A Class Act

[txtom]

We need to take time to recognize those who made Saturday night very special for a young man in the stands.

Joe Aramendia came by and told us about this young race fan who had been diagnosed with brain cancer. I wasn't able to get the whole story, and my apologies for not remembering the kid's name.

Carolyn Aramendia later came through the pits with a helmet, and drivers went through the stands to collect donations for this young man's family, and he was sporting Joe's colors with his jacket and hat.

They held a nice presentation for him on the front stretch, and later, after Eddy Wallace won the ROMCO race, Eddy asked to have the kid brought back to the front stretch, where he presented to him his race winning trophy. Also there was a member of T.W. Welch's crew, who presented him with an autographed piece of the car.

Many kudos and thanks go to everyone who helped make this a special night for one young race-fan. Joe for getting everyone involved, the drivers, crews, and fans in the stands who contributed a little pocket money, Eddy for his trophy, T.W. for his body panel, and anyone else I may have forgot.

A few fairly easy gestures went a long way to make this youngster feel special on this night. Classy acts by everyone involved.

 

To close this post, let's everyone remember him in our thoughts and prayers.

[44SS]

I just want to start off by saying how thankfull I am for being a part of such a great racing community that has helped several people in need over the past few years. Its wonderful how we put rivalries aside come together for one cause, weather its Kyle, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus or where ever. I also want to say how honored I am to be a part of such a team as Eddy Wallace Racing, and value their friendship more than I could ever express. Having two young sons myself, standing on the front stretch during the presentation was extremly difficult for me, but being in the company of Eddy,Lucian,Susie Wallace, and Tom Taylor, made the wieght not so heavy. Again, thankyou to the Wallace family for letting me tag along. Now I know why my boys look up to Eddy so much! I know that young boy will be in our prayers.

 

P.S. -- Thankyou to everyone who participated!

[Lonestar88]

Tom, my hats off to you for posting this thread. Kinda makes our racing problems small compaired to that young mans........

[ChuckLicata]

Tom,

Great story, shows the true spirit of race fans...

I would love it if you called in to this week's show and tell this story on the air..If you're out long distance, shoot me an email with your number at danipromo@hotmail.com or mzone1300@hotmail.com and I'll have our producer, Marteen Grammatica, give you a call..

Thanks...

[ROMRD]

txtom,

 

It is things like this that makes me proud to be a member of such a great sport as auto racing. When someone needs help, you can always count on some person stepping up doing something to try and help them. I would like to thank Mike for allowing the teams to go into the stands and collect the money for the family. When we hear of some of the problems of other people, it makes the problems of where is the money going to come from for tires,etc. seem a little trival. On behalf of all the race teams in ROMCO and I know speak for the race teams in Texas, we wish this young man all the best. Our prayers are with him and his family.

 

A big thanks go out to Joe and Carolyn for letting us be a part of this, and letting us help.

 

Thanks

Terry Barden

ROMCO

[txtom]

Thanks to all who like that post.

 

I must say one of my reasons for posting it is my family has been the recipient of same acts of kindness displayed towards that young man last Saturday night.

My now 22 year old son endured open-heart surgery at the age of 4 months, and again just shy of his 8th birthday. Both times involved 2 separate procedures performed within a week of each other. All this does not include some 40+ other hospitalizations before the age of 10. Without a great support nucleus of family and friends, we could not have gotten through all this without losing our minds.

I was fortunate to have the support of several close friends while he endured his initial surgeries. They held a fund-raiser that greatly eased the financial burden we endured at this time. Whil the hospital care was free, we spent a month in San Antonio, away from our 2 year old daughter and our home.

I remember when he got out of the hospital after his last round of heart surgery, and I took him to a racetrack where most of the racers knew me. The people there could not have showed more kindness, compassion and concern that night, and Steven felt like royalty that night. They took a moment to recognize him very similar to Saturday night, and seeing adults and kids alike share a moment with him left a lasting impression on me and my family. Another thing that amazed me was the number of my fellow Military members who were willing to travel from Fort Worth to San Antonio to bank blood at Santa Rosa Children's Hospital in Steven's name to insure the safety of any possible blood transfusions he may have gotten.

 

This is why I feel it's is important to recognize those who, through simple gestures, can make such a special evening happen for another person, especially a child. People like the Aramendias, the Wallaces, The Welches, and everyone there who made a difference in this young man's life that night.

Did they all do this because they had to? Certainly not.

They did all this because it is their nature to do so. Again, class acts by class people, and like Terry Barden said, I'm damn proud to be a part of this group of people.

 

To Chuck, I'm sorry, but I'll be out of pocket this weekend, but I think a better story could be told by the Aramendias and Eddy Wallace. Hopefully you can get them.

 

Sorry about rambling on, but this was/is a big issue for me.

Amazing how much one can get out of a simple act of Kindness?

[tazmachine69]

That presentation was totally awesome! I got goose bumps and a lump in my throat. I just want to thank those who put this together, it helps remind us that our problems are petty compared to what that boy is going through. While i see children in pain on a daily basis at my job, its always nice to see that other people recongnize a need and step up to the plate to make a difference in the life of a child. I applaud everyone who contributed, a job well done! Im proud to be a part of the racing family!

 

P.S. Any of the drivers that collected the money in their helmets have change rolling around their heads while they were racing? LOL

[Josh42]

I must say that it was awesome to hear the amount of money that was collected sat night. Just asking has anyone heard what the final total collected was. Last I heard I think it was something like 3400.00, but I cant remember fully that was a long day. I remember back in my 1/4 midget days when my parents put together a yearly race that was called Kids Racing for Kids. We had a benefit race once a year that would raise money for a child that a terminal disease or was severely injured in a car accident. We always had a bunch of media involved and we drivers would get like pledges from people to pay so much for how many laps we ran. One time I had someone pay $5 dollars a lap and we raced for 40 laps and the guy had no problem forking over the money cause he knew it was going to a good cause. We had one lady pay $500 for a box of choclate covered pretzels. But only one thing I wish they could have done was let the young man wave the green flag for the romco race or even the checkered flag. But I have to say to The Wallaces, The Welch's, and The Aramendia's yall are truly class acts of the sport.