MEDLEN MEMORIAL PLANNED
Tue, 2007-04-03 17:40
A memorial service that will allow his hometown to grieve the loss of Eric
Medlen, one of professional drag racing’s most popular young drivers, will be
held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the River Oak Grace Community Church, 7712 Rodden
Road in Oakdale.
Medlen, 33, succumbed on March 23 to a severe closed head injury suffered
in the crash of his race car during a test session four days earlier at
Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway
A memorial service that will allow his hometown to grieve the loss of Eric
Medlen, one of professional drag racing’s most popular young drivers, will be
held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the River Oak Grace Community Church, 7712 Rodden
Road in Oakdale.
Medlen, 33, succumbed on March 23 to a severe closed head injury suffered
in the crash of his race car during a test session four days earlier at
Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway
A graduate of Oakdale High School where he was a high school rodeo
champion in calf roping and team roping, Medlen was preparing for a pro rodeo
career as partner to mentor, Oakdale resident and two-time PRCA world champion
Jerold Camarillo when fate intervened.
Instead of a one horsepower career, Medlen opted instead to join his
father, John Medlen, at John Force Racing, Inc., in Yorba Linda, Calif., where
he worked for eight seasons on the team’s 8,000 horsepower Funny Cars.
When 2003 NHRA Funny Car Champion Tony Pedregon left JFR at the end of his
championship season to form his own team, Medlen was John Force’s hand-picked
successor even though he never before had driven professional.
Oakdale’s favorite son responded by winning a race in his rookie season
and finishing in the Top 5 in driver points. In his three full years as a
driver, he won six times, never finished outside the Top 5 and last year earned
his most satisfying victory when he prevailed in the FRAM/Autolite Nationals at
nearby Infineon Raceway (Sonoma).
Before winning at Infineon, Medlen spent two days in Oakdale honing his
roping skills at Camarillo’s ranch, visiting family and friends and shooting a
roping segment that appeared on the real-life TV series, Driving Force, which
airs on A&E network.
“Eric Medlen was the son I never had,” Force said. “He was the leader of
my next generation of drivers. (His) loss is a huge blow not only to the Medlen
family, but to drag racing and to John Force Racing.”
One measure of Medlen’s popularity is the fact that BP/Castrol, his
principal sponsor during his first three professional seasons, collected almost
15,000 personal messages for the family at a special e-mail address it created
in the aftermath of his death.
In addition, during last week’s NHRA event at Houston, Texas, Castrol and
the Automobile Club of Southern California provided posters on which thousands
more left personal messages for the Medlen family.
Medlen’s mother, Mary “Mimi” Medlen is an Oakdale resident, as is his
uncle, Steve Medlen. He also is survived by his father, John, and stepmother,
Martha, of Russellville, Ark., and by his sister Eryn Gonzales.
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