Sticky Tires News Letter – November 2023

My friend died last week. Jerry Pintar was good at what he did. Whether it was taking care of our facility or shooting at the Action Pistol Range, he exuded a quiet competence. He had a knack for knowing everyone. He was a consummate volunteer, whether at the racetrack or OCSC. He kept himself in pretty good shape, so his death was a shock to us all.

As I look around our WHRRI and OCSC meetings, I can’t help but notice that we have a high percentage of “mature adults” (myself included). Jerry’s death can be a lesson to us all. He had been sick with a non-covid virus in mid-September. He felt better enough by race weekend 6 to be at the track. Sometime during the following week he felt exhausted. He missed the OCSC general meeting, something he would not normally do. The next day, having trouble catching his breath and feeling even more exhausted, he had his neighbor take him to an urgent care facility.

They took one look at him and transferred him by ambulance to the hospital where he was quickly catheterized and had a stent placed. Unfortunately, the mild heart attack he was having and that he misdiagnosed as a recurrent virus went on long enough that he died two days later, his heart too damaged to function, never really
regaining consciousness.

I can’t help but think that had he not had the initial virus he would have gone to the doctor when the symptoms started. I can’t help but think that he would be at the track today rather than at the funeral home where we will go to say goodbye to him tomorrow. God speed my friend. It is hard to believe you are gone. We will miss you.

Our final race weekend went well. The Big Bore Bash and the Pursuit Race were exciting to watch. Everyone worked hard to make the weekend a success. We have been blessed with resurgence in the ranks of our volunteers. I hope we can continue it next year.

We are also blessed by a renewed interest in our Board of Director positions. Geoff Hegel, Adam Grzech, Greg O’Daniel and Tom Christen will be sworn in as new Board members at our October meeting.

For the first time in quite a few years we had a Volunteer Appreciation Day on October 1st. I think it was a great success despite the pall cast by the news of Jerry’s passing. We had rides in racecars, games for the kids and plenty of good food. It was their day to have the racers cater to them rather than the other way around. I trust it will again become an annual event.

The banquet will be held on November 11th in the OCSC clubhouse. We are limited to 150 guests. Over 100 people have bought tickets already, so if you are planning on attending let Ron or Pam Krantz know soon. The Board voted to subsidize the banquet this year so tickets are only $25.00. The cost will be substantially more at the door if there are any left.

Once again, I will cut and paste part of what I wrote last month. WHRRI’s continued success depends more than you think on our participation in our parent club. I’ll spare everyone my rant about volunteering in a virtually all-volunteer club. We all know what needs to be done. I will though, continue to extol the virtues of being active at the OCSC with a reminder that we are already members of OCSC and that we owe the club our loyalty and participation. As is the case with WHRRI, it seems that 95 percent of the work gets done by 5 percent of the members. Despite there being more than 130 WHRRI members, I don’t think I see more than 10 of us at the OCSC general membership meeting. We can do better. The food is good and the beer is cold. Come to a meeting and find out what is going on.

If you are proud of your race car, why not show it at Autorama, March 1-3 2024? Email me if you are interested. We need 4 more at the show. We pay the entry fee, you show up with a gleaming car and go home with a trophy from the world famous Autorama!

Brian Murphy
President, WHRRI