Dad, son connect through auto racing

Their days are spent at work, in shops and businesses they own, and nights in garages retooling, overhauling and preparing their stock cars for the big Saturday night race.

Fathers and sons share the experience, expenses and workload that come with getting the vehicle ready for the abuse it will take when 26 cars race side by side at average speeds of 102 mph with dirt and dust filling the air on the 5/8-mile track at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y.

A win hardly pays for all the time and money they put into the car. The biggest purse is $2,500, causing Ramsey's Donnie Wilson, a second-generation racer, to say, "If you're lucky and you have a decent enough season, you might break even for the year in what you spent and what your car took in."

Money is not why these local drivers race. They do it for more than just a hobby. It's a passion, something they do for fun and sport, and as a family.

"It's something we do together," said Bill Wilson, Donnie's dad and the owner of Wilson's Auto and Truck in Mahwah. "We both like the cars. We talk about it. At night we tinker with them. We go to the track with them. It's something I do with my son."

Bill, 68, and Donnie, 36, race in the biggest of the six classes at Orange County, the Modified division, which sports the biggest engines and maybe the most drivers from the area.

Waldwick's Tommy Meier races against the Wilsons in a car he owns with his father, Fred. Hawthorne native and Mahwah resident Cliff Ehrmann parks next to the Wilsons in the pit, and drives a car he and his dad, Eric, work on together.

Wayne Hills grad Jared Petruska, 21, a rookie in the Modified, drives a car he, his father, Mike, and brothers Mike and Eric work on after their day is done at Atlas Paving in Wayne. The Petruskas have three cars, but Jared is the only driver in the family.

"It's a neat thing because every Monday morning at work we talk about what we could have done better on Saturday," said Petruska, who finished second in his first Modified race and has qualified every week. "We talk about it all day at work and then we go home and work on the cars.

"It's like a second job. It's more work than you can imagine."

But they all do it, together, for fun, sport and the Saturday night rush.

Tommy Meier, a Westwood High graduate, got hooked a little more than 20 years ago after helping a friend build a street stock car that he helped tow to Middletown in a truck that his father had at the Hillsdale gas station they now co-own, F&S Friendly Service Automotive Repair. After taking the car for a spin, Tommy decided to build his own one.

He began racing in 1986, and took the checkered flag in his first race, the first of about 60 he's won in various divisions.

"When that happened it was hook, line and sinker, you might say," said Tommy.

Bill Wilson knows that feeling.

"Racing is addictive," he said.

Wilson has been racing since 1959, and on and off at Orange County since 1963. When he was "retired" last year, he worked on Donnie's car and spent Saturday nights at the track, but something was missing.

"I got restless," Bill Wilson said. "Staying on top of the trailer wasn't good enough."

So he un-retired and for the first time raced against Donnie, the 1993 Rookie of the Year in the 358 Modified division who made the jump to the big block modified last year.

"I always wanted to race against him," Donnie said, "and not just kind of fill his shoes."

On the night of June 2, Donnie was in the pole position with his father third. Donnie was looking forward to this race.

Coming around turn four, Donnie ran over something and cut a rear tire. He had a flat. His father, Donnie said, "Got up and checked out," and won the race.

"It was awesome," Donnie said. "For me it was bittersweet. It was a race I should have won. But he won. It was tough for me, but I was real happy for him."

"I didn't really lose anything," Bill Wilson said. "It all came back right away.

"Some nights you get the car really dialed in good, which was that particular night, and the car is really easy to drive. Some nights you're off with your setups and you're struggling. You look like a fool out there, but you're driving your heart out and you're not going anyplace."

On Monday, they start all over. After work, these fathers and sons are back in garages, getting the cars ready for another big Saturday night at the racetrack, together.

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