT TOLEDO SPEEDWAY BAR & GRILL SATURDAY, MARCH 25
NEARLY 200 ATTEND INDY 500-THEMED RACER REUNION AT TOLEDO SPEEDWAY BAR & GRILL SATURDAY, MARCH 25
Attendance swelled to nearly 200 with standing room only for the 14th annual Racer Reunion Saturday March 25 at the Toledo Speedway Bar & Grill, highlighted by a special on-stage segment with Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson, 1996 Indy 500 winning car owner Ron Hemelgarn and 9-time Indy 500 starter Tom Bigelow.
Donaldson and Indianapolis Motor Speedway representative Mike Harmless traveled from Indy and displayed an Official Vehicle of the 101st Indianapolis 500. They also passed along pairs of grandstand tickets for on-track preliminary events leading up to the 101st Indy 500 to attendees who correctly answered Indy 500 trivia questions. Donaldson also conducted in-depth interviews with Hemelgarn and Bigelow and the trio took questions from the attentive audience. Hemelgarn told of being a youth from Dayton, Ohio and hitchhiking to his first Indy 500, setting himself a goal of participating in the race and ultimately owning the team which driver Buddy Lazier took to victory lane. Bigelow related stories of driving at Toledo Speedway in USAC Sprint Cars, the many owners and sponsors who contributed to his success in that division including 14 single-season wins and 52 career victories, the ups and downs of his stock car racing career and his best finish of 6th in the Indy 500.
There was also a display of vintage restored show cars including Fremont Speedway vehicles, Milt Wood’s replica of an Iggy Katona ARCA Racing Series Dodge and Randy Mapus’ restored Eric Gordon USAC Sprint Car.
The Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club held its monthly meeting after the Racer Reunion activities. The MARFC members received updates on Flat Rock Speedway, Toledo Speedway and the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards from Scott Schultz and Ron Drager. Those in attendance at the meeting also enjoyed video presentations featuring the two speedways and the ARCA Series.
A surprise presentation by Jerry Nemire and the Nemire family also took place. A display case containing a MARC championship jacket won by Jerry’s father, the late Kenny Nemire, was presented to Drager. Kenny Nemire lost his life in a MARC New Car race at Toledo Raceway Park in 1957. The MARC New Car Series was renamed the ARCA Racing Series in 1964.
The usual Racer Reunion displays of photos, scrapbook clippings, yearbooks, diecasts, rulebooks, trophies and racing memorabilia of all sorts were available for viewing from 12 noon to 5 pm. In addition, videos of races from the 60s through the 90s were available for viewing.
Next activities for Racer Reunion participants are Saturday, May 27 at Flat Rock Speedway, Sunday, May 28 at Toledo Speedway and Friday, July 28 at Toledo Speedway. The Friday July 28 race at Toledo is the annual USAC Silver Crown Series race and will feature the open-wheel Racer Reunion and vintage restored race cars on display plus laps on the track. The May 27 race at Flat Rock is the annual Joy Fair 100 for ARCA Gold Cup Outlaw Late Models. Each race date will feature on-track recognition of all former racers in attendance.