We just had dinner last night wit Liz Marinelli, Anthony and Larry Ferraiuolo. Jeff Farber, and others.  They were all hero,s of mine growing up.  All through dinner, nothing but old stories of them and their fathers drivers.

A few from the past, Opp, Mario, Buzzie, Our buddy Danny Mitchell.  Now days, Jimmy Horton, Kyle Larson, Logan Schuchart & Jacob Allen.

Carl Van Horn was always my hero, probably because, beyond his many accomplishments, he was from Belvidere.  My parents went to school with Carl and his brother Milt.  My dad used to recount stories of going to Middletown with his uncle in the late 50's to pull for CVH.  I nominated Carl for induction into the BHS Alumni hall of fame however it was a year too late.  He is in the hall of fame but he passed a couple of months before the induction.  I am not sure he ever knew.

The cool thing about Carl is that he would have probably thought of himself as an ordinary man but he did extraordinary things.  After all, who wakes up one morning and thinks "I think I'll build a race track" and then DOES it?

Unfortunately, most of us that became fanatics during the time period covered by this website have lost their heros. There will never be the likes of them again!

My favorite driver was Glenn Fritzcharles when I started going to the races. I wore T-shirts of the R-10 and # 23 at the time. Richard Petty and David Pearson were my favorites in NASCAR and Al Unser in Indy cars. 

Nowadays, I usually root for Billy PauchJr and Dominic Buffalino when I go to New Egypt Speedway.  

glenn fitzcharles isnt lost - he is doing fine - was with him a couple of weeks ago - and your right -one of my favorites

Whip was also my hero in the 14 and 73 and later Doug Hoffman in whatever he drove on dirt or asphalt. Now, I just hope to see a good competitive race with perhaps an underdog pulling an upset. 

Jack Johnson is the top of my list....faves are personal friends...Karl Freyer, Stan Ploski, Sammy Beavers, Glenn Fitzcharles, Jerry Tomarchio, Freddy Dmuchowski, Roger Laureno., Brian Truppi & a bunch more...and two no longer here, Frankie Schneider & Doug Hoffman.  It's been great knowing a lot of fun people over the years

You all kmow what they said about Pee Wee Griffin.  You either hated him or loved him.  He was my #1 at Windsor.  My Mon and I visited him while he was recuperating from some serious injuries (maybe burns) I recall that he got at (maybe) Fonda.  Anyway, Pee Wee was the nicest guy to talk to and was very appreciative of our visit.  My Flemington favs were Whip Mulligan (in both the 14 or 73) and later Glenn Fitzcharles. Always rooted for Augie Moschera and Dave Hulse at Wall.  Since I became a Billy "The Kid" fan, I root for "Jr" now.  I also for root for Dominic Buffalino and Jeff Strunk when I'm at a race that they are in.  For me, I think the racing gods have not been too favorable to either of them recently.  I admit to rooting for a driver given the circumstances of how he is doing in a given race.  An example would be if Wade Hendrickson or Frank Cozze was in a position to win a feature, I'd root for them to win, even if they're battling my guy.  One guy I really don't root for but love watching is Ryan Godown.  Damn he is fun to watch.  Am I a closet fan?  Scott Ely

Toby Tobias, Rags Carter, Jackie McLaughlin, Budd Olsen, Otto Harwii, Mike Grbac plus a host of others.

I'm going to have to wimp out on this one because they were ALL my hero's. All of the drivers that went out and put on a show and gave it a try. Not all got to victory lane but they all could have because they gave it a shot. The thing that I really hold close is the fact that I did get to know personally some of my hero's that drove 73. 

Jerry, it was good the see you as well.

My Lost Hero was Sal Moschella Sr when i was a teenager he let me work on his number 3 gremlin he drove at Pville Speedway and also the 3 pinto car he drove.  He was my hero.

---WANTED TO BE JOE kELLY  , AND DRIVE THE XL-1 !!!!

BLESSINGS !!

BILL