Speedway honors Welch in style
By Mark Johnson
-
mjohnson@morrisdailyherald.com
|
| Riding in his signature No. 94 car back at the old Mazon Speed Bowl, Frank Welch the driver liked carrying the checkered flag. |
When longtime Grundy County Speedway promoter Frank Welch died, he had already named his replacement, as son Jim succeeded him entering the 2009 season.
"He retired before this year, and those were his wishes ... to be here for me, and teach me everything I would need to know," said Jim Welch. "Dad did say in the hospital, when he started to get very sick sooner than we had thought, 'Jimmy, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for ya.' All my life, he'd been there for me and helped me in whatever I needed. I said, 'Dad, it's all right. We'll get through it.' He left me with a fine staff, and the showing has so far been great this year."
The torch had been passed, so to speak, well before Frank Welch's passing on June 14. On the Friday following that date, June 19, the Speedway planned a ceremony to honor him. It ended up being pushed back to the following Friday, June 19.
"A good friend of mine, Kelly Johnson, from the Morris Theatre Guild, came out and sang the National Anthem," said Jim Welch. "Once qualifying was done, we had our three fast qualifiers line up with the American flags, as we always do. In front of them, in the 94 car, was Steve Campbell. He drives a beautiful late-model car that has Dad's number. So we put him in front with the checkered. Before (Johnson) sang, we had a moment of silence, and then I read something to the fans and drivers. That was tough for me to get through.
"We were supposed to do it the week before but it rained, and I still think Dad had it rain, because the funeral was the day before and I probably would not have gotten through it. Later we had all of the drivers come onto the track, followed by the wreckers and the fire crew and all the guys that work for the track, for a bit of a procession. Kelly then sang a couple of verses of Dad's favorite hymn, Amazing Grace.
"After we raced the late model feature, all the drivers got out of their cars and took their helmets off and looked towards the grandstand. And then we invited everyone onto the track, whether you've been here since 1971 or it's your first night here because you're up from Louisiana visiting your cousin Tina. Before long, the pits were almost completely empty. Kelly Johnson then sang a couple of verses of Dad's second-favorite hymn, How Great Thou Art. I'd like to thank everyone so much for their cooperation."
According to Jim Welch, the week-long wait for the ceremony was worth it.
"One thing my dad always said was, 'Jimmy, it doesn't matter if you know what you're doing as long as you look like you know what you're doing. If you look like you know what you're doing, people will think you know what you're doing.' We couldn't have rehearsed the whole thing 10 times all day and had it come off as well as it did. That's a credit to all the staff. Jim Goodlet, of course, along with Fred Kuntz, Brian Nolte, Ron Gooch ... everybody worked hard. The girls working the stands were asking what I wanted them to do, and I told them to just keep selling."
The ceremony gave everyone closely associated with the track the chance, whether they are drivers, staff members, concession salespeople or fans, one last chance to say goodbye to the man who served as their head of operations for nearly 30 years.
"If we gave the microphone to everyone out there that Dad had gone out of his way to help, be it a race driver without a sponsor or a staff member or an audience member who didn't have the money to come back next week after we'd be rained out and not finish a complete show, we wouldn't have started on time," said Jim Welch.
"Race drivers sometimes would wreck their cars and wouldn't make the feature for the (monetary) guarantee. Dad would go down in his golf cart and say, 'Here's some money. Take it.' Like I said, if we were to give the mic to all the owners and sponsors and everyone else that had a few good words to say about him, we wouldn't have started racing until midnight on Sunday, two Sundays from then. He established good camaraderie and a family atmosphere. It's my duty and my goal to continue in the same direction and do the same things he did."
"It's so hard for me to describe the feelings I had for him," said Tom "The Turtle" Weckler, who has sold tires in the Grundy Speedway pit area for 30 years. "We had a business relationship, and we also had a deep friendship. He was a very caring friend towards me. I mean, my Fridays for the last 30 years including driving down, going to meet him and then talking to him. He'd tell me how the crowd was, what's wrong with the drivers and why they're mad about something. His wife (Marjorie) is a sweetheart, and I also feel strongly about Jimmy. That's one thing, it became almost like a family relationship that developed out there."
Much as the Speedway crowd had its chance to say goodbye to Welch, he seemed to know that a recent visit to the one-third mile oval in Morris was his final one.
"Mom and I took a ride to the race track," said Jim Welch. "She drove, and he got into his truck and came out as well. He took one lap around real slow and said, "I wanted to ride around my wonderful little race track one last time.' Of course Mom said, 'There's no need to talk like that,' but sometimes people just know that it's that time. That's what he always called it, his wonderful little race track."
There are plenty of Welch stories built up during from the 28 years he was affiliated with the management team of the Grundy Speedway.
"He was a veteran. He fought in World War II," said Weckler. "He taught pilots how to fly. He would always give me a lot of hard times. One time, we were at the race track, and I said, "Look at that, Frank, it's heat lightning.' He looks at me and told me there was no such thing as heat lightning. I said, 'Frank, I've heard people call it heat lightning hundreds of times.' He said, 'When I was a pilot, I had to learn all about the weather. There's no such thing as heat lightning.' He gave me the whole description. Afterwords, I looked into it, and he was 100 percent right."
"He used to like Old Style (beer). We'd always have one together after the night's racing. Myself, I didn't like Old Style, so I'd drink a Miller Light. I'd always tell him, 'You keep drinking that Old Style, you're going to get sick.' Well, after he got sick in these last several weeks, but was still talking, he told me, 'I'm 89 years old. I'm not going to live forever.' ... At one point I told him, 'The reason your sick is because of all that Old Style you drank.' He looks at me and says, 'I sure wish I had one right now.'"
Jim Welch sees no significant changes in the speedway long-term. Racing will continue each summer on Friday nights through Labor Day weekend.
"What will change is we will no longer have the presence of a great man who was loved, honored and respected by everybody," said Jim Welch. "He will be missed. As far as day-to-day operations, I can't say for sure. Our plans are to continue on, and my dedication is to be a promoter with the same kind of dedication he had. I started out at the track selling popcorn in 1971. I was born in '61, so I was 10 years old."
Tim Goodlet, who is in his 24th year as the flagman for the Grundy Speedway, anticipates few changes as the change in track leadership goes on.
"I think Jimmy will keep things going the way his dad would have wanted things to go. He's fair with everybody," he said.
Comments
