Rick and I have been great friends for the last 17 years. We met at the Virginia International Raceway back in 2008. His uncanny wit and timely "one liners" always had those around him in stitches.
From 2012-2016 I opened a race shop building racing engines for Spec Miata racecars. He would pop in several times a week to hang out, or often times go to work. He always refused to let me pay him as it was a fun social engagement to be around people with common interests and wasn't work at all.
This past Saturday I was racing in a 14 Hr race at Road Atlanta in the ChampCar Endurance Series. I remember barreling down the backstraight at 130+ mph, when I spotted Rick's old Spec Miata there racing with it. It's checkerboard roof is unmistakable. I didn't know it had changed hands again and was now racing in the CC series. For some reason, seeing it racing again brought me to tears in the car, literally while I was driving. I'm talking ugly cry. It was just another car on track. No reason for that emotional response, but I couldn't wait to call Rick to tell him I had seen his car racing again, and to tell him about our race, as I often did after race weekends.
I called him on my ride home on Sunday and he didn't answer. I left a message, and he didn't call back after two days. He always returns my calls. I looked last night and found his obit online, where I learned he passed away during our race. I'm not a very spiritual person, but how can I think anything other than I had just witnessed my friend Rick making his final laps around Road Atlanta? I choose to believe he chose the most fitting way for him to to say "goodbye for now".
Never has the term "Godspeed" been more appropriate. I'll miss our time together at the track, and our periodic lunch dates. Wherever you are, you're surely making those around you laugh, I have no doubt. I couldn't have asked for a better true friend.
Rest in peace my friend,
Dan Tiley
