By Brandon ReedReporter
Mike Rich watches from the pits during a NASCAR Cup Series race. Rich served as the rear tire changer for the Melling Racing team from 1988 through 1990. He lost his life in a pit road accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway in November of 1990. He was announced this week as an inductee for 2020 to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.
The latest five inductees into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame have been announced.
Mike Rich, who lost his life almost 30 years ago in a pit road accident at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, joins car owner Gene White, mechanic and car builder the late Ray Stonkus, a Brockton, MA native, motorcycle racing champion Scott Russell and dirt track Super Late Model ace Wade Knowles as 2020 inductees to the Hall of Fame, located in Dawsonville, Georgia.
Mike Rich, of Blairsville, Georgia, served as the right rear tire changer on the No. 9 Melling Racing Ford driven by fellow Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. After earning his place on the team in a 1988 try out at the team’s Dawsonville shops, Rich and his team would win six races in 1988, along with the NASCAR Cup Series championship. The team would follow with three wins in 1989, adding an additional victory in 1990, along with the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge at North Carolina’s Rockingham Speedway.
Rich was gravely in a pit road accident late in the running of the 1990 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway on November 18, 1990. He passed away a few hours later after surgery at a Georgia Baptist Medical Center. He was 32 years of age.
“Mike was a super nice guy,” said teammate Charles Palmer. “He took one of the old race cars to his home and practiced constantly changing tires until he was good enough to make the pit crew. He worked hard to make it. Being on the crew meant so much to him. When started going to the races with the team he just loved doing it. He absolutely enjoyed life.”
Rich’s death would lead to sweeping pit road innovations across the world of motorsports beginning in 1991. Those innovations continue to this day.
To read more about Mike Rich, go here.
Ray Stonkus was a New England native who settled in Flowery Branch, Georgia. Working with fellow Georgia Racing Hall of Fame inductee the late Pete Hamilton,a Newton, MA native, his first racing experience came as a car builder and owner. The two would win the 1967 NASCAR Nationals Sportsman championship, opening the door for both to compete in the NASCAR Grand American and NASCAR Grand National Series. Incidently, Hamilton won the Daytona 500 in 1970 driving a team car for Petty Racing.
Stonkus moved to Atlanta in 1969 to work on Gene White’s Grand American Team, where Pete Hamilton drove to 10 wins and the series championship. He would work for Sam Posey’s Trans-Am team in 1970 and 1971 before moving back to NASCAR with Pete Hamilton for 1972 and 1973.
He would work with Hamilton to build trail blazing short track cars, building cars that won the Snowball Derby for Hamilton, Gary Balough, Ronnie Sanders and Mickey Gibbs, as well as races all across the south and the Midwest.
Stonkus later served as Crew Chief for Rick Crawford in the NASCAR Truck Series, resulting in a win at Daytona in 2003. Stonkus also worked as a part of the founding of JTG Dougherty Racing, which now fields two cars in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Stonkus passed away on March 19, 2020.
Gene White of Marietta, Georgia was an early racer who became a renowned car owner. He saw his driving career at Atlanta’s famed Peach Bowl in the late 50s, and finished 18th in the first running of the Daytona 500 in 1959.
White became a racing tire dealer for Firestone, one of four national distributors, selling tires for all forms of motorsports.
As a car owner, he entered cars in the USAC Champ Car Series in 1967. With Lloyd Ruby as driver, he competed in the Indianapolis 500 that year. His career as a car owner saw him score wins at Phoenix Raceway, the Milwaukee Mile and at Trenton, New Jersey. He would record three finishes in the top 10, with Ruby, Sam Sessions and Cale Yarborough behind the wheel.
White was also an innovator who helped to develop the fuel cell, replacing the dangerous old steel gas tanks.
White died on April 15, 1986.
Scott Russell of Conyers, Georgia was a five time winner of the prestigious Daytona 200 (1992, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998), earning him the nickname “Mr. Daytona.” He was the AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year in 1988, and won the AMA Superbike Championship in 1992. That same year, he was named the AMA Pro Athlete of the Year.
He became the third American to win the World Superbike Championship in 1993, and finished runner-up in 1994.
Russell scored a rousing win over Carl Fogarty in 1995 at Daytona, overcoming a first lap crash to record his fourth win in the event.
In all, Russell boasts 14 World Superbike Series wins, 14 AMA Superbike victories, 23 AMS 750 Supersport wins. He also scored three championships in an undefeated season in 1991 in AMA 750 Supersport.
Russell was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Wade Knowles of Tyrone, Georgia is a second generation racer, along with his brothers and other family members. Knowles began his career at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia in 1981, scoring five Hobby division wins in his first season.
He went on to record 59 career victories at Dixie, with 40 coming in Super Late Models. He can boast wins in the Hav-A-Tampa Series, the Southern All Star series, and is also notable as the winner of the last 200-lap event on dirt at Lanier Motorplex in Braselton, Georgia.
Knowles has won an estimated 200 victories across the east coast. He retired from driving in 2006.
The Georgia Racing Hall of Fame hopes to have a date for the 2020 induction banquet announced soon. For more information, visit GeorgiaRacingHOF.com.
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