PORT ANGELES — After 27 years of racing, 20 of them here on the North Olympic Peninsula, driver Thom VanGesen will be hanging up his car hood after his final race Saturday at the Port Angeles Speedway.
He will be taking his car hood because it is filled with autographs from fellow drivers, racing fans, friends and others who are saying thanks for the racing memories and wishing him well.
“We are family,” VanGesen said of his fellow drivers and other track personnel as dust swirled around him at the Speedway track last Saturday afternoon as he prepared for his second-to-last races.
“This is a super group of guys to race with,” VanGesen said as other cars were driven by him, kicking up large clouds of dust. “You have to trust the guy next to you when you’re driving around a curve at 70 miles-per-hour and his car is 2 inches from yours.”
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The rest of the story appears in the Tuesday Peninsula Daily News.