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Topic: Carwash Mike Avilla passes away
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Page 2 of 3 of 45 replies
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September 20, 2011 at
04:11:10 PM
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This message was edited on
September 20, 2011 at
04:12:07 PM by Andrew S Quinn
 Here's Carwash Mike,and YZman in the motel parking lot in Lincoln, Nebraska after I picked them up at Thunderhill Speedway in Mayetta Kansas,and gave them a ride to Lincoln in the POS van in 2002 so they could catch their flight home.
I've only had the chance to catch up with Mike a few times over the years,the last I can remember was at the Oval Nationals a few years ago.
Still I know what he meant to the Hoserville Ca. crowd,and a bunch of folks in Iowa as well,amongst other places.
RIP Mike.....
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September 20, 2011 at
04:50:19 PM
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RIP Carwash
Mini Gold Cup many years I first meet Mike; he always had kind words for every driver and crewmen we talked about
Goodspeed Mike
Brian
"TURN AROUND; MATE !"
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September 20, 2011 at
06:57:37 PM
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Bump....screw the rest for a day at least!!
Trophy Cup......Best race of the year hands down!
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September 20, 2011 at
07:16:29 PM
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This message was edited on
September 20, 2011 at
07:27:14 PM by Bear
Right now the world has lost a great person. I had never met Mike until my trip to the Gold Cup in 2001. He volunteered to pick up three Iowa hooligans(Yes, you know who you are and yes we were hooligans..lol) and myself from the Sacramento airport. We came wiht only the clothes on our back and a bag of clothes. Mike provided transportation to and from Chico, which is about an 1.5hr plus, a tent, pillows and sleepbags. He then drove back to San Jose at 3am in the morning to return his Mom's car because the Shark mobile wouldn't have been enough room for all of us. He then returned the next day with the Shark mobile and then commenced the festivities of the Gold Cup.
Throughtout my racing travels Carwash was always one of my favorite people. His upbeat attitude and enjoyment for life was always full and a breath of fresh air from the daily grind of life as we know it. This year I was hoping to see him at Knoxville and catch up,but didn't see him. Now I understand why. I will always be greatly indebted to him and always offered my place as a house of refuge if he ever came to Eldora.
He and I always had a long standing joke of WoO rookie of the year. As he always said my driver(Shepard) was overqualified and it should have went to his driver(Meyers), but I always told him his driver wasn't good enough yet. We laughed about that the last time I saw him at Knoxville ...2005ish?
Sadly to say I had no idea of Carwash's recent medical hardship. This was a complete shock to me to see the post and to learn of the very sad news of the passing of Mike.
In honor of Carwash, I will take some silver bullets with me to Eldora on Friday and remember him in best way possible....a sprint car race and Coors light!
RIP, my friend. You will be deeply missed and your impact upon us will never be forgotten!
Bear
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September 20, 2011 at
09:28:19 PM
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As I am sitting here, thinking of Carwash Mike.. There are all kinds of memories I need to share to a great friend and most importantly an awesome person who cared about sprint racing drivers and fans.
Many racing fans and friends from the Knoxville Raceway area traveled to Eagle Raceway in 2001. As we stayed in "Ratbag Inn" we discovered these racing fans from California. As we started talking about other racing venues all of us become friends. From there Rich "Yzman and Car Wash kept telling us if we ever come out to Chico, CA for the Gold Cup to let them know. As a few years passed Aj, Andy "Bear" Richardson, Erin "Pong" Johnson and The Krazy Korean traveled to Chico. Mike went out of his way to make sure we had a campsite setup at Silver Dollar Speedway and experienced "The Gold Cup" and traveling to and from the airport. That was such an awesome time that Hoserville, CA group gave the Midwest racing fans out in Chico.
As Mike and I grew friends we always were talking about how to help drivers and fans..which is what Hoserville CA is all about! Mike would give $ for drivers having a bad night or would reward someone in the B-Main to help them tow to another race.
Several years ago, a Knoxville racing fan, was battling cancer. So I decided to put on a racing theme benefit for her to help with medical expenses. Once I told Mike, he was so excited about the event. He said if you get the event going, I will be there to bid on items to help raise money. He held his promise as he attended and bought so much stuff. He had no intentions in bringing them back to San Jose. I can't remember all he bought, but I do remember him buying a bike, which he gave to a young boy in the crowd.
From that point forward, I always remembered what Mike and I would talk about. So when there was injured drivers that I have known, I would jump on the roller coaster dream in helping them so race fans could someday watch them race again.
Mike you will be dearly missed from Ohio to Iowa to California. When all of regroup again, we are going to either talking about "You remember when we went to…, or can you believe that slide job that he did in turn #4"
The Krazy Korean.. Chad Adams
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September 20, 2011 at
09:45:54 PM
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it is not often i am left with little to say. at this time no words seem worthy. they would just be a feeble attempt at doing mike the justice he deserves. still no matter how badly formed or incomprehensible any words at this time might be, i know mike would tell me they were great and thank me for them. mike was one of the ones who would pat me on the back and say how much he enjoyed something i might have wrote or a video i might have done. i would ask mike every now and then for a "Carwash Comment" that i could include in a column i might be writing, and mike would never fail to provide his unique insight.
it is nice to hear everyone remembering what mike meant to them because everyone meant something to mike.
thanks for including me as one of your friends mike. it has been an honor.
by the way, this deal really sucks.
to indy and beyond!!
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September 20, 2011 at
09:55:11 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: chilly on September 20 2011 at 02:34:24 PM
Words can't come close to describe what Carwash meant to me and plenty of other Iowans that had the pleasure of knowing him -- but I'll try. Like some have already reiterated, Carwash was always so positive and so upbeat. You very rarely heard him say a negative thing about anybody or anything. I try to stay positive as well, but as Carwash showed me, I have a lot of room for improvement. I have a lot of great memories of Carwash, but among the best (in no particular order) are: the Kings Royal that Carwash rode with us to on the Dingus bus -- his first time to the Big E -- what a blast we had!! ..... the late night partying at the Nationals including playing bags in the dark (remember that Savage?) .... Duane Bonini Jr -- I bought a t-shirt from him several Nationals ago 'cause I liked the colors of his Vermeer-sponsored car (metallic green and white). Being a fellow Californian (Bonini from Discovery Bay), Carwash beamed when he saw the shirt & wondered if I knew him, or why I had the shirt. Every time I knew that Carwash would be coming to Iowa, I would wear the Bonini shirt and we would laugh about it ...... Terry McCarl -- not many people I know liked him more than Carwash. Most people love him or hate him, and Carwash was not shy to tell you why he admired T-Mac -- had the license plate to prove it......... maybe the most memorable, the weekend Carwash came to Iowa to support a friend of KK's who was dealing with cancer (something Carwash was familiar with). They had an auction, and Carwash put bids on anything and everything -- often bidding hundreds of dollars on stuff as small as a mini-basketball. I'm sure he had some monetary support from Hoserville CA, but I'll never forget the creative & hilarious ways he was allocating the funds to help a good cause.
You were awesome Carwash. I loved you, and I'm gonna miss you. I'm an organ donor, and I'm going to push to get more people signed up to do that so in the future we can maybe help save some people that needed transplants like you. In the meantime, I'm going to wear my Bonini t-shirt, stay positive, and keep thinking about you. RIP my friend.
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I spent over an hour with TMac and CarWash after the 2005 'Spring' race in Tulare, and it was awesome to listen to those two talk. A fair amount of what was said probably shouldn't be repeated in this particular time and place, but suffice it to say that CarWash was an incredibly nice man, and TMac can be incredibly charming and quite, quite funny prickly reputation notwithstanding.
Mike, you were an incredible friend, and I'm probably rocking the teal and black alot more this hockey season in Seattle.
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September 20, 2011 at
10:02:19 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: Bear on September 20 2011 at 07:16:29 PM
Right now the world has lost a great person. I had never met Mike until my trip to the Gold Cup in 2001. He volunteered to pick up three Iowa hooligans(Yes, you know who you are and yes we were hooligans..lol) and myself from the Sacramento airport. We came wiht only the clothes on our back and a bag of clothes. Mike provided transportation to and from Chico, which is about an 1.5hr plus, a tent, pillows and sleepbags. He then drove back to San Jose at 3am in the morning to return his Mom's car because the Shark mobile wouldn't have been enough room for all of us. He then returned the next day with the Shark mobile and then commenced the festivities of the Gold Cup.
Throughtout my racing travels Carwash was always one of my favorite people. His upbeat attitude and enjoyment for life was always full and a breath of fresh air from the daily grind of life as we know it. This year I was hoping to see him at Knoxville and catch up,but didn't see him. Now I understand why. I will always be greatly indebted to him and always offered my place as a house of refuge if he ever came to Eldora.
He and I always had a long standing joke of WoO rookie of the year. As he always said my driver(Shepard) was overqualified and it should have went to his driver(Meyers), but I always told him his driver wasn't good enough yet. We laughed about that the last time I saw him at Knoxville ...2005ish?
Sadly to say I had no idea of Carwash's recent medical hardship. This was a complete shock to me to see the post and to learn of the very sad news of the passing of Mike.
In honor of Carwash, I will take some silver bullets with me to Eldora on Friday and remember him in best way possible....a sprint car race and Coors light!
RIP, my friend. You will be deeply missed and your impact upon us will never be forgotten!
Bear
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Iowa Hooligans?? Gee I wonder who they were?
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September 20, 2011 at
10:22:34 PM
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Very sad, maybe Petey and Mike can get together and talk about all the shows they witnessed..
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September 20, 2011 at
10:51:22 PM
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Damm what a great loss....Just spent time with him at the Gold Cup. He was so excited to beat his medical issues. He was a great guy that I will truly miss. I miss the bean bags tournament, yeager bombs, and the 4:00 am cab rides home I did with him, and most of all the nick name he gave me. 2deee.....Mike Hall
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September 20, 2011 at
11:22:41 PM
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Unfortunately I never had the pleasure to meet Mike ... but from all accounts he was a great person and am saddened by his passing. But I'm sure he's in good hands and with great company...
Phil Taylor
home-theater-systems-advice.com
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September 21, 2011 at
06:40:22 AM
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Another Huge Loss!!!!!! Truly some sad days for sprint car fans who knew Mike. We met him in Chico & took a shine to him from the moment he started talking. So easy to get along with!!!! You'll be greatly missed everywhere, and a lot by a couple of little folks in Ohio. We'll try to get with Bear this weekend and have some dedicated beverages for you & Petey. RIP Mike!!!!! Gail & Stubb
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September 21, 2011 at
07:10:14 AM
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I had the pleasure of talking with Mike several times over the years at Knoxville during the nationals. They are conversations that I will charish. He was an amazing person and race fan. The world would be a much better place if we were all more like Mike. I don't know when I will get to the other side but I will find you at the race track when I get there. God speed bro!
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September 21, 2011 at
07:31:27 AM
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Sad news. RIP
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September 21, 2011 at
09:04:22 AM
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RIP Mike
Curt Grogan
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September 21, 2011 at
09:36:17 AM
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sad news...RIP Mike.
Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better
weather." Van May
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September 21, 2011 at
02:53:46 PM
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Everyday going to work I drive past a very large pond full of ducks, there is a public picnic area, and its common to see people there feeding the ducks. One day as I was driving to work, I was talking to Mike on my cell phone, and I told him I was driving past the duck pond, and we laughed because it was winter ( in Ohio ) and I told him the ducks were giving me evil looks because I was in my warm car, while they were out in the cold snow and ice.
Mike then did some 'research' for me and found some scientific information and he informed me a few days later that the ducks were 'built' for the cold and they have internal heaters. Not wanting me to feel sorry for the cold ducks, he convinced me that this was true, and that the ducks were not cold at all, and they'd prefer to not be in a heated area. At least once a week Mike would send me a text message and he'd ask me " how do the ducks look today"
Something so silly, and maybe so trivial, but I'm going to miss the moments like that, how a person all the way in California had a way of making even the cold ducks in Ohio happy!
Not allowing an amazing woman to be herself
is like owning a Porsche and never taking
it out of 1st gear!
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September 21, 2011 at
10:07:34 PM
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I heard about Mike's passing through Greg Stephens, via Facebook! I knew he had taken a turn for the worst and wasn't doing well, but... still had hopes and said prayers that he would hang in there and have even more crazy stories to share with the masses. But alas, this story has no happy ending. God speed, carwash! You truly will be missed...
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September 22, 2011 at
10:09:26 AM
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Mike's obituary-
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mercurynews/obituary.aspx?n=mike-avilla&pid=153743485
I like the part about never forgetting a birthday. We didn't call him "Hallmark Mike" for nothing! 
www.sprintcarchallengetour.com
www.placervillespeedway.com
www.stocktondirttrack.com
www.thunderbowlraceway.com
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September 22, 2011 at
09:57:38 PM
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Reply to:
Posted By: sprintman11 on September 20 2011 at 12:40:06 PM
Never met the man, but read many, many posts of his over the years!! You could tell he was a true fan of the sport! RIP
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Amen.... never met you, but knew you were a real Sprint Car fan, with true knowledge of the sport!
RIP!
Throttle Down!
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