Hey y’all.
Y’all have been good friends here on KARNAC, and hell, I’ve even met a few of y’all in person. Most of you know we (my family) have been involved in Florida short track racing for decades - and only in Late Models/Super Late Models - never anything less.
My dad, Jim, is a quiet guy - never sought the spotlight, was never really well-known - but, if you know some of the guys we’ve had in our cars over the last 40+ years, you know that my dad helped put those guys in the winner’s circle at damn near every place we raced. Started out at Palm Beach and Hialeah hooking up with Bob Kirk and Don Denney, later Paul Conners, and then to the west coast at places like Sunshine, Golden Gate, Inverness, Auburndale, Punta Gorda, and Bradenton, where we had just about anybody who’s anybody behind the wheel of our cars - Childers, Scarborough, Wayne Reutimann, Billy Gill, Pletcher, Wescott, Moyer, Shorty Stuart, Purcell, Gertsner, just to name a few that Dad put into Victory Lane. Our biggest win came in the 1981 Coca-Cola 200 at DeSoto - we beat guys like Anderson, Porter, Pletcher, Trickle, Eddy, and Howe, among many more talented short track Late Model drivers.
Dad was very recently diagnosed with cancer. He starts chemotherapy next week, but, at the moment, he ain’t feelin’ so hot. Over the last ten years or so, he was also the car owner of the black #12 driven by my brother, Scott, at Orlando, Auburndale, and Showtime. He races because he has such a passion for this as a hobby. It’s certainly not a “money-maker” for him, but, if he could make it to the track, he’d be there every week. Open trailer, old dually pick-up truck, ten-year-old chassis…but he’d still try and make it.
I know he’s got a lot of friends in Florida short track racing. Please pray for his recovery and fight to beat this stuff. Love y’all and sure do miss Florida.
Dad, bein’ Dad ‘n all - although he’s in a little pain from the surgery - is takin’ it fairly well…but docs aren’t sure what kind of cancer it is, or how far long it is. We can’t get any answers, other than “wait til the tests come back”.
Not much else to say. After the last update I posted, it was discovered that his intestine was all “twisted” (stepmom’s words), and he was going to have a “simple procedure” done to un-twist it. Monday (11/2), it was discovered that the problem was more serious than initially thought, and he couldn’t start any chemo treatments until that problem was corrected. Dad and stepmom (Stacy) were gonna talk to doctors Wednesday on whether or not to go through with surgery and treatments.
He’s tired of being in the pain that he’s in, and having surgery would’ve meant being in more pain longer before starting chemo. So…he made his decision…and now he’s in hospice care.