Crew Duties, Championships, and Sarcoidosis: How Does A Second Championship Compare?

Amy B. Taylor   

Driver and two-time Champion, Gary Sine with car owner and crew member, Amy Taylor.  Photo courtesy of North Folk Photos

What is it like to be part of the winning team, and to have done so a second time? That is tough to answer, given the many changes on and off the track that have taken place in two short years! Let me back up and perhaps compare the two seasons, and maybe you’ll understand what I mean.

The 2000 season started on a somber note. Leonard Sine, my mentor and crew chief for the team, passed away one month before the start of the season. We (friends that were competitors as well) collectively were determined that Gary Sine would win the championship. What we weren’t expecting were the fumbles and foibles that would follow, making it look more like the luck a first year team often experiences!

Race #2: Gary came in for a tire change, and we had nothing prepared. No tires off the trailer, no impact wrench ready to go, nothing. That was Len’s job, so we cursed and cried at the same time, while Gary lost several laps due to our lack of planning.

Race #5: Gary head-ons the wall in practice after the car in front of him loses an engine. OUCH. He has a pretty good case of whiplash going and as he lies on the trailer icing down his neck, fellow racers and our crew, beat and bang on the car and have it ready for the dash. The front end gets a new clip that week, which meant working into the wee hours of the morning before going to day jobs, just so we don’t miss a race.

Race #18: Gary loses points for the night because the club decided the class should no longer run radios. It was understood that the radios needed to be out by the next week, but we apparently misunderstood, as Gary’s points were taken away as the club said he shouldn’t have used the radio. Period. I spent the better part of a Sunday afternoon negotiating with board members and finally get his points reinstated, after agreeing to pay a twenty-five dollar fine.

Race #21: The win! We made it! Gary is the champion! Tear-down looks good. Everything is deemed legal! HE DID IT! Champagne bath and all! Whoo Hoo! At our usual gathering place at Denny’s afterward, we all sit in silence, which is broken by my starting to cry. It was such a long, emotional journey and now it was over…and even if nobody dared to say it, we were missing Leonard…

2002 Season

What a difference two years can make! Gary set new records for the season. He won fifteen of twenty-one main events, with seven of those consecutive wins. He also set a new points standard of over one thousand. He had the championship sewn up with four races to go!

When visiting Port Angeles Speedway for the first time, Sine proved why he was the season high point champion. Not only did he set the new track record, he finished 2nd in the main event feature.

This should make any car owner or crewmember ECSTATIC! Unfortunately, I was feeling a bit disjointed from this huge team effort, as my participation this season was minimal at best. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Sarcoidosis just about halfway into the season. The disease has left me fatigued, out of breath, and with more limitations than I could have ever imagined at my young age of 37. (Ninety percent of the cases of Sarcoidosis are found in the lungs. Other sites are: skin, liver, lymph glands, spleen, eyes, nervous system, musculoskeletal system (muscles and bones in the body) heart, brain, kidneys.) My lungs and eyelids are what are affected at this point in time. I had to go on Prednisone to treat the disease, as my health began to worsen by the end of the season. The Prednisone has its own unwanted side effects.

Pushing the car about twenty feet can leave me out of breath for ten minutes. And I don’t DARE stand anywhere near the cars when they are warming up. The fumes are not good for my compromised lungs. Pumping the jack for a tire change or rolling the tire over can leave me trying to catch my breath as well. And if I’ve actually got to DO any of those pit duties, I can often be laid up in bed for the next few days, as I will get the body aches, similar to flu symptoms. I even sometimes require physical help to get in and out of that bed. But I do what I can for the team, whenever I can because I am hooked!

The guys have been GREAT through all of this. I missed a lot this year – not just the actual races themselves, but with the crew duties I have performed over the last few years. In an effort to raise awareness of the disease, Jon, Gary and Billy have put Sarcoidosis Awareness stickers on their cars, just like their sponsors. They let me know over and over again, that although physically I’m not able to assist in my usual capacity, that my presence and support (and meals I cook in the motor home!) help them tremendously. This has helped in trying to keep a positive attitude while I battle this disease!

And much to my surprise, Gary and another crewmember, Pete, presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, four dozen roses, and a thank-you card. It was hard for me to truly express what that meant. Most of the season I had been feeling so NOT part of the team, and like I really wasn’t helping or making much of a difference. Their gesture of gratitude changed my feelings about my contribution to Gary’s 2002 Championship season.

The usual Denny’s gathering was all smiles this year, and reflection of the present season and how it compared to the 2000 one. Both have their special moments, both have their frustrations and for me, personal disappointments, and both mean different things to all of us as a team and individuals.

Not much is known about Sarcoidosis as there has not been enough research. I don’t know what the 2003 season will bring for the team or me. I would imagine that much like the first championship season, we can persevere – on and off the track. And I do know, that the tears I shed were on the way home this year and were tears of joy, not disappointment or sadness. I am one lucky racerchick to be part of such a class-act team and to have so many that love and support me.

More information on Sarcoidosis can be found HERE

Donations can be made to any chapter of the American Lung Association.