Damn it! Why is it always the good guys?
I knew both Rons, slightly. Ron Yates used to stop by our pit to chat
whenever I was racing at Vegas or Buttonwillow, and I think he was at
Fontana this Spring, too. I was really looking forward to his book, and
it's truly sad that it won't get finished. He worked so hard on it for so
long. I didn't bump into Ron Burnett nearly as often, but I think he was
usually at Calif. Healey Week, including Ventura this Spring.
This is turning into a rather tragic year for the Healeyphiles out here.
There've been several incidents coming off Magic Mountain at Buttonwillow,
including a Tiger that rolled itself into a ball after losing a wheel while
cresting the hill. That driver walked away though. I've been off-track once
there myself, but without suffering any damage. It's a challenging corner,
and fun, but if something goes wrong, it will bite you.
Rick
At 12:08 PM 9/28/2004, Editorgary@aol.com wrote:
>We just read the item on the list digest reporting the death of Ron Yates and
>Ron Burnett at Buttonwillow on Sunday. We didn't know Ron Burnett, but we
>offer our condolences to his family.
>
>Ron Yates was a very good friend of ours, and well known to probably every
>older active member of the West Coast Austin-Healey clubs. He had been an
>active
>member of the clubs, attending many of the events since at least the early
>eighties, when we first met him.
>
>Ron was a recognized authority on the history of Austin-Healey racing in
>California. For many years Ron had been working on a book on that topic,
>which
>sadly will go unfinished...
--
Rick Snover, San Diego, CA, USA <http://people.qualcomm.com/rsnover>
Vice President, Austin-Healey Club of San Diego <http://www.sdhealey.org>
1964 Sprite Mk III driver
1959 Speedwell Sprite vintage racer (VARA <http://www.vararacing.com>)
1961 3000 Mk II "Tri-Carb" (being restored) and 1955 100 (pieces in storage)
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