My dad and uncle were very good friends with Geoffrion. And that is no exaggeration. They would go every year to a few national events and the entire weekend was spent in the pits with Geoffrion and Alderman. As I got older and got more into drag racing, I was finally allowed to go with them to a national event. 13 years old (Pretty sure), and Scott treated me like I was his son. By the time I got to meet Scott, he was driving for Nitrofish and I was waxing his car in the pit area while my dad and uncle assisted with the rest of the car. My first ever national event, Scott made it to the final and ended up losing to Greg Anderson. That was the year Greg Anderson really took off in pro stock. I believe it was 2003 but don't quote me. That race was also Jason Line's first race and he actually crashed during qualifying.
Both my uncle and dad were at the race when Eckman's car had the explosion. They said how lucky they were no one got hurt or killed because of how violent the explosion was. When I was a very young child, my dad was offered a job with Eicke Motorsports, working with Scott and Darrell. Scott actually talked my dad out of taking the job. Scott explained he would never be home to see me or my sister grow up and that was something Scott experienced in his short life due to his racing career. Scott didn't want to see my dad go down that path. That advice stopped my dad from taking the job, thankfully. As awesome as it would have been to have a dad who worked for a pro stock team, I am very thankful my dad wasn't gone when I was a kid. Now, I drive him nuts on a daily basis about drag racing and I drag him all over the place while I race, lol.
I asked my dad to send me some photos he has hanging in the basement so I can share them. Scott and Darrell were great guys. Scott will always be missed by my family.
