2010 Manuel Torres Memorial at Black Hills Speedway

Parts of an article from the Rapid City Journal about my grandpa:

Manuel 'Mel' Torres loved racing, and he loved watching his sons and grandsons behind the wheel.  It was two years ago today that Torres, 77, of Rapid City, died of complications from cancer, and tonight the Torres family will honor its patriarch with the Mel Torres Memorial at Black Hills Speedway.

The event is a tribute to Mel's generosity to the racing community over the years, said oldest son Dennis, of Rapid City. This race is not about us.  It's about him.  If anyone knew Dad, he helped out a lot of people.  If anyone needed a part or something they could always come to him.  He'd been around there for so long and people knew him because of that. 

Mel Torres was also instrumental in the local boxing communiy.  He won the 1949 Golden Gloves state championship and started the Rapid City Boxing club with his brother John.

They coached seven RCBC teams to Midwest Golden Gloves State Championships over their 23 years of coaching and were inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.

Mel started his racing career in 1964 as a pit crewmn for driver Jim Esmay.  He later teamed with Bob Mallow and Jasper Rioux and raced until 1971.

The first Torres race car was a Studebaker originally driven by Esmay and carrying the number 99.  Torres added a "1" to the number, and 199 became his trademark.

In later years, with Mel's health deteriorating, he still helped the family's racing efforts and didn't hesitate to inspire the boys to greater efforts.

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The kids watching the cars warm up. 

They loved wearing their T-Shirts honoring their great grandpa.

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Some of the family waiting for the races to start.

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Riley & the Duck

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My cousin Branden's car.

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My cousin Tim's car.

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Brittney by my uncle Toby's car.

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Can you tell my brother Jody worked on cars in the pits?

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Riley's first time in a race car .

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