Another Soldier Gone

Today we buried Rusty Creeden. 
Like Danny Mitchell, Rusty was more than a racer to me.
He was my friend.

We go back to the 1970s when his dad, Pop Creeden displayed my drag racing trophies at B & B Amoco in Middletown New York. That was about the time Rusty got into racing and tried his luck at Island Dragway.  He quickly decided to go on to circle track racing.  He debuted at Orange County Fair Speedway in his trademark 16x.

I have many fond memories of Rusty from taking early career photos to involvement with his family and him often spending late nights working on my cars.

A fond memory is how his daughter Amy was afraid of me as a young girl.  On a rainy day in Syracuse in a camper, Amt sat there glaring at me.  There was a Simon game on the table between us so I reached over and hit a button.  She looked and did the same.  The game continued on and this 4 year old beat me.

From that moment on, she would tell anyone who would listen that Ralph was her friend.  I will cherish this memory forever.

I was at Poughkeepsie N Y when Danny started his go-kart career.  I photographed him from the beginning and many a happy Sunday was spent with the family while Danny and Amy raced their karts.

I remember at Novembefests at Oakland Valley when Danny was still running carts how Rusty's wife Debbie would run my film to Sam’s Club for processing and how the family always made sure I was fed.  I also laugh when I think of how we started the Daniel-son nickname and Danny and his friends called me Miagi.

This continues to this day and we all still laugh when this happens.

Yesterday at the wake there was a line waiting to get to pay respect when I left.  Today at the service, the line of cars to the cemetery was over a half mile long.  This goes to show what a great person we all lost.  And how his fellow racers and friends loved him.

Rusty's career was not spectacular but he was always in the fight for the win.  His son, Danny is carrying on where Rusty left off and won the track Championship at Accord in 2006. Danny was also the champion in the ROC series.

 Danny will move up to modifieds this season and Rusty will be looking down on him as a proud father and telling the other angels, “That’s my son”.

Rusty....you were  a true friend and will be missed by all.  I will miss you a lot!

Ralph Corwin
Middletown, New York