|
LAWRENCE'S PASSING LEAVES VOID AT TRACK
BY RYAN CUREATZ, LONDON FREE PRESS REPORTER
June 21, 2006 - Buy, Clip, Save
|
Stock car racer Dave Lawrence, who tore up the track at Delaware Speedway, winning back-to-back street stock championships, died Saturday. He was 41.
To the racing community where Lawrence was a leader, his death was like NASCAR's sudden loss of Dale Earnhardt Sr., a longtime friend of Lawrence said yesterday.
"He did more for that speedway than anyone else," Matt Lake said.
After finishing second in points in 2001, Lawrence won back-to-back championships. He also was the first to receive the track's Spirit of Racing Award in 2002 for the dedication, compassion and teamwork he showed at the track, said Delaware general manager Kevin Bulmer.
"He would go out of his way to make someone else's car better," Bulmer said. "He liked a race. He didn't want to lead a parade."
Racing in his custom-built 1975 Pontiac Ventura -- marked with his longtime No. 28 -- Lawrence was leading his division in points before he died. "His goal was to have a good competitive class," Lake said. "That was his whole plan."
Lawrence, who mentored Lake's son, Darrell, when he moved from junior to street stock, was "truly amazing" in wanting to help other drivers, Matt Lake said.
"If it wasn't for him . . . we would never have got out to the track."
Besides lending his experience at test-driving other race cars, Lawrence welcomed others to the shop by his home near Lambeth for "bench-racing" sessions, where drivers often traded stories, Bulmer said.
"Dave's place was where that was done. (He was) a guy whose line was always available and whose door was always open."
Lawrence is survived by his wife, Heather and sons, Kris, 14, and Jordan, 11.
His funeral is scheduled for tomorrow after his family decided he wouldn't have wanted to stop his sons from junior racing at Delaware tonight, Lake said.
Lawrence had just watched Jordan win his first feature race last week, Lake said.
"It just meant so much more (to him) than any of his victories ever did."
|
FAMILY AFFAIR: Dave Lawrence had two loves in hislife -- family and racing at Delaware Speedway. Lawrence, who died Saturday, is pictured sharing a family racing moment with son Kris, 13, wife Heather and son Jordan, 10, last summer.
|
 |
Dave Lawrence passed away in his sleep Saturday, June 17, 2006. Please help us remember Dave and all of the wonderful things that he stood for - family, friends, racing, sportsmanship, generosity. He touched so many lives in so many ways. Please share your recollections and stories about Dave. We have set up a Forum for this at CASCAR Online, click here to go to the FORUM. If you would rather just email us that's OK too. In time we will collect all of your memories and share them with Dave's family so that they can see how much Dave meant to everyone.
Also, if you would like to make a donation in Dave's honour the family asks that it be made to the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, 620 Colborne Street, Suite 301, London, Ontario N6B-3R9. You can also donate online at: http://www.braintumour.ca/braintumour.nsf/eng/DonateNow. THANKS!
|
|
