Dion
Brothers Racing |
Dion
Brothers Racing |
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2/21/10: A note from Dave... Last week was pretty special for me and my family, as well as all the past and present team members, fans, and sponsors that made "Dion Bros. Racing". Our team was inducted into the very prestigious Living Legends Hall Of Fame in Daytona Beach, Florida, during the 2010 Speed Weeks. The membership in this hall of fame is the "who's who" of auto racing and includes some of the pioneers that founded NASCAR and competed in the very first races on the Daytona Beach race course. For our team to be welcomed in to this organization with the "Saturday Night Hero Award" this year was overwhelming, to say the least. Since I received word that we had been selected (over 9 months ago), I have been struggling with the thoughts of how we could have earned this award on the national stage. Even as I gave our acceptance speech, I was still in disbelief and said many times "I'm not sure we deserve this great honor" to the very large audience in attendance. Some of those in the audience were Donnie and Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds, Jeff Hammond, Winston Kelley, Jack Roush, George Summers, Bill Wimble, Ray Fox, Jim Hunter etc., etc. You get the picture. I guess the few times we raced in the deep south our team represented itself well and left impressions (both good and bad, ha!) that had a lasting effect on many people and possibly helped us earn this award. I was put somewhat at ease after the banquet when people like Donnie Allison, Bill Wimble, Darrell Waltrip and others walked up and said " Your team truly deserves this award so you can stop feeling you didn't earn it". From a more personal standpoint I want to share with you what it felt like to stand on that stage and look out at my family and friends as I gave my acceptance speech. I guess I'll start with my big brother Donald who, along with his wife Lucille, was there to represent all my other brothers that weren't able to attend. They never missed being there for me when it was a race, which I am grateful for, so they get a pass for a "function", as my friend Billy would say. I'm sorry I didn't get to thank you Donald but it was getting pretty late for all of us and I wasn't able to say what I had written. I want to take the opportunity now to say thank you to all my brothers for making me look like a lot better driver than I really was. I did get to thank my family for all their support and sacrifices which I forgot to do many times in the past when accepting awards. My grandson Logan woke up (it was a long banquet and I was the last speaker) in time to hear what "the big guy" had to say so I got to look at his smiling face as I spoke, which really was special for me. It was especially nice to have Danny and Elaine there to share this special occasion with us. They were our sponsors for over twenty years with their company, Berlin City Ford, proudly displayed on all our race cars. I can honestly say they were the best sponsors ever in N.E. and two of the best friends my family has, even today. Thank you both for joining our team in 1987 and taking us all the way to end. I guess I never really considered you two sponsors but instead really good friends that loved to go racing with us. We never could have even seen "the mountain top" without your help so thank you from all of us. I don't want to forget our other great sponsor, Continental Paving, and our good friends Ricky and Mark. Although you didn't get to attend the banquet, I'm sure you are proud of the team. Your company helped us achieve much of our success. Thank you for your support and loyalty to our family and team for what seems a lifetime. I would also like to thank all the representatives from Ford racing for attending the banquet and being there to honor our team's loyalty to Ford for our entire career. Ford's new short track boss (Boss, I like that) Mike Delahanty has gone out of his way to thank and honor our team for our success and loyalty to Ford. I sometimes wonder how far we could have gone with active support from Ford like this earlier in our career. Oh well, at least it's nice to be appreciated for what we did accomplish. Time to wrap this up and get it on our web page. I'll tell everyone a little bit about the Daytona Beach Parade I got to attend when I write again. Thank you to all the fans, friends, and curious people that just check in now and then for reading this. Yours truly, Dave |