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VanderLaan to be
Honored in
Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame
The Board of Directors for the
Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame, whose objective is to
promote and preserve Michigan's extensive racing history,
are pleased to announce the 2004 inductees. The
inductees include the late Harry Melling of Jackson, who
was a NASCAR team owner, drag strip owner John Grivins
from Otsego, NHRA drag racer Harry Doolittle of Hillsdale,
track owner/promoter and announcer Tom Kestonholtz of
Lansing, and announcer/writer Gary Lindahl of Plymouth.
Also included is AMA motorcycle racer Scott Parker of
Swartz Creek, along with Late Model drivers Neil Penny of
Galesburg, John Tenney, the Kesolowski Family (John, Ron
and Bob) from Rochester, former ASA competitor Bruce
Vanderlaan of Grand Rapids, and Roger Wing.
The induction ceremony will
be held at the University Comfort Inn in Mount Pleasant,
Mich., on Sunday afternoon, November 7, 2004. Tickets are
available to the general public. Bruce VanderLaan was
born in Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1953, and is the son of
Gordy VanderLaan, an inducted member of the Michigan Motor
Sports Hall of Fame. Starting in street stocks,
VanderLaan soon moved up to the Sportsman division at
Berlin Raceway in 1979.The following year he was hired by
Harley Boeve at Port City Racing to drive his house car
for him that Butch Miller had been driving. The first
year, Vanderlaan won 14 features for Port City. When
Harley decided not to run a house car the following
season, VanderLaan received a phone call from Bill McGowen.
How well did they do
together? In a five-year period they had 44 feature
wins, 45 second place finishes, a top three finishing
position of 40 percent and a top five finishing position
of 75 percent. They won the 1983, 1985, 1986 Late Model
championship at Berlin Raceway. In 1988 they tied with
Freddy Campbell for the Berlin Raceway Late Model
championship. VanderLaan made a total of 70 ASA starts
between the years of 1981 and 1992. Though he never won an
event in ASA competition, he accumulated nine top-5
finishes and 27 top-10s, and led 112 laps in competition.
Eventually, VanderLaan
returned to Port City Racing with Boeve and ran the Iceman
series. After a couple of years of winning the Iceman
series championship, Sonny Adams renamed the series the
VanderLaan 500 and then the VanderLaan 700. VanderLaan's
most memorable race was an ARTGO race at Berlin Raceway.
VanderLaan was leading with Freddy Campbell and Butch
Miller on his tail. They were attempting inside and
outside passes lap after lap. VanderLaan finally knocked
his rear view mirror to the side so he couldn't see them
anymore. Oh yes, he won that race.
VanderLaan made this
statement about his career. "I liked the competition,"
he said. "It was a rush. In cards, you put your cards on
the table. In racing you put your car on the track. You've
got to see how good you are. If you've got no chance of
winning, what the hell are you doing out there? I had fun.
Things could have been different, but I've got nothing to
kick about. I won some races and some championships. I got
respect from the people I raced against. I always drove a
clean race. I'm satisfied." |
