AH, MEMORIES .... OF LORENZEN AND KELLY

 Briefly told … promise …

FRED LORENZEN died last week. Hard to believe 

he was 89. Was it really that long ago … in the 1960s 

and 1970s … that he was NASCAR’s golden boy … 

driving Fords for Holman-Moody? Oh, for the good 

old days … when stock car racing was still, more or 

less, a shade-tree operation … and we were wandering 

the pits the day before one of the main events on the 

Grand National (now Cup) circuit, in search of a story 

for the morning paper … and there was Lorenzen, 

working on his car. Most all of the drivers lent a hand 

then … Uh, Freddie, do you have a moment? “Sure,” 

Lorenzen said, “… as soon as I change this tire.”

-------  Wednesday the local stock car racing fraternity 

lost iconic, one-of-a-kind JOE KELLY … who was a 

walking/talking encyclopedia of motorsports 

information. He was 88 and, according to reports, had 

been in ill health for some time … Kelly was the PA 

announcer at Southside Speedway … and always a big 

help, especially for someone who knew absolutely no 

one and virtually nothing about racing … when I pretty 

much started the beat at The Times-Dispatch in the 

early 1960s … and became a Friday night regular at 

the now-defunct Chesterfield County track for 10 years 

… during the glory days of such modified and 

sportsman drivers as RAY HENDRICK, TED 

HAIRFIELD, SONNY HUTCHINS, EDDIE 

CROUSE, MELVIN BRADLEY, RUNT HARRIS

 (to mention a few) … as well as EMANUEL 

ZERVAKIS who, by then, had become a regular on 

the late model (Grand National) circuit and would 

make cameo appearances … Several years later Kelly 

and his wife had a local call-in show that proved 

immensely popular and won a bunch of awards. In 

1978, I started a weekly column devoted to radio/TV 

sports coverage … and one day Kelly asked if I had 

heard it … that maybe it would be worth a mention … 

Sure, why not? … So I finally listened … a couple of 

times … and must have caught them on the rare 

occasions when “Let’s Talk Racing” wasn’t worthy of 

an award much less positive mention … so I bagged 

the whole idea … but never told Kelly why … Last 

time I saw him was at Fairgrounds Raceway for a 

memorial service for KEN CAMPBELL, long-time 

associate of PAUL SAWYER who turned the track at 

Strawberry Hill into something special. And Kelly 

didn’t ask … thank goodness.

-------  College athletics, and what it’s become, claimed 

another good man this week when Miami, Fla., 

basketball coach JIM LARRANAGA shocked 

everyone (undoubtedly including himself) by 

resigning, effective immediately. He joins Virginia’s

 TONY BENNETT, who called it a career a few 

weeks prior to 2024-25 season’s start … with more 

guaranteed to follow.

Speaking of which … watching ESPN’s 30 for 30 look 

at the 1986 Duke basketball team … and the clear and 

unmistakable comaraderie that developed and lingered 

since then … despite falling short of its goal … I was 

reminded how much today’s money-hungry – and 

transfer portal-addicted -- athletes are missing … and 

never will know the real beauty of the college game. 

Talk about sad … well, sort of, anyway.

-------  The National Hockey League handed MATT 

REMPE an eight-game suspension for knocking 

Dallas Stars’ MIRO HEISKANEN into the glass from 

behind. Actually, the New York Rangers’ 6-8 ½ man-

child was set down for elbowing. Whatever. His victim 

was not injured, got up once Rempe received the 

predictable game misconduct, and played on … If 

eight games, costing him about $80,000 in lost salary, 

sounds overly harsh … well, it was. I can’t help but 

wonder if the Rangers, most notably coach PETER 

LAVIOLETTE, encouraged the league to punish 

Rempe … who is a favorite of NY fans … about as 

much as he’s become an enigma to Laviolette, who 

made it clear last year that he didn’t think the team 

could succeed with the 22 year old forward in the 

lineup on a regular basis … Then again, Rempe was a 

repeat offender, having left the Devils’ JONAS 

SIEGENTHALER with an elbow-induced concussion 

that drew a four-game suspension for Rempe last 

March … except it says here that was more worthy of a 

lengthy sit down than his latest infraction of the rules.

-------  With the Rangers having lost 13 of 17 games to 

free-fall from second to last in the eight-team 

Metropolitan Division … former player turned TV 

analyst SEAN AVERY says it’s time to dump both 

Laviolette and big-but-soft defenseman K’ANDRE 

MILLER … Of the coach in his second year of a three-

year contract: “They should fire him. Do it now,” Avery 

said. As for Miller … “They better get something for him 

while they can.”

Until next time ...