A Living Memorial to Earl Ma
It's Indy time and I miss Earl more and more...
Last year, I was in Indianapolis for another Indy 500. My buddy Phil Giebler was qualified for the 500 and I was looking forward to seeing my friend Earl Ma again.
Earl was determined to see Phil in the 500 regardless of his health, which was deteriorating (although how fast none of us knew until it was too late). He was in a wheelchair and paraplegic by then but he was still taking photos and working as hard as we all remember he could.
I was only able to meet up with him twice during the whole weekend. The first time was outside of the AARWBA media breakfast which I stupidly decided to skip; Earl had collected my awards for me and we chatted briefly before going our separate ways. Then later that day we met at Phil's Playa Del Racing celebration at a winery. Again our time together was very brief - I helped him out of Trish Codalata's car and into his wheelchair and got him up to the party level before I had to leave.
Earl's love of Indy was so strong that I can't even think of the place without thinking of him. I was always glad he got to go one last time but I will never forget that it cost him his life. I don't think I'll ever go back there without thinking about him and remembering being his friend.
I won't be at Indy this year due to medical issues of my own but I'll be back next year and hopefully will get to meet up with Earl's friends to reminisce about a true original.
Earl was determined to see Phil in the 500 regardless of his health, which was deteriorating (although how fast none of us knew until it was too late). He was in a wheelchair and paraplegic by then but he was still taking photos and working as hard as we all remember he could.
I was only able to meet up with him twice during the whole weekend. The first time was outside of the AARWBA media breakfast which I stupidly decided to skip; Earl had collected my awards for me and we chatted briefly before going our separate ways. Then later that day we met at Phil's Playa Del Racing celebration at a winery. Again our time together was very brief - I helped him out of Trish Codalata's car and into his wheelchair and got him up to the party level before I had to leave.
Earl's love of Indy was so strong that I can't even think of the place without thinking of him. I was always glad he got to go one last time but I will never forget that it cost him his life. I don't think I'll ever go back there without thinking about him and remembering being his friend.
I won't be at Indy this year due to medical issues of my own but I'll be back next year and hopefully will get to meet up with Earl's friends to reminisce about a true original.
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Comment by codalataK11 on May 19, 2008 at 12:32pm - Earl use to stay with me or my niece during May. It's been a depressing month for me. I miss venting to Earl. I am reluctantly selling my house in Speedway. I had such fond memories of my racing buddies and past guests. Earl use to get a kick out of who stopped by. Daren Manning hung out with us after being a fan in the stand one year and then actually racing in Indy for Ganassi the next year. Earl & I have great pictures of Daren the year he was the official Indy fan. Another funny story, I remember taking Earl to at BAR F1 Team Private Party. He was excited to go, but bummed because I told him he couldn't take his cameras. Can you imagine Earl without a camera? It was painful for him. He sat in between Zonta and Villeneuve AND NO CAMERA. How he was so mad at me! He never let me live it down. Too many stories to list. Especially the one about my cat. For those that do not know, Earl hated cats. lol. Oh man, I guess I'm still not over it because I keep wanting to pick up the phone and call him. I miss you my dear friend. It's just not the same with out you. -GC11
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