It seemed a strange coincidence, that just moments after Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash.... some 1300 miles away in Summit, NJ., veteran flagman Myke Collins started taking his last breath, three days after his 92nd birthday .

Myke who held an ARA championship as a "big car" driver in the 1930's tried to fit his lean 6' 3" frame into the cockpit of a midget on several occasions. "We had to cut a hole in the firewall and rig the accelerator directly to the carburetor. This was frowned upon by the safety officials." Myke himself thought the better of it. When Myke Junior was born, Collins redirected his racing career and started handling flag duties at tracks all throughout the northeast. His home track however was Freeport Stadium, in Long Island, New York where he kept the audiences entertained with his flamboyant showmanship and the drivers in line for close to 40 years. He also wrote for Illustrated Speedway News and was an accomplished cartoonist.

"Dad's entire life was devoted to motor sports" Myke Jr. told me on the phone. " He stopped his driving career because he thought it was no life for a family man" Though the two of us entered a sports car rally in the 1950's, that went from New York to Canada and competed against Sterling Moss and drivers of that caliber. We had some great times together." Racing historian Marty Himes recalled Myke as being a real fun guy but when it came to sorting things out like positions during restarts he was in total control. "He'd walk that line between us out on the track and say 'You go here, you go to the rear etc' If you gave him any lip you were gone." Sounds like the kind of flagman they are going to be needing at the big track in the sky doesn't it?