october 13—Parking, anywhere without a long walk, was hard to come by. The cavernous grandstand was over half full.
The track lights were on. People were given a “race program” as they entered.
But the only lap run Wednesday at Thunderbird Speedway was Hayden Ross’ farewell.
The 20-year-old Muskogee race car driver died last week in a four-wheeler accident. A friend who was with him escaped serious injury, and so a grieving racing community along with his family did what seems normal.
His dad, Brady Ross, is Thunderbird Speedway’s promoter. Brady’s son is a recent Sooner Late Model Series champion. He held two late model titles in 2022 — the other being the Southern Touring Late Model Series based out of Texas.
Hayden’s casket was designed like his #66 late model race car. Hayden himself, as those saw during visitation on Tuesday, donned his racing outfit.
It was a destiny that an uncle, Dustin Ross, spoke of as he recalled stories about a toddler Hayden driving in figure-eight form a battery-powered car in the garage. Then at 5, that racing destiny gained some instinctive traction.
“He’d take this dirt bike and ride for hours and hours on this track and his dad would say, ‘Son, this track is 20 feet wide and you’re riding in the same groove each and every lap. Why don’t you ride in a different spot on the track?'” Dustin Ross recalled.
“Hayden looked up and said ‘Dad, you see that darker dirt in the groove? I can feel that dirt better than the dry light dirt everywhere else.'”
Danny Scott, pastor of God’s Powerhouse church, said Hayden had a gift and God gives each of us gifts to impact others.
“Greatness is taking the gift that God gives us and using it to change someone else’s life in ways he can see or understand, that impacts you when you look at a mountain and you see doubt, you push past it, you push through and become something and inspires and encourages other people to be something,” he said, adding, “There is not a word that anybody can say that will take the pain away, but God has a way of changing people’s lives and brings victory out of tragedy. “
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/mclaren/very-tough-for-mclaren-to-stay-in-fight-with-alpine
