MONROE — Pay it forward, because you never know when you’ll be needing help yourself.
A couple weeks ago Evergreen Speedway Super Late Model driver Jeff Knight and his Total Velocity Motorsports team lent a hand to help division driver Tom Hughs get his car put back together after a hard crash.
On Saturday, that generosity was returned to Knight, who lost his car to a fiery wreck during practice, but was still able to race thanks to a loan from Chris Preston.
Knight wasn’t in his car at the time of the accident. Longtime racer Roger Habich was driving when the right front tire blew out, sending the car into the outer wall of the speedway’s five-eighths mile oval.
The crash evidently sheared off the fuel pump, and the speedway’s fire safety crew had to deal with the resulting flames.
Preston, from Abbotsford, B.C., had brought a back-up late-model with him to the track, and he generously loaned it to Knight for the evening.
Where was Knight? If Knight wasn’t at the track, where was he?
The lead pastor for the Rock Church in Monroe was performing a wedding service. And although Knight said he usually didn’t perform weddings on Saturdays during the racing season, he made an exception because it was for one of his sponsors.
Adding insult to injury, as Knight was leaving the wedding to come to the track, not knowing his car was in flames, the groom/sponsor told him to go win the race.
Knight joked later that the bill for performing the wedding was going to get a lot larger.
Generous donation: The Youth Hornet division also raced on Saturday, with each driver getting a trophy. The trophies were courtesy of Hornet driver Billie Williams, who pulled them off his own shelf to give to the racers of the future.
Seen around: It almost seemed like there were more drivers in the grandstands than on the track. With just 10 late-models and 11 Mini-Stocks, the entry-level Hornet division was the largest field with 33 cars.
Sitting in the grandstands were Mike Holden, Tom Moriarity and Mark Weedin.
Holden competed in the late-model division last season, but is racing a limited schedule this year with the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour. Moriarity was at the season-opening race at Evergreen, but has not been back since due to funding constraints.
Both Holden and Moriarity said they hoped to return to Evergreen Speedway to race on May 30, the next time the late-models run on the big track.
Weather report: Sunny skies, with temperatures in the upper 70s greeted the fans and racers on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway. A beautiful day and night to race.
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