By BILL FOLEY
What started out as a desired racing vacation with plenty of down time, turned into a nightmare for Ron Davis as he was bringing Ron Davis III race car to Florida for the first time.
Davis noted he’s been to Volusia, but was a fan and they finally decided to bring the car.
They left their Central New York shop in Memphis on Friday and what unfolded was a nightmare for Ron.
He said, “Not the normal trip. We left early to get here to relax a few days. The first night was good, but the second night we stopped in a rest area just north of Georgia. We pulled into a rest area to get some sleep, shut the truck off and got up the next morning and it wouldn’t start.”
Ron told DTD, “I went through the basics on it, all the fuses were good. Everything was good. So I started moving into the wiring. The engine wasn’t communicating with the transmission. I was at a loss for diagnostic tools. I ended up getting a hold of John Wight and he sent one of his mechanics up with diagnostic tools. We narrowed it down to the transmission control module. The closest one was in Jacksonville. So John let me take his truck down to Jacksonville, 150 miles away to grab the module. I got back, put it in and it still wouldn’t start. So I finally walked away. Later I got back in the seat and started monkeying around with the dash and for some reason it started. So I run up the temperature and thought it was good and shut it off. I couldn’t leave that night so the next morning I got up expecting to move on (Sunday) and it wouldn’t start. Then I got really deep into the wiring and continued to search and John’s mechanic came back up.”
Ronnie Davis III was supposed to arrive in Florida as his flight was to arrive Tuesday night, but upon arrival he had to find a place to sleep as the race car and his place of rest was sitting in South Carolina.
Ron said “I was running out of time so I ended up calling George Shackleton. Chris Gennarelli called me and said George would come up to get it. I don’t even know George. The gentleman offered to come up to get the trailer today and bring it down.”
So eventually the race car arrived at Volusia at noon of the first day of the Modified portion of the DIRTcar Nationals.
Ron was overwhelmed at the response he received in his time of need.
He said, “The support we received was something I couldn’t believe. People I don’t even know were offering their help.”
Candi LaFleur, traveling with the team, on her social media page noted, “A huge shout out to everyone that has reached out offering their time, equipment and advice over the last five days. I’m happy to report we are rollin’ again toward Volusia. The trailer will get there ahead of us in a few hour thanks to the kindness of ‘The Calvary’ Mr. George Shackleton.”
Continuing she wrote, “We are beside ourselves with gratitude to John and Laura Wight for sending Dave France to help from sun up to sun down for three straight days.”
In conclusion she wrote, “All of the kindness and generosity we’ve been shown has been humbling and has far exceeded any frustration we’ve encountered.”
For all the complaining of social media. If it wasn’t for it, Ron Davis could still be stuck in South Carolina. The racing community responded to his troubles and in the end he eventually woke up from the nightmare.
