flemington speedway

Like Vanessa and Angela Simmons, I too am a daddy's girl. I adore my father. He's one of my best friends. I'm just like him; I share his nose, his eclectic music taste, and his artistic interest and ability.

Recently, he sent me a link to a website and just wrote "check it out. it's about half the way down."

I looked at the site.

http://www.3widespicturevault.com/FRONT%20PAGE%20STUFF/Flem_Memories_1.htm

It's about a speedway in Flemington, NJ. And my dad is a racing-buff. I've been to more races than I like to admit and probably know more racer's names than any other sport.

So scrolling down, I get to his memory. I'll copy and paste is here, so you can spare yourself the website. And forgive his grammar, punctuation and spelling. I'm the one with the English gene in my family.

Mark Makuch 09/09/08

Dad's Gift In the late 80's after marriage and the birth of our first child, racing trips were far and few between, but one night, I believe 1988, my old racing buddies were making a trip to Flem (as we called it). After getting the "ok" to go I got ready. A racing shirt , the obligatory red bandana for dust, a few bucks ,I turned to leave the house . In saying good bye, my wife said,"it would be really nice to get your daughter a racing shirt or something". Smiling, I kissed them both and off I went. We all piled in one big vehicle and off we went across I 78 into Jersey we went. Pulling off 31 into the lot was always a rush. Throughout the evening, I thought what to get Maggie. Between fast heats, a few brews and food, I wondered throughout the souvenir area. It seemed no one had a shirt that would fit a one year old child. Then I finally spotted the Trenton Mack Table. YES !!! they had one for a small child, heck it even had a "cute" bulldog on it !!! Of course by the time I got home she was asleep, but the next morning, she wanted to know what I got her. Her eyes opened wide at the red shirt with the 704 on it and she slipped it on right away! THANK YOU ,DADDY !!------it was still kinda big on her. My favorite Flemington memory!!

Two final thoughts, the next year, I took her to a race, Williams Grove I believe, and you should have seen the older women looking at my little girl with that racing shirt - the "ahhhhhhhhhhs"! And finally, and sadly, somewhere in her growing up and outgrowing this shirt, we gave it away or it got tossed......... What I would not do to have that little girl back and THAT SHIRT !!

And he wears tye-dye. He is most definetly my father.