5/6/2023
Antioch Speedway
A Lap Around Antioch with Candice Martin - May 6, 2023
by: Candice Martin,
What we have this Saturday, is five of our other divisions, including the popular Hobby Stocks and Wingless Spec Sprints.
This night is special because we'll have a memorial lap for a driver who helped make it possible for us to get the Sprint Car class started in the first place.
You probably know that I was involved in starting the Wingless class back in 1998. My friend Don O'Keefe was asked by John to put it together. Don said he wouldn't do it unless I was involved since I was announcing and doing the media effort.
Don was the rules expert and wrote the book. He explained every rule to me because I had two expectations. Keep the cars safe and as affordable as possible. Don agreed. I was the one who hyped things up and wrote all of the articles. Plus, I announced this class during its first two seasons.
Rick Panfili had been racing with the NCMA back then. In fact, he was reluctant right up until a swap meet that we attended in early 1999. He told us to our faces that day that he was running with the NCMA.
Once Rick realized what we were doing, he let go of those objections and he was on our first roster that year. Rick supported Spec Sprint racing at Antioch better than any other driver in the group.
He didn't have the best statistics and wasn't flashy. He did finish as high as second in points and second in the Main Event, but he won the respect of a lot of people along the way.
He was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, and he fought bravely right to the end. He was at the season opener with the DNF crew riding along in one of the push vehicles. I got to tell him I love him to his face and he said I love you too.
I was able to give him a lifetime achievement award at the banquet, but he had to go to the hospital a few days before the banquet. His wife Diana accepted and streamed the presentation to his hospital room.
I talked to the Hall of Fame executive, Chris Briggs. I'm no longer in charge. He agreed that night that we were putting Rick into the Hall of Fame, and I brought his award by the house a few days before he died.
Rick and Diana were married for 33 years, and she's having a tough time. You can imagine. She wanted to wait until this week so she could get her family to the track.
We'll have his car there and we may even have it at our booth at the fair. I told her that maybe we could put a collage of pictures together for him, sort of a highlight of his career if we do display the car.
I'm sure I'll be asked to say some words for Rick as I usually am in this position. Being the one who knows the history, I end up having to memorialize the people we lose that we held so dearly.
I don't like the position because I'm tired of losing so many people. It hurts my heart. On the other hand, it's an honor to be able to do this for the racers.
So this Saturday is special for the lap we're going to run for Rick. I think we should get a good Hobby Stock turnout, and we'll see how everything else goes.
I'm curious what the Super Stocks are going to have a week before our Larry Damitz Memorial. I'm working behind the scenes on the awards for that race, including a championship belt in Larry's memory, such as we did last year.
In any case, we try to score wins out here for the track every week. Good or bad, we get back out and do more the next week. I'm not sure how we'll do Saturday, but we'll do our best as we always do.
