Heaven help them

The ministries that serve the auto racing circuits provide an anchor for all who believe - and all who don't.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2000

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name." The words were heartfelt, the moment solemn. About 60 churchgoers, squeezed into a trailer, were ending Sunday service with the Lord's Prayer.

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." Just then, the high-pitched whine of cars circling Homestead-Miami Speedway, less than 100 yards from the infield trailer, overwhelmed the service. Voices rose, but the CART Atlantic race won out.

[AP] The Rev. Dale Beavers delivers a sermon at a chapel service in the garage area of Richmond International Raceway before the start of last month's Pontiac Excitement 400.

The Rev. Phil De Rea, who led the service for CART Ministries, shrugged and smiled as the congregation of racing team members and their families filed out to prepare for the circuit's season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix.

"I like it," he said of the combination of earthly and spiritual noise. "It works well for me."

Not only because, as De Rea said tongue-in-cheek, God works in mysterious ways, but because there couldn't be a more appropriate juxtaposition to symbolize what CART Ministries is about.

"You give them that dimension they wouldn't normally get at the workplace. That there is a spiritual dimension. That there is a higher power working in their lives," De Rea said.

The mission statement is the same for IRL Ministry, which works the Indy Racing series, and Motor Racing Outreach, which works 19 series, including NASCAR's Winston Cup and Busch Grand National.

The ministries, which travel to each race, provide a spiritual base for the religious who cannot attend traditional services because of the unrelenting demands of the race schedule. They provide Bible studies, worship services and an anchor.

For those who do not believe, they provide a sense of community.

For those with relationship problems, the chaplains are counselors. For some drivers waiting on the starting grid, they are the last line of defense against the sport's dangers.

"They almost want a line of assurance," De Rea said. "They realize it is their skill and talents that make the difference if they're going to win, but I think more and more of them now are concerned about safety more than anything. Not that they have lessened their desire to win, but they also know anything can happen."

For the most part, though, track chaplains have the same duties as chaplains anywhere.

De Rea, 58, said he and fellow CART chaplain Hunter Floyd hold up to seven services during a race weekend. IRL Ministry chaplain Mark Wingler, 43, said he does three. Dale Beaver, 35, the Winston Cup chaplain for Motor Racing Outreach, oversees a race-day service, usually in the garage area.

The chaplains perform weddings and pray for sick relatives. They advise when team members have questions. They are peacemakers when tempers flare.

It is full-time duty. The chaplains' salaries and the ministries' trailers, which are used for services and meetings, are paid for by donations from teams and sponsors.

De Rea said CART Ministries holds non-denominational services in addition to Roman Catholic and Protestant ones. Wingler and Beaver said their services are Christian.

"I always like to be close to someone who makes my dreams come true, which is the guy upstairs," CART driver Helio Castroneves said. "I am a very good boy, but of course, I always make mistakes."

Wingler and Beaver said they have not received complaints from those of other denominations and mentioned Orthodox Jews and Buddhists among those who attend services. Besides, the chaplains said, the basic lessons apply to all.

"We talk about dealing with stress and forgiveness and marriage," Beaver said. "These guys are on the road a lot. How do you maintain a good relationship with your family? How do you be a good dad?

"Along the same lines, we talk of biblical knowledge and book studies and Scriptures, and try to couch people in the culture of the book in which it was written. Even though the Bible is 2,000 years old, we talk about how it still applies culturally to today."

Winston Cup driver Scott Pruett said he did not have a religious upbringing but still draws strength from the services.

"From my side, it's more personal," he said. "Being able to have that part of your life with the Lord and pray with your friends, typically you don't have that as a race car driver."

Said Cup driver Bobby Labonte: "It's somebody to talk to, if you need to talk."

After race-day services, the chaplains join the drivers on the grid, where they pray individually with those who ask. De Rea said some ask him to touch their car. The most common request is a prayer for a safe race.

"I'm always asking that nobody be hurt," Castroneves said. "I feel safe. I always feel someone is riding by my side taking care of me."

Then Castroneves laughed: "And I wouldn't mind if he gave me the victory." Wingler said he gets that request as well.

"I tell them we need to try and take a step back from that," Wingler said. "If I prayed for that for all 33 teams, I'd get confused. What I do tell them is we pray for individual victory. What I pray for them is to allow them to do their very best. And if there's something on the car that needs to be addressed, bring that to mind and have them work to the fullest of their potential."

When a crash, serious injury or death occurs, the ministries go into high gear.

After Indy Racing driver Sam Schmidt was paralyzed in January in a testing crash at Walt Disney World Speedway, Wingler spent much of the next month at Orlando Regional Medical Center counseling Schmidt, his parents and wife. He babysat while the family consulted with doctors.

"Sam has a lot of faith, but when you're sitting there in as bad a condition as he was, you need somebody to reinforce what you do believe, and Mark was there for all of us," said Schmidt's mother, Judy. "His availability was outstanding, and his reassurance really helped."

Wingler said the ordeal was difficult. He is close to the Schmidts, who always attended Sunday services. Wingler said that the night before the crash, he had dinner with Schmidt and his father, Marvin.

"I was mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted," Wingler said. "But as odd as it sounds, the family ministered to me in the faith they showed."

Wingler, De Rea and Beaver said they spent countless hours ministering after CART driver Greg Moore died in October in a crash at Fontana, Calif., six weeks after CART driver Gonzalo Rodriguez died in a crash at Monterey.

"Probably the biggest question is why a life that young and full of promise was taken," Wingler said. "My response was we don't know why. But we're looking at things from a very limited perspective as humans. The only comfort is we know God, in his infinite wisdom, is looking at the big picture and that all things work together in the universal holy plan."

A plan that was even harder to understand after 19-year-old Adam Petty was killed in a May12 crash during practice for a Busch race.

"They understand I don't have any easy answers, but they still wrestle with it," Beaver said. "That's good because in wrestling with it, I think it brings them closer to their relationship with God."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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