The History of YCRC
1979 to Present - by Karen Miller 

The York County Racing Club was formed in June, 1979 when 26 people headed by Ken Johnson met to form an organization to promote auto racing and also to establish a "Hall of Fame" to honor outstanding individuals in the sport of racing in the South Central Pennsylvania area. 

The 26 original Charter Members of the organization are Ken Johnson, Ottis Stine, Paul Miller, Richard Worley, Michael Gurtizen, Edward Stauffer, William Pepler, Scott Pepler, Bryan Householder, John Mackison, Gary Wolford, Ed Zirkle, Bob Weaver, Vince Orlando, Richard Wallace, Smokey Snellbaker, Wayne Dill, Kenny Weld, Frankie Thompson, Mike Runkle, Earl Keener, Ted Ruth, Lynn Paxton, Jack McLane, Robert Potts and Doris Potts. 

Since the Club was organized 19 years ago, it has been holding many fund-raising events in order to raise money toward this Hall of Fame. 

The first activity of the Y.C.R.C. was a benefit for the family of the late John Draucker, who was fatally injured in a sprint car race at Jennerstown Speedway. Activities included racing films, an auction of donated items and racing memorabilia, plus a bake sale. All proceeds were given to Tonia Draucker. 

In January 1980, the Y.C.R.C. held our first fund-raising event by sponsoring a dance. Other activities during the year included two 50/50 drawings; a family picnic held at Susquehanna Speedway, which included a pig roast, and a Halloween costume ball, which have all become annual events. The Club also sponsored its first bus trip to Syracuse, N.Y. for the Schaefer 100. We had two busloads for this trip and found it to be the start of many trips to come. The first official full year of the Club's existence ended with a family Christmas party which consisted of a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, and a visit by Santa who had gifts for all the children. 

The Y.C.R.C. started 1981 off by taking a trip to Atlantic City for the midget races in Convention Hall. Due to the unfortunate death of our Club Member, John Smith, the Club held its second benefit for the family of a driver in February 1981. This benefit was an auction; bake sale and dance with all proceeds going to Kitty Smith and son Jason. Other activities included the annual 50/50 drawing, family picnic at Susquehanna Speedway with a pig roast and appearances by "Frosty the Clown" and "Mickey Mouse," our Fall dance that was a country "hoe‑down," and the family Christmas party. Our second trip this year was again to Syracuse for "Dirt Week 81." 

Although the midget races were canceled in Convention Hall a few weeks earlier, 1982 began with a bus trip to Atlantic City. The end of January was the first of many Movie Nights with an attendance of over 400. In February we sponsored our first roller skating party and March was the first of many "50's dances" with "Big Wheelie and the Whitewalls." Other activities included the 50/50 drawings, our 3rd annual family picnic held at Williams Grove Speedway, our 3rd trip to Syracuse, and family Christmas party held at the 4-H Center in Bair Station. One of our dreams finally came through, with our first Hall of Fame Banquet. The year ended with our first, of many, New Year's Eve Dance. 

In 1983 we sponsored our annual Movie night, 50's dance, roller skating party, 50/50 drawings, family picnic at Williams Grove which this year included a "World Series" softball game between drivers and fans, "Country" dance, family Christmas party at the 4-H Center, and New Year's Eve dance. This year we also added a few more activities such as a bake sale and car show at "Yorktowne '83," and our first of many bus trips to Grand National races, Michigan International Speedway, which created such interest that we took two buses. 

The most activity-filled year to date was probably 1984. Our first event was the 2nd Annual Hall of Fame Banquet followed by the annual movie party, roller skating party, 50's dance, 50/50 drawings, family picnic held at the newly remodeled Susquehanna Speedway with an "Hawaiian style" pig roast, bake sale and car show at "Yorktowne '84," Fall dance which was a Halloween costume party, family Christmas party and New Year's Eve Dance. Our bus trips this year consisted of a trip to the World 600 at Charlotte, which was to become an annual event, and a trip to Darlington Speedway for the Southern 500. A new event this year was the co-sponsoring of the "Dirt Trackin" show at the York Fairgrounds. Thanks to Walt and Betty Kline, this car show has become a big fund-raising event for the York County Racing Club. Jeff Hartlaub also was gracious enough to let us sell our Club items and memberships at the Susquehanna Speedway throughout the season. Another event was the flea market at Silver Spring Speedway where we had a bake sale. As you can see, we are becoming busier each year. 

It's hard to believe that we could become even busier in 1985, but we did! The year again began with the Hall of Fame Banquet to honor the 1984 Inductees, with guest speaker Benny Parsons who is a NASCAR driver. We held our annual events such as the movie party, roller skating party held at Hagy's Fountainblu, the 50's Dance with Big Wheelie and the Whitewalls, 50/50 drawings, family picnic at Susquehanna, Yorktowne '85, bake sale at Silver Spring Flea Market, Halloween dance, family Christmas party at the 4-H Center and New Year's Eve dance. This year's bus trips were to Charlotte Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and the April race at Martinsville Speedway where we traveled to the speedway in a restored steam engine passenger train. Our biggest fund-raiser of the year was again the Dirt Trackin' show in February. A highlight of the year came in November 1985, when we purchased the Zion View Band Hall to house our Club. 

The year we worked the hardest must be 1986. With the purchase of the Zion View Band Hall in late November 1985, much work was in store for this year. Our 4th Annual Hall of Fame Banquet started the year off with Johnny Parsons, Jr. as our guest speaker. Again, our annual events consisted of a movie party, Dirt Trackin '86, 50's dance, family picnic that was the first of many events to be held at our own building, Halloween dance, Silver Spring flea market, family Christmas party and New Year's Eve dance. Among new events this year, we held a car wash, our own flea market and our first Monte Carlo Night, which was very successful. Bus trips this year included our annual trip to Charlotte, a trip to Bristol, Tennessee for a NASCAR race, and our first trip to Eldora Speedway for the Kings Royal in July. 

Our first event of 1987 began on a cold, January night, with our Hall of Fame Banquet at York Fairgrounds "Old Main" building with guest speaker Darwin Doll. This will go down in history as the "cold" banquet, as we had no heat in the middle of winter. This was followed by a movie night, Dirt Trackin' 87 and our first participation at Motorsports '87 where we took first place in the Fan Club competition. Other events included our usual skating party, picnic, flea market and soup sale, Halloween dance, 50's dance, Monte Carlo Night, Christmas party and New Year's Eve Dance. Bus trips included Charlotte World 600, Kings Royal at Eldora and Michigan Champion Spark Plug 400. 

Another busy year was 1988. The year began with our Hall of Fame Banquet at Wisehaven Hall, with Dover Raceway's Al Robinson as our guest speaker. Our regular activities for the year included the movie night, our second appearance at Motorsports, Dirt Trackin' show, yearly skating party, 50's dance, family picnic, 50/50 drawing at our September meeting earning $382 for our Building Fund, Halloween dance with "Tanner Mountain," Monte Carlo Night with all proceeds going into a trust fund for the children of Daryl Gohn who was fatally injured at Williams Grove in April of this year, and our annual Christmas Party. Our trips included Charlotte for the World 600 (this trip has now grown to the capacity of two buses and has become a yearly event), Bristol for a Winston Cup race (which has become popular and will be a semi-annual trip), and Eldora for the Kings Royal. Eldora, like Charlotte, has become an annual trip for the Y.C.R.C. This year we tried our hand at race promoting. Jeff Hartlaub gave us the use of Susquehanna Speedway to promote our first race, which raised over $7,500 for our Injured Drivers and Building Funds. We had lots of support from our members and several area businesses, and we certainly appreciate everyone’s help. 

The year 1989 started out with a very successful Hall of Fame Banquet at Wisehaven Hall with Harry Gant (Winston Cup Driver) as guest speaker.  We were not able to attend the Motorsports show due to conflicting scheduling with the Dirt Trackin' show sponsored by Walt and Betty Kline and co-sponsored by Y.C.R.C, but we did hold our yearly skating party, 50's dance with Big Wheelie and the Whitewalls, our second attempt at promoting a race at Susquehanna, which again was very successful, family picnic, Halloween dance, Monte Carlo night, and family Christmas Party. Trips included the Charlotte World 600, the Kings Royal, and a trip to Atlanta in November for the final Winston Cup race. This year saw our first attempt to sponsor a vacation trip, which was a cruise to the Caribbean attracting 108 people. Finally, in December, only 4 years after we purchased our building, we made the final mortgage payment. 

We started out the 90's with our annual Hall of Fame Awards Banquet being the first activity of the new decade. We were graced with the honor of having 1986 Indy 500 Winner Bobby Rahal as our special guest speaker. This was also the first year we included the WSBA/Busch Point Leaders in our awards. We hope to continue this for many more years. Our January Membership meeting was a special event in the history of our Club, as we had our "Mortgage Burning" ceremony. The next event was the Motorsports Show in King of Prussia. After returning from that show we put all our efforts into our Dirt Trackin' Show. Once again, thanks to show promoter Walt Kline, we were able to add $$ to our Injured Drivers and Building Funds. This year we did something different for our 50's dance and hired a DJ and had a really great time--it brought back memories of all those "Sock Hops" of the 50's. Our first bus trip was our annual visit to the World 600. In June we held our 3rd annual Sprint Car Extravaganza and with the help of promoter Alan Kreitzer this event was again successful. This same week we attended the Latimore Valley Fair held at the W.G.O.T. A small group enjoyed our trip to Cancun in July and we made our annual visit to Eldora for the Kings Royal--This year we needed three buses. August we held our family picnic and had our final bus trip for the year to North Wilkesboro, visiting Harry Gant's Steak House and Junior Johnson's garage. The Halloween dance was a lot of fun as always, and the Monte Carlo Night was another big success. This As always, we closed out the year with Santa and the Christmas Party. 

The year 1991 took no back seat to previous years where plenty of hard work and fun activities were concerned.  Our Hall of Fame Banquet was our first function with Busch Grand National Champion, Chuck Bown as special guest speaker. Chuck is a fine gentleman and we enjoyed his company very much. We attended the Motorsports show in King of Prussia and ended the month by setting up our own great "Dirt Trackin' Show" promoted by our own Walt and Betty Kline. This show helps us put extra, much needed, dollars into our Injured Drivers and Building Funds. We had our annual 50's Record Hop in March and as soon as the race tracks opened we were in attendance selling club items. In May we once again took two buses to Charlotte for the World 600. June was the month for the benefit Sprint Race at Susquehanna and the Latimore Valley Fair. In July we purchased our souvenir trailer which we took to the speedways to sell our club items and drivers T-shirts, etc. We also made our annual trip to Eldora.  We had the family picnic In August and hosted the First Annual Car Show at the Queensgate Shopping Center. September we took our final bus trip of the year to North Wilkesboro. Our Halloween Dance in October brought out many "creatures of the night." November gave us a very successful Monte Carlo Night once again. We wrapped up the year as always with Santa giving out the gifts for all the children at the Annual Christmas Party. 

The year 1992 did not start too well for me personally as Paul suffered a mild heart attack the day before our Hall of Fame Banquet. Winston Cup Driver Derrike Cope was our guest speaker. Since Paul was in the hospital, I had to entertain Derrike (A dirty job, but someone had to do it!). Derrike was quite sociable and won several hearts that evening. We traveled to King of Prussia for the Motorsports Show and wrapped up the month of January with our one and only "Dirt Trackin' Show." February was the month for the Motorama Show. We had a skating party again this year and had our annual 50's Record Hop in March. There was also a car show held in Shrewsbury, which benefited the Club. In May, we took two buses to Charlotte for the World 600. We were part of the Latimore Valley Fair in June and in July we were off to Eldora. Our second Sail‑Away Cruise was also held in July. This was quite a fantastic vacation. August was the time for our family picnic and our benefit Sprint Car race at Susquehanna. We had both a bus trip to Charlotte and our Halloween Dance in October. November was quite a month as we took two buses to Atlanta to see "King Richard's" final ride and we also held our annual Monte Carlo Night. We closed out December with our family Christmas party, the Keystone Classic Car Show and something new this year, a Christmas tree sale at Blackie's Nursery.

1993 started out much better than 1992 for all of us. We had the pleasure of having Ned Jarrett as our guest speaker for our annual Hall of Fame Banquet. As always we had a full house and Ned was very interesting. The month of January was busy again this year as we attended the Miller Motorsports Show at King of Prussia and then closed out the month with our famous "Dirt Trackin" Show. The big attraction for us in February is always the Motorama Show held in Harrisburg. These shows are a great opportunity for us to sign up new members and let the public see what our club is all about. March was the month for our annual Record Hop. This always turns out to be a lot of fun for everyone. April started our run of club nights at all the local speedways. In May we took two buses of "Wild Race Fans" to the World 600 in Charlotte. Once again we participated in the W.G.O.T. Latimore Valley Fair. This is such a good cause. In July we had two more buses of fans off to the King's Royal at Eldora Speedway. The month of August is always the time for our family picnic. This year was quite different as we had beef over an open pit, which was quite delicious. In October we had our Halloween Dance and another bus trip, this time to Rockingham, NC. November is the month for our Monte Carlo Night, which turned out to be very successful thanks to the hard work of several directors. We threw the checkered flag on 1993 with our family Christmas party, the Keystone Classic at Harrisburg and the Christmas tree sale held at Blackie's Nursery. 

Like most of the years in the past, 1994 was no exception when it came to being busy.  NASCAR Busch Grand National driver, Mike Stefanik was our guest speaker at our annual Hall of Fame banquet. Mike and his wife Julie are fine people and we enjoyed them both very much. January was a busy month as our two largest shows of the year are held back-to-back -- Miller Motorsports and Dirt Trackin'. We also attended the Motorama Show in Harrisburg. As many of you know the newest item to grace our trailer is our "Racing" Teddy Bears, which we sold over 750. Our director, Becky Murphy, dreamed up this clever idea. In March we had our yearly Record Hop and the month of April started our lineup of YCRC Nights at the local tracks. May was a busy month as we took our third "Sail-Away" to the Southern Caribbean and boarded two buses to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600.  In June we were invited to the Bonneville Fair and attended the Latimore Valley Fair. July was a fun month as we helped participate in the first annual "NASCAR York Invasion," (however, we had lots of rain), and we took our annual bus trip to Eldora for the King's Royal. We participated in the 1st Annual Indycar” race in downtown York during  August, and also held our annual family picnic, which was a very successful thanks to Joel Klinedinst and his committee. The last day of September we left for North Wilkesboro with three buses of anxious race fans. In October we had another flea market with chicken corn soup prepared by Karen and Alan Beinhower. We also started preparing for our 1996 cruise (our 4th) with destination to Alaska. Our annual Monte Carlo Night was in November and as always Gary and Linda Miller did an excellent job.  December was quite busy with our family Christmas party, and our last show of the year--the Northeast Racing Expo hosted by Debbie Tobias Lotier.  What a terrific year we had in 1994 and we even had our whole parking lot paved. 

The Year 1995 turned out to be a very good year for the Y.C.R.C.  We had the pleasure of having Benny Parsons back as our guest speaker for our Hall of Fame Banquet.  January was also the month for the Motorsports Show and our favorite “Dirt Trackin” Show.  With most of the board vacationing in Florida in February, we had a small group of directors represent us at the Motorama Show.  We tried something new for ‘95--An April Fools Dance.  May was the month we started our tour of the tracks for Club Nights.  This is also the month we took “92" rowdy race fans to Charlotte.  What a great trip and an even greater track.  The Latimore Valley Fair is our home for a week every June.  WGOT is such a good organization and we like to help out when we can.  July was the second annual “NASCAR” Invasion in York.  We had quite a successful day.  We also took our annual trip to Eldora for the King’s Royal.  We started off August with the family picnic and as always the committee did another great job.  We also were represented at the York Mini-Grand Prix.  About this time of the year Becky Murphy had made another 500 Teddy Bears!  In October we had another flea market with the “Beinhower Chicken Corn” taking center stage.  Our final bus trip for the year was to Rockingham.  We had three buses again for this fall trip.  As always, November is the month for our Monte Carlo Night.  Each year chairman Gary Miller and wife Linda amaze me at what a great job they do.  We also attended a new collector show in Harrisburg and did quite well.  We closed out the year with our family Christmas Party in December.  Thanks to Santa and all the Elves for a wonderful dinner.  The Northeast Racing Expo hosted by Debbie Tobias Lotier was very successful in spite of the weather.  This year the improvements on the building included new doors, windows and a brand new riding mower. 

As in the past, 1996 was busier than previous years.  In January we had our Hall of Fame Banquet with guest speaker Robert Pressley.  The next day we had a cruise meeting scheduled, but due to the BLIZZARD of ‘96, we had to cancel.  We shoveled our way out to attend the Motorsports Show and ended the month with the Dirt Trackin’ Show.  February we headed to Harrisburg for the Motorama Show.  By the time April came around, we were starting our Club Nights.  The bus trip to Charlotte over Memorial Day turned out like always--Terrific!  In June we packed up and headed to Latimore Valley for the fair.  It was a little “damp” to say the least, but we still had a good time and made some money to “boot.”  July was the month we were waiting for.  Our 4th “Sail-Away” cruise --This time to Alaska.  All 179 people reported to have a great time.  We also took our annual bus trip to Eldora the day after the 3rd NASCAR Invasion in downtown York--Another busy month!  August started out with our Family Picnic.  I must say Richie Hughes’s corn-on-the-cob was the highlight of the day.  We attended the Queensgate car show with Ken Schrader and the very same weekend we helped with the Mini-Grand Prix in downtown York.  September closed out the club nights for the year.  In October we took our 3rd but trip for the season, this time to Rockingham.  All 92 people had a great time.  We ended the month with our annual Monte Carlo Night.  In November we attended the NASCAR show in Harrisburg and practically sold out of everything.  In December we had our family Christmas Party.  As always, Santa showed up with goodies for all the kids and the committee did another fantastic job on the meal.  Due to the success of our cruise, we were able to purchase a truck to tow our souvenir trailer and we had a pavilion constructed behind the building to hold outside events. 

1997 Started out better than 1996 (at least weather-wise).  Our Hall of Fame Banquet was quite a success, thanks to our guest speaker, BUCKSHOT JONES.  What a little cutie he is!  As always, the start of the year is very busy because of the Motorsports Show and the Dirt Trackin’ Show.  In February we held a Daytona Party, complete with big screen TV.  The Motorama Show in Harrisburg closed out the month.  May started our Club Nights at the local tracks, and the bus trip to Charlotte over Memorial Day was successful as always.  June was a busy month as we helped host a dinner for Ernie Irvan.  The Club auctioned off one of Ernie’s jackets and put the money into our Injured Drivers Fund.  We closed out the month with our participation at the Latimore Valley Fair.  July was as crazy as always--Speed Week, 4th Annual NASCAR Invasion and our bus trip to Eldora.  August didn’t bring us much relief, as we started out with the family picnic, four Club Nights, plus the Mini-Grand Prix in downtown York.  Everything started to slow down in September with the last of our Club nights.  In October, we attended the 1st Annual Kenny Weld Memorial Race at Lincoln, and closed out the month with our bus trip to Rockingham.  We ended up getting rained out (first time ever) and had to stay an extra day.  In November we held our Annual Monte Carlo Night, plus an Atlanta Party to close out the Winston Cup Season.  The year ended, as always, with our Family Christmas Party, complete with Santa, presents, and a very delicious meal.  Thanks to the help of a great team of officers and directors, we had another successful year! 

As in previous years, the month of January is usually one that keeps us quite busy. We started 1998 off with our Hall of Fame Banquet.  Glenn Jarrett was our guest speaker and did an excellent job.  We then have our two largest car shows back-to-back just to keep us on our toes.  By the end of the month we were all tired.  February is the month for our Daytona Party and another car show.  This year we decided we needed to attend more shows so we went to the A.W. Golden Show in March.  This is a very nice show and we plan to continue attending each year.  Took a little break until May when we started to take the trailer out for the Club Nights at the tracks.  We visited Airport, Lincoln and Trailway in addition to our bus trip to Charlotte for the World 600.  June was a little hectic as we had a few more Club Nights, the John Andretti dinner, and the Latimore Valley Fair.  July started out with Speed Week, a few more Club Nights, and the bus trip to Eldora for the King’s Royal and the Invasion of NASCAR in Downtown York!  We took a breather in September and got ready for October.  We attended the Kenny Weld Memorial Race at Lincoln, took the bus trip to Rockingham and had our annual Monte Carlo Night.  Finally November arrived and we set sail on our 5th SAIL-AWAY CRUISE. This trip was through the Panama Canal and was wonderful.  Plans for our 6th Sail-Away for the year 2000 are already underway.  As always, we closed out the year with our Family Christmas Party complete with Santa and a meal that was fit for a king. Besides all the above mentioned activities, the Club has "Club Nights" at local tracks. Pewter plates are presented to the winners of all divisions and drivers who are members receive an additional $25.00. The Club also sponsors laps for championship races at various tracks, plus participates in events held by Williams Grove Old Timers. 

The club decided to start the last year of the century like all the ones in the past, that is by making January one of the busiest months of the year. Paul was the recipient of a "ROAST" to celebrate his 70th birthday. The weather didn't cooperate very well, but there was still a group of about 100 of Paul's friends and relatives in attendance. Next we held our Hall of Fame Banquet at Wisehaven Hall. Dave Blaney was our Special Guest Speaker and fact that Dave was a previous World of Outlaw Champion gave him everyone's undivided attention. Once again this year our two largest shows (Motorsports Show and the Dirt Trackin' Show) were held back-to-back. Oh well, I guess that helps keep us young! It's good February is a short month since we only had our Daytona 500 Party and the Motorama Show. Just to Keep in the "show mode" we attend the A.W. Golden in the month of March. We took off the month of April off (HA) and got ready for our Club Nights at the tracks, which started in May. We visited Lincoln, Silver Spring and Hagerstown Speedways. We also attended the Mike Skinner Dinner held downtown York and closed the month with our annual bus trip to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600. Every year this trip gets to be more fun. In June we headed down south to Airport Speedway for our Club Night. What a good reception when we visited -- a wonderful group of people. We then set-up our display at Latimore Valley Fair. This is always a great event for us and we enjoy seeing all our friends from the W.G.O.T. Organization. Speed Weeks 99 rounded out the month of June and continued right into July. We also had Club Night's at Port Royal, Linda, Selinsgrove, Williams Grove and return trip to Hagerstown (the May race was rained out). In addition, we hosted our annual bus trip to Eldora for the King's Royal. This is always a fun trip too. The sprint car fans are a little different than the Winston Cup fans. We also had a little time left over this month so we set everything up in downtown York for the Annual "NASCAR DAY" event. The month of July is starting to be as busy as the month of January! When you start to count busy months, August doesn't fall too far behind January and July. Our annual Picnic is always held the first Sunday of the month. That is when we have the great corn-on-the-cob that Richie Hughes always donates. This always is a fun time for all the members to get together and have a nice relaxing day. Club Nights were held at Port Royal, Trailway, Lincoln and Shellhamers. We never made it the whole way to Shellhamers because the motor blew in our truck on the way! Thanks to Dale Hammacker and crew for rescuing us, as we were stranded on I-81. There was a joint a venture with the Strinestown Fire Company this month too. We held a chicken bar-b-que and a car show. In spite of the bad weather we still had a nice day. September started to slow things down again as we only had a Club Night at Williams Grove. We also attended the KARS National Open at Susquehanna Speedway. The first Saturday in November is always the date of our Annual Monte Carlo Night. It seems each year this event gets to be more fun. This is a night that you should keep open for 2000. The Christmas Party was held the first Sunday in December and once again Santa was the Big Hit of the Day. There was also a puppet show, which the kids really enjoyed, and our committee has the reputation of making the Best Roast Beef in the East. Now we need to get ready for the next Millennium. 

We welcomed in the new Millennium with our annual Hall of Fame Banquet.  This was a big year for us because It marked our 20th Anniversary.  This year our banquet was held at the York Expo Center.  Our Special Guest Speaker was Indy Champion, Johnny Rutherford.  We closed out the month with the two largest car shows again Being held back -to-back.  These, of course, are Motorsports Show and Dirt Trackin’ Show. This schedule really Keeps us on our toes.  The Month of February was better because we only had the Motorama Show.  We took a break in March and then April we hosted our 2nd Annual Car Show and Chicken Barbeque.  This was a joint venture with the Strinestown Fire Company.  Our show was more successful this year as the weather cooperated and we had a nice day.  In May we attended our second Hanover Car Show, which was not successful at all due to the weather (rain all day).  We had our first Club Night of the year at Silver Spring and we closed the month with our annual bus trip to Charlotte for the Cola-Cola 600 over Memorial Day Weekend.  This year we had the added bonus of the Outlaws on the new track at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  In June we had Club Nights at Trailway, Williams Grove and Airport Speedways.  We also had our annual weekend at Latimore Valley Fair.  This is always a great weekend for us.   The fair benefits W.G.O.T. Museum.  We closed out June with start of Speed Week, which carried over into the first week of July.  Club Nights in July were held at Linda, Lincoln, Selinsgrove and Thunder Valley Speedways.  The annual bus trip to King’s Royal at Eldora was a lot of fun as always.  This Is also the month for the big NASCAR Day, which is held in Downtown York.  Not much free time in July!  August didn’t fall behind as we had Club Night’s at Port Royal, Susquehanna, Lincoln and Shellhamers.  This is also the month for our Annual Family Picnic.  Thanks again this year to Richie Hughes for donating all the corn.  This is a great day for the whole family, with plenty to eat and drink.  We closed out August with a Car Show at Allen’s Kart Way in Hanover.  In September we slowed things a bit as we hosted our Sail-Away VI Cruise to Hawaii.  This was an 11-Day Adventure that was a vacation of a lifetime.  Now we need to start making plans for our next cruise, which will be in 2002.  The annual Monte Carlo Night was held in November and, as always, this was a great success due to all the donations from all our sponsors.  The last month of the new century closed with our Family Christmas Party.  This is another free event that we have for all our members.  We have a great roast beef dinner with all the trimmings.  Santa is also on hand to see that everyone gets a gift, we always have entertainment for the whole family.  That was about it for another year.  Not much time to rest because it is almost time to start all over for 2001. 

As we look back on 2001 we will most likely remember it as a year filled with great tragedy and a fear of a future filled with uncertainty.  I think we will also remember it as a time when all Americans joined together and showed the World that we are a Country, which loves our freedom, and are willing to fight for it.  January started out with our banquet that was held at the York Expo Center.  We were honored with Bobby Allison as our guest speaker.  As always, we closed the month with our two largest shows of the year, the Motorsports Show and the Dirt Trackin’ Show.  February is always one of the calmer months because the only Club activity was attending the Motorama Show held at the Farm Show Complex.  The last day of the show was also the running of the Daytona 500, which we all know ended in the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt.  It will take a long time for this void to be filled. The only memorable event that occurred in March was on the evening of the KARS meeting when the gas stove at the club building decided to “blow up” – only bad thing that came out of the incident was Paul rushing Karen to the hospital for burns.  Believe me when I say “no more cooking for me”.  The 3rd Annual Car Show and Chicken Bar-B-Que was held at the Club Building in April.  Each year this event gets larger.  The month of May started our Club Nights when we headed off to Lincoln Speedway.  The month closed with our annual bus trip to Charlotte for the World 600 over Memorial Day weekend.  In June we were quite busy as we had a Club Night at Linda Speedway in addition to attending Silver Spring and Port Royal for Speedweek. The month of June is also when we have our display set up at Latimore Valley Fair.  This event benefits the W.G.O.T. Museum and always is a great fundraiser for our Club.  July is probably one busiest months we have as we had the trailer at Williams Grove, Lincoln (2 times), Trailway, Port Royal and Linda.  In addition, we attended the Annual Nascar Invasion which was held at the York Expo Center for the first time.  One more activity was our annual bus trip to Eldora for the King’s Royal.  This is a great weekend and we always have a good time.  August rolled around quickly and we had Club Nights at Williams Grove, Silver Spring and Shellhamers.  We also had our Family Picnic the first weekend of the month.  As always, the corn-on-the-cob was out of this world.  Everyone attending had a good time.   September things started to slow down as the only activity we had was another car show.  This was a first for a show at the Mountain Creek Camp Ground.  It tuned out quite nice and we decide to have a two-day show next year.  October was a month with no activites scheduled, but the month of November started with a bang as we hosted our Annual Monte Carlo Night. It proved to be another great event with everyone going home with very nice gifts.  The fall KARS meeting was held and this time I stayed farfrom the stove!  The curtain came down on 2001 with our Family Christmas Party. As always, Santa was in attendance and another greet meal of roast beef was on hand for all those members that came out to enjoy a day with our Club Members.   

YCRC Brick at National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum

 On June 18th, 2001 the York County Racing Club Brick has been completed and is now located on the Foyer Wall at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum in Knoxville, Iowa.

 The year 2002 started out with the whole country feeling a great sense of pride and patriotism. Everywhere you looked you saw American flags and decorations of Red, White, and Blue. The 20th Annual Hall f Fame banquet was quite a special one partly because of our special quest speaker, Brad Doty. As always, the Motorsports and the Dirt Trackin’ Shows were very successful for us. The 4th Annual Car Show and chicken barbeque, which is a joint venture with the Strinestown Fire Company was held in April.  Each year we seem to draw more cars to the show. The month of May started with our Club Nights at various tracks and ended with our bus trip to Charlotte for the Coca Cola 600. June saw more Club Nights in addition to Latimore Valley Fair. July was quite busy with more Club Nights and the PA Speed Week shows. This year we had 56 people attend our Eldora Bus Trip to go see the King’s Royal. The first York US 30 Muscle Car Madness Show was held at the York Expo Center. This show was quite a hit and it was great to see many of the stars and cars from the past. In August we had the   balance of our Club Nights. The annual family picnic was again a day filled with good food and fun for all. In September we held our Raffle drawing at our Membership Meeting. Thanks to Brewery Products and donations from other fine folks, we made over $4000.00 on this project. We also held our 2nd car show at the Mountain Creek Camp Grounds. We welcomed in November with the annual Monte Carlo Night. As always everyone worked hard to make this night a success. We closed out the month with our 7th Sail-Away Cruise to the Caribbean. What a wonderful vacation this turned out to be for everyone. As always, we closed the year with our family Christmas Party. Santa had gifts for all and the roast beef dinner was once again out of this world. 

Besides all the above-mentioned activities, the Club has “Club Nights” at local tracks.  Pewter plates are presented to the winners of all divisions and drivers who are members receive an additional $25.00.  The Club also sponsors laps for championship races at various tracks, plus participates in events held by William Grove Old Timers. 

Y.C.R.C. publishes a bi-monthly newsletter and also holds bi-monthly membership meetings, which everyone is encouraged to attend. These meetings usually have special guest speakers from the racing world to give us the "latest" news. 

In addition to the activities and awards, our Club has on several occasions helped drivers who have met with an unfortunate accident or situation. Our "Injured Drivers Fund" was established in 1986 with the help of Brewery Products and American Speed Center.  In 1999 the racing community lost a good sprint car driver and an even better friend.  Kevin Gobrecht was fatally injured in a racing accident at Greenwood, Nebraska at the I-80 Speedway.  Through the generosity of his family, donations that exceeded $6000 were made to our Injured Drivers Fund.  One of the main objectives of the Club is to help the "Sport of Auto Racing" whenever, and wherever, it can. 

As we induct our latest group of inductees into the Y.C.R.C. Hall of Fame, let's all remember the above mentioned activities are needed in order to keep the Hall of Fame event possible. Please try to support your Club by attending these events.