Tribute to Vicki Mesenbring

[Haugaard Racing]

On Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 many of us gathered to say good bye to our Dear Friend, Loving Wife and Wonderful Mother Vicki Mesenbring. Pastor Paul offered a time during the service for anyone that would like; to come and say a few words. At that time, I could not physically bring myself to say what was on my mind and in my heart. Now I feel the need to share with others how this wonderful person touched my life. Since our friendship was found at the races, I am sharing this with all those spouses of racers that like me; have found unforgettable friends in the pits of a race track.

The first time I met Vicki was at Byron race track. I was sitting in a lawn chair, feeling sorry for myself; Kevin was out and about enjoying his time with fellow racers. Brad and Dean had their heads under the hood of Brad's 72 Duster, me - just sitting thinking about all the things I could be doing if I would have just stayed home.. Vicki walked up and introduced herself to me. She joined me in the lawn chair sitting and 3 hours later we realized we better get the guys something to eat. After supper we gathered around a camp fire.

Later that night I shared with Kevin that maybe sitting at the race track wouldn't be so bad after all. Vicki and I had a lot of things in common and I had enjoyed chatting with her.

Well our friendship did grow; we would compare racing schedules to make sure we would go to the same races. Vicki and I spent many a days laughing and crying about life experiences, our children, grandchildren, parents and those addicted racing husbands. We had many little shopping experiences in towns that we didn't know where the crap we were going, but we laughed about getting lost and always safely found our way back to the track. We held each others grandchildren and always shared the most recent pictures. We complained about the hard bleachers, shared in the joys and sorrows of our husbands and sons, racing wins and losses. We talked about her battling her cancer and being strong. She was a fighter.

I will never forget Norwalk, Ohio 3 1/2 years ago. The Mesenbrings, Pichts and Haugaards all planned to do a 3 week tour. We had finished the race at route 131 in Michigan and drove to Norwalk to spend a few days before heading to Salem, Ohio for the second of 3 races. Dave and Bev Picht had experienced Motor home problems so were not able to tour with us. After arriving at Norwalk and getting settled in at the Wal-Mart parking lot, Vicki and I went out seeking a laundry mat. We were laughing and enjoying ourselves as much as you can when doing laundry.. I excused myself from our chat to use the restroom. Upon my return Vicki was as white as a ghost and said she just started to feel very sick. We both thought maybe food poisoning from the up scale McDonalds we had ate at earlier that day. Upon returning to our Motor homes, Vick continued to get worse. Dean took her to the hospital with the assumption that she had food poisoning or the flu. Adam, Brad, Jamie P., Kevin and I waited to hear from Dean til approx 2am. Dean did not return until early the next moring to report that they were running some tests. Then Dean received the phone call from Vicki. She had cancer. It was the most unexpected outcome.

I will never forget that day, as I will nver forget December 12th, 2007 when I had to say good bye to my very dear friend. I feel very blessed to have had Vicki in my life. I will always hold close to my heart all those wonderful times we spent together.

Vicki, I will miss you very much!

With much Love, Your Friend Carla