| Author | Message | ||
     Slaughter |
RRW News Sunday night Woke up this morning a full hour ahead of the alarm at 3:30 and I think it has FINALLY hit me. Poncho Spain is dead. Poncho and I played in our junior high school orchestra together in 1966 and 1967. After 40 years, we bump into each other again at Willow Springs International Raceway - after hearing each other's names being announced. Pancho was FAAAAAST on his litrebike, FAAAAAST on his SV and more than that he was a HELLUVA nice guy. ALWAYS helping those around him, ALWAYS offering support and encouragement. Yes, this is just Club racing, no - we're (most of us anyways) not going to go much beyond local and regional racing. This IS FUN... most of the time. Poncho was also a fellow racer in Formula 50 class with me. This is the OLD FARTS class. You gotta QUALIFY for this class (with a valid form of ID) and a LOT of the old guys are really QUICK. Poncho was laying down times that were nearly as good as some of the PRO racers! I watched him come off the track in turn 8 about half a lap ahead of me in our race on Sunday. Turn 8 is always bad because on the big bikes, that's 140-ish. We came back to the pits on a red flag and because of electrical issues, I didn't make it back out to re-start. We heard it was Poncho who went off and knew he was transported to the local hospital (couldn't get a helo in time) An hour later, I went out for my third race of the day and on returning, one of the crash truck drivers told me that it wasn't good, that he wasn't responding when they loaded him in the ambulance. Couple hours later, unofficial word came back that he didn't make it. We got official confirmation that night. Yeah, it's the game that we play, it just hit me this morning - a real delayed reaction. Dang but he had a great return to racing - rookie of the year last year, leading the middleweight twins and more importantly, establishing a LOAD of great friends among the racers. We get on with our lives but sometimes we take a deep breath and realize this extremely selfish sport in which we participate sometimes comes with a price. Thanks for listening... I feel better... really. Gonna miss you Poncho, you're still that other funny kid playing in the string section with me in 7th grade. It's tough watching a friend die - even though in racing, you're remote from the actual event, roaring around the gathering emergency vehicles and arriving crew - you are still a witness. Now it's Coffee, work, the race truck is still loaded - gotta get it unloaded and ready to haul CRAP to the new house. We move on... (Message edited by slaughter on March 18, 2009) | ||
| Dbird29 |
Sigh..... | ||
| Davegess |
Man, thats tough. I feel your pain. | ||
| Xbpete |
numbing news....RIP Poncho... | ||
| Neb25 |
Very sorry to here this. RIP Poncho. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
RIP Poncho. | ||
| Smoke |
sorry for the loss of your friend Steve. RIP Poncho. tim | ||
| Rubberdown |
God Bless. Condolences. Really tough. I'm sorry. Thankfully he had some good times. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Steve, Man, that hurts. The loss of a friend is never easy. It sometimes is worse than family. If you have the opportuity please express our condolencs to his family. Brad | ||
| Sparky |
Man, that's gotta be tough to have that happen to someone as close as that. I feel for ya, Steve. RIP, Pancho. I guess it's a good thing to go out like that, doing something you love. There's good Karma there. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Ride in peace, Poncho Spain. FB&D |
