RACING FOR SMILES OF THE NORTHWEST & MERIDIAN SPEEDWAY PROVIDE BIG "SMILES".

Source: B Calkins/R Hayes
Date: 07/02/2008

RFSNW board members greeted 10 yr old Alec as he made his way through the pit entrance at Meridian Speedway. Alec was in for a full day of fun meeting drivers and then getting to watch them compete against each other. Before all that was to start, Alec was presented with a gift bag of NASCAR accessories donated from local Rev-It-Up, a local NASCAR store in Boise. Also along with these wonderful gifts were a set of replica flags hand made by Sandy Midiere from Premier Construction in Los Banos Calif. Alec wasn't done receiving gifts yet, he was presented with a RFSNW T-Shirt to get as many autographs as possible. All RFSNW shirts are donated by Stout Creations in Nampa, ID

Before Alec could get his tour of the pits started; he was introduced to a true "Legend". He got the chance to meet Ken Hamilton, who is the father of Indy 500 participant and advisor for professional motorsports with RFSNW, Davey Hamilton. Alec really enjoyed talking to Ken, He said, "He's one of the nicest drivers I have ever met". Now with his pit tour started Alec met and spoke to many Grand American Modified drivers. Getting down to the Non-Winged Sprints Alec met up with Don Kithcart who owns and operates Western Raceway Video at the speedway. Another driver that had time to speak with Alec was Super-Modified driver Jeff Russell. Jeff explained the difference between his Non-Winged Sprint and his Super-Modified.

Johnny Giesler was the next driver more than willing to sign on Alec's shirt, As a bonus Alec got the opportunity to get the feel of racing by sitting in his car. Alec was all smiles while he said how "cool" that was. While walking down to the Late Model Lites we met up with John Wood, who is co-promoter of Meridian Speedway with Ken Hamilton. With a handshake and a conversation on how his day has been he now had met both promoters and was on his way. There were many Late Model Lite drivers who took out their Sharpie pens to autograph Alec's shirt. Neil Latham, Rob Powers, Joe Barton & Jim Bailey all took the time to sign and talk racing with Alec and his family. Following his pit walk Alec and his family enjoyed lunch at the Speedway's excellent concession stand.

After a trip home and back, the racing action was ready to start. With the trophy dashes completed, Alec was all ready to get some photos taken with the winners. Alec's day of surprises had just started. After he had his picture taken with Late Model Lite trophy dash winner Neil Latham, Latham then presented Alec with the trophy. The smiles kept growing as Alec went back to his seat with what he thought was the best gift of the day. As the night of racing went on, Alec's thought was to see if there could be a chance for a main event trophy. After watching a very exciting Late Model Lite main event, picture's were in order. Joe Barton won the hard fought battle to collect the hardware. Being a very big supporter of RFSNW that he is, Joe then signed the trophy and handed it to Alec, That made a perfect close on a perfect night.

RFSNW would like to thank John Wood, Ken Hamilton and the Meridian Speedway personnel for allowing these events to put "Smiles" on children's faces. Special thanks also go out to ASA (American Speed Association), Stout Creations, Rev-It-Up and Premier Construction in Los Banos, CA. Thanks go out to Lamb Airflow & Boise Spring Works and all the drivers at Meridian Speedway. RFSNW next event will be on July 19, 2008 at Meridian Speedway.

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