By Rosalind Davis
For those who know,
one year ago today I lost my partner of over twenty-two years, Anthony “Skip”
Turyonas Jr. We were going to the store
so he could buy me roses. He was to go
on a snowmobile trip for the weekend and wanted to be sure I had the
traditional Valentine’s Day gift. We had
stopped for dinner and while waiting for the check, mid-conversation, he
collapsed. We buried him that Saturday, just
before the snow storm. It happened to be
Valentine’s Day.
Today marks the end of
all the “firsts”… the first Christmas, the first birthday, the first
anniversary without him. I am still
shocked and saddened. Intellectually I
know time has passed, but it still seems so fresh and unbelievable to me. When it first happened I counted the minutes
and hours. I stayed up all night and
watched the stars and then the sunrise; the first sunrise in the world without
him in it. In the last year I literally counted
the days, weeks and months. Sadly, from
this point on I will start to count in years and this makes me anxious. Our time spent together will fade into the
past and there will be no new memories. I know he will always be a part of me, but I
am afraid that over time I will think of him as less relevant. That just
doesn’t seem fair to him. He was quiet, funny,
humble, shy and honorable. He was the
greatest person I will ever know and I miss him terribly.
He had two loves,
stock car racing and me. I hope not in that order. In an effort to remember him as he was and to
honor him, the following is from the April 16, 1992 edition of the Hunterdon
County Democrat. The article “Turyonas
Is Looking for Sportsman Victory” is by Fred Voorhees. This story was published just before we
started dating. Skip would end up racing for 21 seasons at
Flemington Speedway. His one feature win
was in his final season on July 6, 1996 in the Troyer chassis mentioned below.
The year this article ran, he came in second in points in the Sportsman
division.
“Hampton’s Skip Turyonas is now entering his 17th
season of local stock car racing. Yet,
he has come up short of achieving one of his main goals set in 1976. Turyonas has yet to capture a feature event
checkered flag. He hopes that will fade
into the past this season with his purchase of a 1991 Troyer DIRT asphalt
chassis.
Turyonas got his introduction to racing when he was in grade
school at the now defunct Nazareth half mile speedway in Pennsylvania. Further along, lending a hand to friend Ty
Constantino on his race car while in high school assured him that racing was in
his blood.
Turyonas entered the 1976 rookie division at the Flemington
Speedway and was on his way. Since then
he has been the owner and driver of his yearly racers. Last year at Flemington Speedway he went to
battle with a converted 1989 Olsen dirt track chassis. For the 1992 season he has purchased the
Shammy Shine racing team’s car from last season because he felt that was the
way to go.
The Flemington opener on April 5 saw Turyonas have problems with
the car in qualifying and not make the main event. “For some reason all the
brakes locked up in the heat race,” he said.
“I never had anything like that happen before. We also had an electrical problem and the engine
would not run at speed. These problems
are hopefully corrected now.”
Still, comparison to his previous car showed Turyonas that
he will now be able to up his cornering speed thanks to the new chassis and the
Tony Feil engine under the hood and greater amount of stability the car now
affords.
“From an owner’s standpoint, I like the asphalt better that
then old dirt surface because everything stays cleaner and I could stretch the
tires longer,” he said. “There is also
less weekly maintenance. But from the
driver’s side, I liked the dirt better.
When a car handled well there was no thrill like going around
Flemington. I’m also less comfortable
yet on the asphalt.”
It’s really a family affair in the pits at Flemington as
father Tony, brother Bill and mother Lois find ways to help, along with Ray
Olsen, Dean Horvath and Ron Gardner.
Turyonas also finds occasional help form the Shammy Shine Car Washes
team when their driver Kenny Brightbill needs little work on their car. Sponsorship backing for Turyonas efforts
comes from Clinton Auto Body, Proven Design Custom Kitchens, Ty Constantino
Ceramic Tile and Rick Allen’s Auto Repair.
Besides the Flemington Speedway, Turyonas has also competed
on the old Nazareth half mile as well as the presently asphalted one mile track
when it was dirt. But Flemington remains
his favorite track... “It’s a real challenge.”
Locally he admires eight time Flemington champ Billy
Pauch. “He can drive anything, anywhere”
says Turyonas. Nationally he leans
towards A.J. Foyt because he tells it like it is. Working Monday through Friday at Bemis in
Flemington as a process technician, his racing aspirations are simple. “I’m happy and content running at Flemington,”
he said. “The fans are great and I hope
to be able to do a good job in the modifieds if I should make the move up from
the sportsman division.”
With the proven success of the Troyer chassis he now owns
and the ample experienced crew on hand each week, Turyonas should not have to
wait much longer before he crosses under that checkered flag ahead of the
field.
If he can keep his No. 8T running as well as his beautiful
blue, white and red machine looks on the track, the wins will surely come.”
