Please remember with me.....

If you would be so inclined, take a moment to say a prayer for the wife and family of a long time friend of mine who recently died from a heart attack.... His name is Don Sterzinger, he was 66 years old. About 25 years ago I gave him and his son Todd some help with their circle burner and as a result we all became friends and raced together for a few years. Unfortunately, Todd died 5 years ago from cancer. Don pressed on through all of it, building engines (usually for the cost of the parts) for a lot of the younger racers and supplying parts (usually with just enough markup to pay the light bill) at any hour of the day or night when someone had a broken race car.

Don also built 2 T-buckets, one for him and one for his grandson to cruize in and attend car shows and generally just hang out and have fun. Don spent his entire life in and around hot rods and race cars and gave a lot of free help and advice, along with some very reasonably priced parts to anyone and everyone new or established in local racing. When the out of town guys were around for a two or three day show, he also made his shop available to them for necessary repairs between race nights, often staying at the shop with them and doing the majority of the work on their cars!!!! Most of the time he refused to take a dime for his time when helping out....

I miss old Don, all the time we spent arguing Ford vs. Chevy, chassis setups, head and cam combinations and all the other things we discussed at the shop and at "coffee time" for so many years. I sincerely hope that a lot of us Hot Rodders and Racers can some day do as much to help others new to the sport as Don did!!!!!

I'm sorry to hear about your friends death and know the pain that people are feeling because of the various ways in which he touched the lives of others. I also know that God is working through them all to bring peace into their lives.
It's pretty cool that you had that relationship with Don and I'm guessing that he may be one of the reasons you offer so much advice here. I am 42 and still learning. I have two projects to do and will be selling my third one to finance the first. But I also have a number of older hot rodders with more experience to help me out. One guy is going to help me with all of the body work on the first car so then I will be able to do body work correctly instead of doing it over and over because of doing it wrong. And even though I do not have a lot of experience, I still have youth from my church coming to me to ask my opinion about various car stuff.
It doesn't matter how much you know or don't know because there is always somebody who knows more and somebody who knows less and there are always many people who are willing to share their knowledge. For me, that is one of the best things of hotrodding, talking about what you have done and how to do something on your own car.

God speed racer.

They say you measure a person wealth by the number of friends you have.
It seems not only did Don have a bunch of friends but he was also a very wealthly man.

God speed Don & thank you for taking the time to help all those other racers & the average Joe who needed some of your help...joe

Dave i am really sorry to hear about your friend.

What an incredible post, Dave. it's always tough to loose a friend. As mentioned above by our "resident reverend" Bubba, God works in and through these things in ways we can not always understand.

My heart and prayers go out to you - know that your friends on this site are asking for God's peace for you and Don's family.

Race on friend - where the track is always friendly, the curves all go your way and the checkered flag is assured.

Regards,
Glenn

Dave, this post really makes the point, that Good people live forever in our thoughts and prayers, Don will always be alive inside of you and I can only offer you my deepest condolences and my earnest prayers for his remaining family. We would all do s well in trying to emulate Don and his way of being himself and helping others
This year has been a tough one on me too and I have vowed to spend at least one hour a day just calling up or emailig old and new freinds just to let them know how important they are to me. We all seem to have the same problems,work, finances, kids, health etc, lets all try to remember how great we last felt when somebody called us out of the blue just to say hi and whats up.
My mid year resolution is to give those near me a call or card or something to let them know how important they are....
God speed Don, I didnt know you but I know I would want you for a freind....

Sounds like Don has touched plenty of people. He will be missed. As I am sure many on this site will say, we wish you and his family the best. I for my prayers, I give them out to everyone, those I know and those I should know.

Good word, Sleeve - we need to take the time to touch those we're close to and let them know how much we love and appreciate them. We never know when our words will be our last words so I guess we should always make them count.

My father passed in 1995 - I'd dropped my then nine year old son off to spend the night with grandpa. As I was walking out dad said, "love you Butch" (he always called me that, I'm not sure he knew my name was Glenn!) I shouted back, "love you too, dad!" the next morning at 5:30 am - he took his final breath. I'm glad our last words were good ones - no regrets..

Regards All,
Glenn

Ford Chevy Dodge it does not really matter.
When someone like that goes, we all lose.
God bless him and his family.
Kurt

He sounds like a good man Dave. Thank you for sharing with us about him and I will keep his family and friends in my prayers.

So very sorry for your loss and his families loss Dave. True good friends only come around every once in a while and he sounds like he was a great man. I lost a very good friend a few years ago so I understand how you must feel.

RIP.:(

Don

Thanks gang.... Just hope we can all be as helpful to others someday as Don was to so many others!!!

I will pray for your friends family.I lost my brother a few weeks back he was 41.I can tell you your kind words and support for the family me alot more to his family than you probably no

Sorry to hear about your buddy. May he R.I.P.

Not many of those type guys around. Most everyone now-a-days is out for what they can get for themselves. Sorry for your loss Dave and my prayers are with the family.

I lost one of the best friends I've ever had in February to a heart attack at age 62 and I, as well as a large group of others who knew him well, miss him dearly.

Dave, So Sorry to hear you lost your friend, and it sounds like many others lost a good one too. Please accpt my condolences.

Pat

Dave I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I feel priveledged to have a few friends like that in my life. They make us better people for knowing them! May he rest in peace and you have fond memories of your time together. I feel some of the folks here volunteer lots of helpfull free advice, like you and others, and I for one appreciate you guys for this.