[BKSG1198]

Wow!! How do I start this....
We all knew this weekend was going to be special but, I believe what happened at Maple Grove Raceway this past weekend was simply, if not one of the best .90 races ever. What started as a simple phone conversation and a crazy idea between Jeff Stricker and myself to throw together one of the biggest 8.90 events on the east coast to honor our good friend & family member Dave Stine slowly grew legs and simply turned into one of the best drag races with so much emotion i think ANY of us have ever been too. From Dave’s best friend Thomas Stalba going through 7 tough rounds of SC to take home the big $10,000 prize and then turn the car around and come back up the track to celebrate with friends and family was something that I’ve never seen before (FYI, he told me if he won he was doing it so it was alerted). Then One of my best buds Jeff Taylor takes home the victory in TS which is the first since he lost his Mom. Lots of tears and plenty of emotion in both winners circles over the weekend.
No matter what happens a series or organization is not strong without people surrounding you and helping out. To the Maple Grove staff, Betsy Schlouch Witmer, Sarah Gingrich, Kelly Muenster, Billy Kleinspehn, Matt Manley, Robert Robb, Rich Orth, Lori Anne, Bill Buchanan, Robin Putt...THANK YOU!!! When you throw a proposal together in the off season to have .90 cars and Top Dragster and Sportsman, it’s sometimes tough to give that to a track because let’s be honest, we don’t draw spectators.
To the NHRA D1 staff that came to help over the weekend, a HUGE thank you!! Jared Artus, Steven Rhoads, William Holmes, Larry Wiggins Jr. , Diane Gulgun Kubicke, David Smith, Phil Hutchinson, even Dave Mohn stopped by looking like he was going to the beach and Danny Pomponio who helped answer some of my questions on the phone Friday. You guys all rock and I don’t think get enough credit for what you do on a regular basis with standing in the heat and dealing with scraping rubber and cleaning up spills all weekend long while we run back to our AC motorhomes.
To all the racers who made this event what it was, you can draw things up on paper, promote the heck out of it but, without the racers showing up and supporting it, it’s just nothing! 232 on Saturday and a little under 200 on Sunday for a record car count for the series! THANK YOU and I hope you all had fun!!
Lastly but, definitely not least it my team! Dana Leone absolutely rocked it doing money this weekend in between watching Dave kick some butt in his SST debut. Phillip Judd who helped Dana out on Saturday along with pairing up cars, I know you wanted to be racing but, thanks man and at least you wore the right hockey team hat!! To all the sponsors who made this all possible, Roadrunner Race Fuels, VP Race Fuels, W&T Pipeline Consultants, P&L Garage, AA Auto Salvage and everyone else that did a special award....THANK YOU!!
I apologize if I missed anyone in this post but, just let it be known I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support!! Remember as a series we still have some races coming up so go over and look at the Mid Atlantic .90 site!! I think I can say, WE WILL HAVE A 2nd ANNUAL DAVE STINE MEMORIAL Race in 2022!!!