Race car drivers can be bitter foes on the track. But then can also be a friend in deed when a friend is in need.
That’s how Sports Radio 930 personality Tony Modica summed it up when speaking at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony of The Villages Motor Racing Fan Club on Saturday night at Colony Cottage Recreation Center.
“I mean look at it. You have Bobby Brack sitting next to Dick Anderson,” Modica said. “It’s freaking me out.”
Brack, a South Florida racing legend, was one of the inductees.
Known as “The Chief,” his trademark #57 race car was a fixture on the Southern circuit for more than three decades. His races at the Palm Beach Fairgrounds Speedway are legendary, and his on-track performance led to him acting as a stunt driving double in the 1967 biker cult film, Wild Rebels.
Wildwood resident and the driving force behind The Villages Motor Racing Fan Club, Anderson, was known around the state by various nicknames, “Tricky Dicky” or “King of the Short Tracks.”
“These guys used to holler and cuss at each other,” Modica said as the two former rivals sat side by side in the audience. “And now look at them.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum was 20-year-old racer Devin McLeod. He is a full-time college student and works a full-time job. But his dream is to be a race car driver.
His whole family came to Colony Cottage to see his hall of fame induction.
“I am 20 years old and this is my first hall of fame,” McLeod joked.
He races on Anderson’s team and is chasing his dream.
“I want to be a race car driver and these are the guys I can learn from,” McLeod said.
Other inductees included:
• David Vanderwall of the Village of Lynnhaven who introduced the club to iRacing.
• Villages residents Elaine Harrold and Jane Routte who hail from Speedway, Ind. the real home of the Indy 500.
• Villager John Peters who presented a program to the club on the Lincoln Highway.
• Sixteen-year-old Jake “No Brake Jake” Perkins of Ocala, another aspiring young racer.
In addition, Tom Horrmann was honored with the Glen Carter Crew Chief Award for his hard work on behalf of the club.
There are now 92 names engraved on the enormous Villages Motor Racing Fan Club Hall of Fame trophy.
