Forum: Oklahomatidbits.com General Forum (go)
Moderators:  /  David Smith Jr

Got the word this afternoon that long-time SFS regular Tom Mercer passed away early this morning after a long fight with cancer. Arrangements pend. RIP Tom.

RIP Tom! Our prayers are with the family.

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I had heard from Charles Holley that Mr. Mercer had been ill and not doing well. Thoughts and prayers to all his family and friends.

R.I.P. Mr. Mercer

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

Services for Tom will be held at the John Ireland Funeral Home, 120 S Broadway in Moore, at 2 PM Monday, May 2nd

GOD SPEED

Tom Mercer was a great guy and a good friend to us and to racing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. We will miss you Tom.

Charles Holley and family.

R.I.P. Tom

John Stewart

Retro Racing Custom Model Cars
405.922.6163
[email protected]
Oklahoma City, OK

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Retro-
Racing-Custom-Model-Cars/235624429834292#!/pages/Retro-
Racing-Custom-Model-Cars/23562442983429

To All,

This afternoon we laid to rest Tom Mercer. Tom was a bigger then life part of the OKC Racing scene for over 30 years that I know of. He was a car owner, crew chief, engine builder, father and friend to so many racing people in OKC that they are to numorous to name. I first met Tom personally at an ORA meeting in '74 it was the year of the strike and sitting at a table across from me was Tom, I don't remember the particulars but I was in my first year as an ORA member and in my first year as a participant and I damn sure didn't want to strike, I was just a kid doing what I had been wanting to do since Taft Stadium days sitting in the stands, anyway I pop'd off something and old Tom looked me in the eye and told me what a dumb ass I was so I got mad and left. Now back in those days it may be hard to believe if you were from north of the river you were an outsider, the enemy, it was really quite a rivalary and being I was from north of the river I'm sure Tom thought I was a young snotty nose punk and I thought he was an old hard headed bastard. Well this being the way it was we didn't get along very well in the mid to late '70s but about this time Stan Constant came along and he and I were good friends which he and Tom were good friends so we would see one another alot at Stan's shop and even though we didn't really care for one another we would talk. In mid '82 The Old Man had hired this kinky haired guy named Howie Sewell and I believe Terry Doss or Terry Guinn was driving for Tom and they were leading the A=Feature by a straight with a couple laps togo when we broke something and Howie rolled up against the guard rail going into turn 1, why he didn't pull off on the 5/8th track I don't know, they through a yellow and everybody kinda walked out along the 4th turn guard rail to signal there cars and Tom jumped up on that post right at the end of the 4th turn rail and he commenced to chewing me out up one side and down the other, hell I wasn't driving the car and I told him so, we were yelling at one another and I had just turned to walk off and he said something and I turned around and started to punch him right in the nuts, with him standing on that rail he was the right height, as I turned he said DON'T YOU DO IT and just as I started to swing he lost his balance and fell off, just like to have busted his ass, I couldn't help but laugh and even though he called me an SOB he was laughing also. Later on a few times Stan, Tom and I would drive over to Tulsa in Stans old dually now it was a single cab so it was a front seat full, I'm pretty windy and would really get to talking and sure enough sooner or later the topic of fuel would get brought up, Tom know we were running fuel and I would ramble on about hydrozine it was nasty stuff, far more volitile then nitro. Old Tom would be elbowing Stan in the ribs as we rode along in the night and I would get a kick out of blowing the stories up and the bigger the stories got the more Stan's ribs hurt!! In the mid to late '90s we started racing with the Bishops, Donnie had built this car that was a little differant, Larry Allen was driving and his Uncle Henry was helping us out, Henry and Tom were better then friends, close as brothers even to this day. So Tom was hanging out around the car alot helping which being the hard ass I was, I didn't listen much but along the way we were struggling and The Old Man sit me down one day at coffee and told me Grace don't be an ass, your not getting the job done listen to some advice maybe it will help, so 1 friday at the track as the heats are running I was standing off to the side looking at the car, everybody was up watching and Tom walked up and said what do you think, I sucked it up and just like it was today said what am I missing, his answer was simple go back to the basic's put 4 bars in it and 4 shocks on it and race it quit doing all of this trick shit. Well we went back to basic's and we started going fast again, Shorty drove for us a couple of time and Gary drove a few and we won some races at the end of the season. In '97 we would have a great year and win the Championship at OKC it was a awesome year, Tom was a VERY IMPORTANT part of that effort, we had a great crew, Tom would wear me out building engines, I'm a clean freak and he would always be smoking that Cigar and he would just sprinkle an ash or two around and it would drive me nuts. When I had to travel I relied on Tom to keep the ship afloat and not let the boys get to carried away. Tom was a good engine tuner probably the best at running valves that I have seen. He had funny sayings whiz bang, fuzz nuts, wing nut just to name a few, he could wear your ass slick if you messed up. Until today I never realized how big his ears were until we saw that DVD, Gary and I figure that is where wing nut came from. He liked to fish and one time he Stan and I were at Texhoma in Stans boat, Tom was driving Stan was bitching about something and old Tom laid the hammer back and flipped Stan over the seat into the water it looked like Laurel and Hardy!!!! There are so many things that I could go on about as I'm sure alot of his friends could. One thing I know for sure it was an HONOR working beside him, he has had a huge impact on my life as a mentor and friend and just as The Old Man he will always be with me.

RIP TOM GOD SPEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!