Obituary notice for Allen Strasburg was in the Deseret Morning News on
Sunday. Allen was the father of four 2 Club members. They put "Big
Al" in one of Terry Nish's liners to try to make him the fifth 2 Club
member in the family. Even though he lost fifty pounds he was still
too large a guy to handle things comfortably and they aborted the
attempts. The Strasburgs run a very busy machine shop where they
rebuild engines. They have helped many racers because they were less
than three hours from the salt.
This is a personal thing for me in another way. I have known Allen
since I was three. We lived four blocks from their family home. As
kids we played at the Powell home, the Smuin's, the Stewart's, all in
the block next to the Strasburgs. We went to the same church, a block
from his home. He was one of the "big" kids just older than my circle
of friends and we always watched that group. Allen came home alive
from WW II ... Glen Powell, a cousin of mine and one of his
contemporaries who lived half way between our homes, didn't. Four of
the five Schow boys who lived across the street from Glen were also in
that war. I remember the joy when they all came home alive. As you
can tell that obituary brought back a lot of memories for me.
Allen was one of the founding members of the Utah Salt Flats Racing
Association. The family was a big part of the early years of the
organization. It's fitting that the viewing is at the Olpin Mortuary
in Pleasant Grove. Dee Olpin was a car guy too.
Wes
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