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Remembering Spencer…

Gone but not to be forgotten – on November 24, 2019 – CVR lost one of its long-time members, Spencer Cox, who passed away after a hard fight against cancer. During Spencer’s illness, he had said to me (and others) that this was just one more race he had to win, except that this one was in the worst of conditions. Sadly he was DNF for this race. We are all going to miss Spencer – at the race track, having dinner with him, listening to him give a classroom tutorial on how to become a better driver, to just sitting with him shooting the ‘breeze’.

For those of you who had met Spencer, be it a one-time thing to a long-term friend, he was always there to listen to you.  Sometimes he was not paying 100% attention to what you were saying, but he was listening none the less. Spencer touched and helped so many people in his lifetime.  He was always there to help out someone if needed.   And if you wanted to talk Porsche, boy did he have stories.

I met Spencer at Lime Rock Park at my second DE back in the late ’90s when my 944 Turbo was experiencing boost problems.  My friend Chris brought Spencer over to my car and Spencer asked me what was wrong.  In seconds he was under the hood and fixed the problem (a loose hose).  Spencer then went over to his trailer, got a roll of wire and at that time a funky looking pair of pliers for tying wire and showed me how to tie one of the hoses and then handed me the tools.  He told me that he wanted me to wire tie all of the small air lines / hoses relating to boost, and said that when I was done, to come to get him so he could look it over.  Whoa – I had never met this guy Spencer and here he was headfirst under the hood of my car to help me out.  From that day we started a friendship that would last 20 plus years. 

Spencer under the hood of someone else’s car

I know many of you were touched by Spencer in one way or another and will miss him in your own special way.  We all know that Spencer valued friendship and that he would like to be remembered as a friend.  He will be remembered because he did reach out to us all and was always there for us, not only with cars but everyday life. 

Spencer was a huge asset to the CVR DE program.   He was an instructor for decades, he was our Chief Instructor for a few years, he gave classroom sessions and he rode with drivers to help them with anything they wanted help with.   Spencer was the recipient of the Dale Smith Memorial award in 2013.   That award was retired in 2019, with a new award created named the Spencer Cox Driver Education Award.

The new Annual DE Award, first presented in 2019

Spencer lived his life to the fullest, never looking back – his outlook was to keep his head up and believe that tomorrow was another day and it would be better.  So yes, we all lost a very dear friend and we are all very sad, but he would hope that we could all do the same – look past the negative and help others as he did.  Speedsport Tuning will live on, under new management, so you will still see the SST logo around the paddock.

Spencer Cox – you have left us in body but we know you will always be there riding shotgun, telling us the right things to do (for all of you long-time DE’ers, you all know the waterbed on top of the roof analogy).  Spencer will be remembered fondly and never forgotten by his friends, his family and CVR.   R.I.P. our dear friend.                   

Hanging out at Sebring ….

For those of you drivers who are advanced drivers, there is a charity track day event being held at Monticello Motor Club on April 14, 2020.  All of the proceeds will be given to Spencer’s wife Denise, to help with the medical bills.  Thanks to MMC for donating the track day.  If you would like to contribute, you can reach out to Todd Pajonas, who is coordinating the non-PCA event.

Our 2020 schedule is posted on ClubRegistration.net.  We will miss Spencer at the track but he will be with us in spirit.   I hope that you will all take a look at your calendar and add the events that you want to attend.

See you at the track.

Dave

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