Christopher Young Carries On Father’s Racing Legacy
In a garage in Calverton, New York buried under racecar parts, old vacuum cleaners and boxes sat a NASCAR Modified belonging to Riverhead Raceway legend Chris Young. Young who recently passed away due to a heart attack after double knee surgery, made a name for himself driving both Figure 8’s and NASCAR Modifieds at Riverhead Raceway and Islip Speedway. The car that sat buried hadn’t been raced in a year and hadn’t seen Riverhead Raceway in almost 5 years. That all changed on August 8th when Chris Young’s son Christopher ran his dad’s car in a pair of races dedicated to his late father.
The decision to bring out his father’s car one more time almost seemed like a no brainer to Christopher who had raced his dad’s Modified at other tracks. A fellow competitor also did a little convincing, finalizing that the No.49 would once again see the track.
“John Fortin came forward and said I needed to be back in a car. He kinda warmed my mom up to the idea of me running at Riverhead which was pretty cool of him to do, so she was primed when I came to her with my idea,” Christopher Young said. “During the funeral precession we took a couple laps [around Riverhead], I was in the Hurst with the driver because I wasn’t going to let him run the wrong line at Riverhead and I was thinking ‘this can’t be the last time we run around this racetrack.”
Upon hearing the announcement by Riverhead Raceway to change the Twin 50 lap races on August 8th to Twin 49 lap races in honor of Young, plans were set.
“When they announced the Twin 49’s we were thinking what to do,” Young said, “Fortin had already offered me one of his cars. And I was like ‘well they’re running the Twin 49 races and I want race MY car, the car my dad and I had built together.”
Soon the ball started to roll to get the No.49 back at Riverhead but a lot of work had to be done. First, Ray the Plumber; who sponsored Christopher when he raced his Legend car, came on board with his new business, Zoom Drain. It was after these negotiations a decision was made to change the color of the car from Bronson Speedway white back to the signature red.
“My dad’s car had been red for 40 years,” Young said, “It was white during the last year my dad raced and that white car was associated with me more than it was with him. We needed to bring back the red car for one more race so the paint scheme could be retired.”
With the deal in place to bring back the “Red Betty” paint scheme it was now time to put the car back together and get it race ready. Young and his crew took the car’s white body off and put the new red colors back on with backing from Zoom Drain, Ace’s Landscaping, and a long time sponsor of his dad; Riverhead Building Supply.
Christopher had 2 weeks to prepare the car for the races and used working on the car as a way to help him with dealing with his father’s passing.
“Dealing with the loss of my dad is harder now then when it first happened because when it first happens you go into shock,” he said; “Working on this car and getting it ready had been therapy. It was good because I was working on something that I worked on with my dad and I could remember the things he taught me. Going out in the garage and sweating putting this thing together was the best way to think about my dad; being close to him without him being here cause he’s been doing this same thing for years. You try to keep yourself busy…I went out to the garage the Saturday that it happened and I needed something to do so I thought I would try and power wash some of the driveway. So I went outside and the power washer wasn’t where I left it and I thought ‘Let me just call dad and ask him’ and when that ‘wait a second I can’t call him’ hit me and it took my breath away.”
The 2006 Troyer Chassis that his dad had raced to 6 wins out of his 4th all time 33, needed a lot of safety improvements in order to pass Riverhead Raceway inspection which was a good way to keep Christopher focused. A new windshield was put in to go along with new NASCAR rules, a new fuel cell was added and new wheel tethers had to be placed on the car.
Soon the car was loaded up and ready to race. Much of Chris’ former crew showed up to help Christopher with the car. Billy Mitchell came all the way up from Florida to help out; Rich Herzog who helped out his father for 15 years came out to help along with Christopher’s crew from his Legend car. Many people from the staff and fans at Riverhead Raceway to even a few drivers also came out to support the Young family.
“When we first rolled up and everyone on line was wearing red, it was amazing to see the amount of people that thought enough of my dad to be a part of what we were doing,” he said. “It was surreal to work with my dad’s guys because he had an amazing crew. It was awesome to see that the things they had done with my dad they were now doing for me”
The races did not go quite as Christopher planned finishing 15th and 13th in both races respectively. But, the day was not a disappointment in Young’s eyes.
“I wish the car was faster on Saturday night but, we did what we set out to do. We went out there we qualified, we raced the car and the car came home with all four wheels on it with out even a scratch,” Young said, “The attitude that me and my dad have always had was we’re going to the racetrack and we’re not going for second. But, in this case it’s a bit different because of the magnitude of the race and this is my first race without my dad around it the goal was just to get there and we accomplished that and with all the help we had, it was a positive experience.”
As for the future of Christopher racing in his dad’s No.49 again, the plans are still up in the air. Young is going into his senior year at Purdue University studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Organizational Leadership and wants to go to Grad School right after.
“I don’t know what the future holds exactly for me or this car,” Young said; “But it’s definitely not the last time this car is ever going to race and it will definitely not be the last time I will ever race. This is the best analogy I found and I found it talking to my little sister [Leah], life’s like a roller coaster ride, just because my dad got off it doesn’t mean the ride is over for me or my family, we’re still going to do all the crazy things we did but, it’s just different because we have one less rider.”
Christopher would like to thank all of those who came out and supported his dad and him including his crew, Ray the Plumber, Bobby Mason, Ed Partridge, Wayne Anderson, Dave Brigati, Billy Mitchell, Edgar, Kevin, and Russell Goodale, and John Fortin.
Source: Brenden Madonia/LongIslandJam.com