ShowsMichael Thodoroff & Bruce Dunton (Seg 1 & 2)
Local Racers & Racing Gurus Erik Jones (Seg 3) Nascar Star August 25, 2021 Mike Thodoroff and Bruce Dunton are old hands at the racing game. In fact you could say they are a bit of historians when it comes to local auto racing. Thodoroff, who is also the Vice President of the Genesee County Historical Society, has long experience in the racing game, and a strong background in the engineering side of the story, as well. A retiree of General Motors and Buick where he worked his entire career, he understands the impact that Flint has had on the racing scene.
Dunton not only has institutional knowledge of local racing, he is currently and actively engaged in it right now. His story is an eclectic journey from high school football player, to diving champions, collegiate diving superstar, and professional cliff diver. So to say that excitement, challenge, and risk are parts of his mental matrix would be an understatement. Naturally auto racing became his next challenge, one he has done quite well with. Bruce and Fish share one of the most amazing automobile stories you’ll ever hear in this show as well. It involves a Corvette white 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, nearly 40 years of history, and a monumental coincidence of motoring history. To close the show out Fish is joined by none other than Erik Jones, American’s #1 young NASCAR star. Jones is a genuine Flintstone in more ways than one. For starters he was born at Flint’s Hurley Hospital. He grew up spending a lot of time in and around Flint, and lived and attended school in Byron and graduated from Swartz Creek. He also spent a lot of time hanging out at Flint events like Back To The Bricks, where he was not only a visitor, but also a vendor working for his family’s business. He started winning in racing at a young age. Starting with quarter midget races, he won his first Championship in 2011, and then went on to a NASCAR Truck Series title in 2015. From there he became the youngest NASCAR champion in that series at a mere 19 years old. He was named Rookie of The Year in three consecutive years in all three of NASCAR’s top racing series. An incredible run. His first NASCAR Cup Series victory occurred at Darlington in 2018, a track called “Too Tough To Tame”. To follow that up he won the 2020 NASCAR Busch Clash, an annual invite-only race at Daytona International Speedway. Then this year he was invited by the living racing legend Richard “The King” Petty to partner with him in a quest to bring the famous #43 Petty Chevrolet back to victory lane. Fish got to talk some history of Chevrolet with Erik and how connected he feels to the great racer Louis Chevrolet. Finally Erik reveals on our show first his new Erik Jones Foundation. It’s dedicated to helping animals, stopping cancer, and helping kids embrace reading. It’s hard to imagine any better mandates. It’s great to add another superstar to our pantheon of Fish and The Flint Chronicles greats. And for Erik Jones, he’s an example of doing well by doing good along the way. |
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