It was a labor of love and a collaboration of the drag-racing family.

But what had begun as a proud tribute to the late Funny Car phenomenon Eric Medlen became a little forgotten when the NHRA tour bypassed Virginia Motorsports Park after the 2009 season.

No one ever forgot Medlen himself. But “Champions Alley” – a playground at this racetrack south of Richmond, in North Dinwiddie, Va., meant to commemorate Medlen’s love for children – fell into disarray a bit.

That’s when Ron Henaghan, who works as a business-development consultant for Virginia Motorsports Park, went back into action. Tommy and Judy Franklin purchased the racetrack and stepped up early this year to host on short notice the Virginia Nationals. It replaced the storied Sumernationals at Englishtown, N.J., on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule after the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park owners announced they were dropping drag racing.

Henaghan returned to work at the facility and made the playground a priority once again. And this weekend the freshly groomed landscaping and the sparkling slides and climbing platforms shone proudly at the end of the pits once again.

For Henaghan, the connection was extremely personal.

“I remembered that terrible accident Eric had, and I felt really bad,” an emotional Henaghan said. “We’d always been pretty tight with the John Force team. I wanted to do something, not for myself but for someone else. My brother was on life support in Los Angeles, and I flew out there to be with him and then back here. I came back and I would work on it [the playground project]. I got all these great sponsors. They helped me build it. Everybody stepped up to the plate.”

Teams and corporations donated items for sale online, and the proceeds allowed Henaghan to buy the finest playground equipment.

John Medlen (Eric’s father), the John Force family and racing family, and Eric’s tight-knot racing buddies known as “The Brat Pack” (including Ashley Force, Brandon Bernstein, JR Todd, and Morgan Lucas) helped dedicate the playground. The ceremony took place at the 2008 NHRA national event, the year after Medlen died of injuries from a testing accident at Gainesville, Fla. John Force even tested out the slides and had some goofy fun, Eric Medlen style.

Henaghan left the racing industry in 2009 but came out of a short-lived retirement to help the Franklins operate VMP. And he couldn’t get the playground out of his mind and heart.

“A soon as I pulled in [to the property],” he said, “I saw the Medlen playground. It had been pretty run down.” Weeds were sprouting up, flowers had wilted, and it needed some tender-loving care. “It didn’t look good,” he said.

“I got a few friends to help me, and we put it back together. Kelly Antonelli of John Force Racing worked with longtime drag-racing photographer Gary Nastase to provide artwork for new signage. “It looks beautiful. Then we got a landscaper in there and planted [fresh flowers].

“I go over each morning and water the flowers,” Henaghan said. ”I wanted to make sure it looked good.”

So it’s still a labor of love 10 years after the dedication.