It Happened At Duryea.....

[Rich Rock]

...but it could have happened at any of our hills. Yesterday I got the following email from Bill Weaver:

...I would like to ask you to relate the following story to our membership as it really opened my eyes to what Duryea is all about.

On Sunday afternoon I was relaxing by my car and strangely, nobody was close by. A young mother with two frisky boys came by and the threesome stood off a few paces looking at the car. For lack of anything else to do I asked mom if the boys would like to sit in the car. With that, the pair of them climbed aboard and became racers in their imagination. While the boys were enjoying their "race", mom made a comment that really blew my mind.

She said " I'm a single mom getting by on assistance and I don't have much money to spend on the boys. I think it is so wonderful that you guys put on this event for free. You just can't realize how much it means to me to get out here and spend this time with the boys. It's a day in the sun and my boys do love the cars. Thank you so much for putting up with them."

She then gathered them up and moved on. I was stunned! I never thought our "free show" was so valuable to an underpriveleged family. We are doing a lot more than wearing out tires!

God Bless all of you who make this event so great. Drivers, workers, sponsors, and the City. Thank you!

[FV95]

This, verbatim, should be in the PHA Newsletter.

[Mwilson]

Very nice story indeed. And I know we as an organization have influenced many people at all the Hills we run. I remember last year at Spring Jefferson I was there very early as usual. I parked my rig at the entrance of Jefferson watching the "organ donors" run their bikes on the main track. Somewhere about noon a group of about 20 scouts both boys and girls came in and started setting up tents for a weekend of camping and fun. I started talking to the scout master about the group and he asked me if I was racing a bike this weekend. I quickly told him that I preferred four wheels under me. He then asked where we were running at. I told him we would be back at the Jefferson track and if they had time to stop back on Saturday and watch us run. He thanked me and said we may just do that. Well Saturday arrived and somewhere around noon here came the whole troop which gathered around my trailer. I could see they were fascinated with all the race cars. I asked one of them if he would like to sit in the car and the immediate answer was "Are you Serious?" Thus the parade began. Mason and Nigel Cass were pitted aside of me and they too started putting boys and girls in their cars. We got our helmets on them for some Great photos taken by the Scout Master. I even got my picture taken by the famous Rich Rock with one of the Scouts sitting in my car. After everyone had their pictures taken in one of the many cars the Scout Master came over to me and said these kids will never forget this nor will I. He thanked me for the invitation.
I have seen numerous drivers at all events put children and spectators in their cars for photos. And you are indeed correct, "We are doing a lot more than wearing out tires!"