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Horton & Leach Brothers Set
For East Windsor Title Run
by Herb Anastor "I think that this is gonna be an okay deal," assured the 2000 East Windsor Speedway small-block modified champion and the winner of four consecutive big-block titles (1977-1980) at the fast half-mile track. "Johnny and Nicky have always fielded good equipment, and I know that we're gonna win some races." The new-look No. 99 that the Horton/Leach combo will use to start off the 2002 campaign is actually the 2000 Olsen chassis that the popular driver used to win his most recent East Windsor title. Yet, whether or not a new car is brought into the fold, one of two Gaerte-built 339-CID Chevy engines (fuel-injected or carbureted) or a carbureted 339-cid John Burnett-built Chevy will power the no. 99. "Our basic goal is to go out there and be competitive and win races and have some fun," agreed the Leach brothers, themselves former racers who know what it is like to be first under the checkered flag. "And we think we will. "Doug Hoffman [who won the 2001 East Windsor title in the Leach Racing Associates no. 99] did a great job for us last year, but Jimmy will be in the ball park right off the trailer and we should have a lot of fun." Horton enters the 2002 season as the all-time leading stock car winner at East Windsor Speedway with 115 feature-event victories (53 big-block wins - the all-time record; 62 small-block wins - third all-time) to his credit. The designer of the chassis that was produced by Budd Olsen Race Cars, Horton has won a total of 388 modified/small-block modified feature events and 23 track or series championships Named by Area Auto Racing News as one of the "Top-25 Dirt-Modified Drivers Of All-Time," the full-time professional racer is a two-time winner (1987 & 1994) of Super DIRT Week's Eckerd 200 at Syracuse, New York. He also has won at least one feature race every year for 29 seasons (1974-2002). The primary sponsors of the Leach Racing Associates no. 99 include the Miles Concrete Company, Penske Racing Shocks, Art's Radiator & Welding, Fred's Trailer Repair, Ed & Sons Auto Glass, Cold Fasteners and Custom Creations.
Jimmy and Lisa Horton Talk About Their Son Hunter On
February 27, Jimmy and Lisa Horton became the proud parents of Hunter
Anthony Horton when he was born at 5:26 p.m. in St. Peter's Hospital in
New Brunswick, NJ.
Weighing 7 pounds and 1 ounce, Hunter was 18
1/2-inches long when he greeted the world, almost a month ahead of
schedule. Then, in less than 12 hours, things started to happen rather
quickly as he was diagnosed with a congenital heart problem that put his
young life in danger.
Immediately, Hunter was transported by medical
helicopter to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where he underwent
emergency heart-value and arterial surgery. And although the surgery was
successful, he then spent 43 days in Children's Cardiac Intensive Care
Unit before he was finally able to go to his Neshanic Station, NJ home on
April 12.
Hunter is doing well now. But after his birth and
during his hospital stay, there was little that Jimmy and Lisa could or
wanted to say, largely because they often didn't know from day-to-day just
how quickly he was recovering. And that's something they'd like to remedy.
"Now that Hunter is home, we'd like to share
our story with everybody that was so concerned about him in the
beginning," Lisa began. "We'd especially like to thank everybody
for their concern and hope that they all understand that we didn't want to
say too much about him until he got home."
"When Hunter was born, the doctors found
that he had damage to both of the main valves in his heart and at two-days
old he had open-heart surgery [at CHOP] to repair the valves."
"After that, the recovery should have only
been a 10-day period, but he had other complications and he filled-up with
and retained fluid and he couldn't come off of his ventilator."
"As the weeks went on, he did get better.
Jimmy and I stayed with Hunter the whole time and slept at the hospital
every night. He needed us and we needed to be with him. We spent six-and
one-half weeks at Children's and came home the Thursday before
Easter."
"So far," Lisa added, "everything
looks good. Hunter goes back to his cardiologist frequently and he has to
be watched, and the best-case scenario is that he will grow into his heart
and everything around will grow with him. As of right now, Hunter's a
healthy, normal baby. He's gaining weight [up to 8 1/2-pounds as compared
to his discharge weight of 7 pounds, 4 ounces] and getting bigger [19
1/2-inches long]. And, hopefully, he won't need any other surgeries."
Lisa, of course, was on maternity leave from her
job, so being with her son at the hospital all of the time was an easy
thing to do. However, for Jimmy it was another matter. He had just
returned from DIRT's Florida Tour when his new son was born and was busy
getting cars out the door as the shop foreman at Budd Olsen Speed Supplies
in Mickleton, NJ. But none of that stopped him from being where he needed
to be.
"It was a trying time just trying to make
sure that everything was OK and to keep everything positive," Jimmy
admitted. "That's the only way that you could look at it.
"And whether it was the right way or the
wrong way, my being able to go to work [Children's Hospital is only a
20-minute drive from the Olsen shop] is the way that I always deal with
things. Go do what I do best, and that was go to work."
"I didn't need to be right there because the
doctors were doing their jobs. But I was close enough to be there if
something happened, and I had to do that a couple of times."
There was also a comfort level for Jimmy - who
has sons Jimmy IV (14) and Ryan (11) from a previous marriage - with
Hunter being at Children's as he has been there before.
"We've had to go there with Ryan [who has
cerebral palsy] and it's not something that I'm used to," Jimmy
explained, "but I've been in the situation before."
"It just helps to have good hospitals."
Now that the newest Horton is home, he has had no
problem adapting to life outside of the confines of a world-class medical
facility. And that has been good for Jimmy and Lisa.
"Hunter's being home has gotten us both to
stop worrying about what took place and start thinking that he's a normal
child," the proud father said. "And that's OK."
"No matter what it is, you can't shelter
Hunter or Jimmy or Ryan from life, and that's the way that he's gonna be
brought up."
"I'm not saying that I have seen it all
before, but I think Hunter's illness was harder on Lisa. It helps knowin'
that there is hope at the end of the tunnel, that things will be better
and it will be OK. Going through that kind of thing with Ryan helped me
understand that, and I think that was really my part of it."
"Hunter's being in the hospital taught us a
lot," assured the new mom. "It taught us to be grateful for what
we have and to realize how good life is and not to take anything for
granted."
"The doctors and nurses at Children's
Hospital were just great," Lisa said without reservation. "They
saved Hunter's life."
"It probably wasn't until the day that we
came home that we really realized how bad it was. I think that we were
just so involved in everything that you kind of just live minute-to-minute
and day-to-day and hope that he's OK. The day that we left, the main
doctor at Children's told us that he was their miracle baby. That it was a
miracle that he made it."
"We met a lot of nice people in Children's
Hospital; all the parents that we met had children with heart problems.
And we have learned how lucky we are to have Hunter."
"He's a great little guy," Lisa said
with a smile, "and we'll do everything that we can to keep him
healthy." |
