Great Lakes Super Sprints

9/14/2018

GLSS-Great Lakes Super Sprints

GLSS GOES INTO HURRICANE FLORENCE

Fayetteville, NC – Great Lakes Super Sprints Owner, Barry Marlow (Merrill, MI), started last Friday preparing and assembling a crew to head south ahead of Hurricane Florence to be in place to assist in refueling generators and emergency and relief equipment after Hurricane Florence comes to shore.

Marlow, has been doing emergency work for ice storms, flooding, forest fires and hurricanes for the past 13 years. “This is the 19th hurricane that I have helped with since I worked Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005!” Marlow just arrived home in April in time for the racing season after working in Puerto Rico for 6 ½ months.

When Hurricane Florence started materializing and tracking toward the Carolinas, Marlow started assembling a crew of hazmat fuel drivers as well as a handful of resourceful support people. The first 3 people flew out last Sunday to start shuttling trucks to the east coast. Monday a couple more flew into Macro Companies in Broussard, LA to pick up more trucks to head east. Then Tuesday and Wednesday the rest of the crew drove or flew to North Carolina.

Marlow put together 22 people to work with Macro Companies’ Emergency Fuel Management Services, who specializes in providing fuel and fueling equipment during storms to keep generators and emergency equipment running in times of crisis. This small group joined many others working for EFM and are currently helping the State of North Carolina, US Army Corp of Engineers, Duke Energy, Entergy Power and AT&T Communication. They are spread out in Winston/Salem, Raleigh, Charlotte and Fayetteville, North Carolina as well as Columbia and North, South Carolina.

Over the years, Marlow has kept a list of hazmat drivers and workers that would like to help out during storms. The list changes over time, because this isn’t a regular job, because it’s nothing you can plan for. If a storm is about to hit, you have to have people ready to leave says Marlow.

A great source of good people for Marlow has been from Great Lakes Super Sprints. Even with the short notice, half of the crew that went to North Carolina with Marlow are from the racing world.

Brett “The Hoosier Rocket” Mann #19 (Goshen, IN) and Tony Bures #58 (Bristol, IN) are both sprint car drivers with GLSS. Danny Sams (Englewood, FL) and Terry Busche (Fort Wayne, IN) are both sprint car owners of the #24 and 16B and members of GLSS. Keith Beeching (Warsaw, IN) is on GLSS member, Joe Swanson’s #7 sprint car crew. Steve and Erika Puvalowski own Tri-City Motor Speedway in Auburn, MI and home of the Great Lakes Fall Sprintacular. Aaron Anderson and Greg Dabrowski both come to us from Wolverine Fireworks, located in Kawkawlin ,MI, where they transport and help put together fireworks shows at local race tracks and municipalities. The last member is Barry Marlow (Merrill, MI) owner and founder of Great Lakes Super Sprints.

As tragic as natural disasters can be, there are many examples of people coming together to help others. This is something that Marlow is proud to say he is a part of. The desire to help other people is a strong theme amongst the members of Great Lakes Super Sprints. This is just one of many examples of putting that desire into action.

Next race for GLSS is tonight and tomorrow night at Ohsweken Speedway for the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals where 2018 Champion Dustin Daggett, 2018 2nd place finisher Phil Gressman, 2017 Champion Jared Horstman and members Devon Dobie and Max Stambaugh will be racing and trying to claim the $10,000 prize on Saturday night.

Saturday, October 13th will be the final race of the season at I-96 Speedway, located near Lake Odessa, MI. For up to date information, go to our website at www.greatlakessupersprints.com and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.