Hey folks, its time to tell everyone about the great fun we all had at the Tom Baldwin Memorial Open. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. The spectators in attendance were incredibly enthusiastic and the golfers…err…racing people with clubs…well most of them tried.

Chuck Hossfeld was swarmed by media folks inquiring of his recent departure from the Hillbilly Racing team. Hossfeld hit a shot, over a row of trees, which landed on the fourth green just about four feet from the pin! I asked Chuck, “Where did you learn to do that?” Hossfeld responded, “Tell all of the kids out there that if they work as hard at their golf game as I have with mine, they can do the same thing.” Oh, by the way, that shot was made from the fifth tee.

EMTs were on hand just incase someone got injured. Through the day the temperature rose and the “beverage” carts were getting quite a workout. Figuring that one of the participants might have become dehydrated, I asked the EMTs whether they had started any IVs yet. She responded, “Not yet, but a couple of the guys in this group look promising.” I think that she thought they were hammered. It was just racing people acting normal.

After witnessing firsthand how well all of the folks in our community played last year, I had planned on playing in this year’s outing. Unfortunately, the finances just weren’t there for me to be able to play the way that I wanted. If it was going to get done, I wanted a chance to win.

As it turned out, Steve Halpin had me work as a guest service person again. It worked out pretty well. I wish that passenger cart had a roof on it. My legs got sunburned so badly that I couldn’t wear pants for several days.

It was great to see Steve Aspinwall golfing with the Bill Davis guys. Steve worked with the Mystic Missile team before heading south. One of his fellow golfers was Jason Kivette. Jason is the catch can man for the #22 Caterpillar team. Mary Hodge took a picture of us by the seventh tee. Jason and I worked together on a Craftsman truck team several years ago.

Here are a couple Baldwin Memorial Open trivia questions. What do Tracey Christensen, Jason Kivette and Steve Aspinwall all have in common? What one thing separates those aforementioned persons and why? The first to respond with the correct answers will be featured in a future article.

One of the celebrities that I had the pleasure of meeting was New York Giants Hall-of-Famer, Harry Carson. He looked like a million dollars. It was a pleasure talking to him and I wonder how many people didn’t even notice that he was there.

I had a great time talking with Matt Yocum after the event. Matt has been running a streak of covering Nextel Cup events that is staggering to think of. Yocum will take a break from that later this year. His plans include taking a motorcycle ride across Canada. Matt golfed with Rich Pallai and the Carquest guys and grabbed first place in net score.

Guy Ronzoni’s guys took down the first prize for low gross score. His team sounded like a law firm. Ashby, Ashby, Ashby and Potabi joined him in celebrating the victory.

Shopgirl and I sponsored a hole. It turned out that we wound up sponsoring the first hole. Brian Crowley wrote, “Big Gulp Harry!” on our sign. He followed that with the longest drive of the day.

Eric Beers got closest to the pin on the fourteenth hole. Although he couldn’t hang around to accept the trophy, Eric told Steve Halpin to give the trophy to Steve Bauer, III. Steve Bauer, Sr. is the crew chief for Sal Accardi, Jr. in the Whelen All-American Series at Riverhead Raceway. We lost his son, Steve, Jr. to a tragic accident over the winter. It was an emotional moment when the biggest trophy of the day was presented to his son. Eric will meet with Steve, III on August 4th at the Riverhead WMT race.

In addition to providing the Tom Baldwin Memorial with event attire at cost, Gene Ullman from ASi has been raising money for the Memorial through sales of Tom Baldwin t-shirts over the past year. Gene presented Steve with a check for $5000 for the proceeds from those shirts to go directly to Victory Junction.

We were also fed well and need to thank a number of sponsors for their participation. Breakfast was sponsored by NASCAR in honor of The NASCAR Foundation with thanks to the France family. Stafford Motor Speedway and Carquest Auto Parts sponsored lunch with thanks to the Arute family and Rich Pallai. Thanks to Finton, Nile, Robert and their staff from the Irish Coffee Pub at Bellport Country Club for catering the affair.

The Baldwin Memorial staff would like to thank a few more people. Jim Wichert from Unique Golf supplied our golfers with equipment and golf balls. Former Baldwin crewmember, Steve Stattle, provided signs for the event by Sign Ink and Designs. Bruce, from Racecrafts Plaques and Trophies, provided all of the trophies and special awards. Bill Davis Racing, Tony Stewart and Hampton Jitney provided transportation with thanks to the Ted Baxter, Tony Stewart and Bill & Gail Davis. Shore Mechanical sponsored the beverage cart with thanks to David Newins.

Steve Halpin tells me that Matt Yocum was responsible for getting Kasey Kahne and Dave Blaney to the Open from Eldora. Apparently, he was able to secure the use of Tony Stewart’s airplane. Mike Joy had planned on coming on the same craft but sent regrets as he attended the funeral for Bill France, Jr.

Tammy Baldwin and Carol D’Amaro ran around all day selling raffle tickets and tickets for the 50-50. They really did a great job and raised over twenty-five hundred dollars. The Arute family and Stafford Motor Speedway contributed a ticket package that included hospitality and suite access for a Whelen Modified Tour event. In addition, we thank Bob and Scott from Triple Crown Sports who ran our silent auction.

Rick Sobelman won the 50-50. The prize was over a thousand dollars. He paid for his golf and gave five hundred dollars back. Not a bad day to get a game of golf, three meals, donate $500 and walk away a yard heavier.

A big thank you goes out to Bob Finan for being our emcee at the awards presentation. Bob did a great job despite standing a little too close to the beverage cart all day. Finan made a nice toast to Tommy and Bill France, Jr. at dinner. His professionalism brings a lot of class to the whole event.

The tour rolls on. We’ll see everyone up at Thompson in about a week. Until then, I’d like to personally thank all of those who participated in the Memorial.