In the photo, from left to right: Blu Metz, Mike Osite, Joe Payne, Johnny Coy, Jr., Alan Mollot, Jack Bertling, Wayne Laucius, Bob Marlow, Lenny Boyd. In the foreground, the restored Boyd Roadster. In the background, just some of the beautiful aircraft in the Boyd facility.We were not quite certain what to expect at the "roast" for Alan Mollot this past Saturday. Oh, we knew the fundamentals, because Gary Mondshein had organized roasts previously, when he was racing with ARDC. And we had participated in two of those, honoring Nick Fornoro, Sr., and Lenny Boyd.
But this was different. It was this first roast organized under the ATQMRA banner, and it was going to take place not in a catering hall, but at a county airport. And the honoree was a somewhat reluctant honoree. "I don’t know why I let Gary talk me in to this," Alan told us some weeks ago.
On that point Alan need not have worried. There exists a broad and deep pool of people who respect and admire him. And on the other point, well, let’s just say that "museum" would be a better term to describe the setting than "hangar." Technically, yes, it was a hangar, but if the caterer had not set up been tables and chairs you could have easily eaten off the floor. And if eating off the floor is not your thing, you could have eaten off any of the several meticulously-maintained historic aircraft in the room. The facility of Lenny and Donna Boyd is a sight to behold.
Add to this the tables holding scrapbooks and memorabilia, and add the two historic TQ races cars on display, and add the plentiful catered food and a DJ who understands the meaning of "background music," and nothing was lacking.
Doing the roasting was a cross-section of the many people whose racing lives have intersected with that of Alan Mollot. From Jack Bertling, the championship-winning driver whose career began before roll cages came into use, to Joey Payne, himself a championship-winning driver and the most recent driver of Alan’s signature car number 51. Former Mollot drivers Johnny Coy, Jr., Mike Osite, and Lenny Boyd were on the dias, along with Blu Metz, the immediate past president of the ATQMRA, and Yours Truly.
Missing was multi-time ATQMRA champion Don Adams, who was scheduled to be on the panel but who was kept away by last-minute matters. In the audience were several other drivers who have chauffeured the Mollot car over the years, and an assortment of drivers ranging from those who drove in the 1950s to 2009 ATQMRA champion Allison Cumens.
Of all the things that were said during the evening, perhaps the most significant were the words offered by Payne. Noting the recent passing of longtime NEMA car owner Gene Angelillo, Payne said that Mollot was to the ATQMRA as Angelillo was to NEMA – and that both men influenced their respective organizations to the same effect that Dale Earnhardt influenced NASCAR. Payne then raised a toast to Alan Mollot, to which we can add only, Hear Hear!