Doug Drown was overcome with emotion when he exited his dirt late model in victory lane at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio. After wrestling a car that had lost power steering, he looked toward the roof of his ride that carried the newly affixed portrait of his longtime crew member, Steve “Steve O” Hershberger. Hershberger, 45, passed away from cancer in late May.
Drown first met Hershberger when he showed up in Drown’s pit after a race in 2001.
“He asked if he could help me,” said Drown, 37, of Wooster, Ohio. “He said he just wanted to learn racing. I said, ‘Yes.’ He was there every day since. He fell in love with his job.”
Hershberger’s role with the team grew. He became a tire expert and found new sponsors for the race team. In recent years Drown brought him into his business, Joyride Transport, helping him earn his CDL to drive tractor-trailers.
This year, Hershberger complained of body aches. Four weeks ago, he went to his doctor, who thought he just had muscular problems and sent him to a chiropractor.
“He was in so much pain, so we didn’t go to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race in Georgia,” Drown said. “When he went back to the doctor, they transferred him to Cleveland.”
Before he went to the hospital for cancer treatment, Drown unveiled to Hershberger the brand-new, bright green Western Star truck that Hershberger would be driving.
“I told him it would be here waiting for him when he got out of the hospital,” Drown said. “As he went in, he called to tell me he had gotten all the tires ready for the next two weeks of racing — because he knew he would be too weak from his treatment to do his job.”
A week later, Hershberger passed away.
“He lived his life to help others,” said Drown. “I’d tell him he was working too much, go home and get some sleep. He’d reply, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead. I’m going to get all that I can out of life while I’m alive.’”
That’s what drove Drown to manhandle a car without power steering to victory lane, where he tapped on Hershberger’s portrait.
“He didn’t deserve a little sticker,” Drown said. “He was a huge asset, and he will be remembered in a huge way, every day.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
