by Melanie Rogers
Davids Driving Career
David started racing in 1973 at the age of 18. His brother had a racecar sponsored by the family business. They were without a driver one night and he told David to take the car to the track and race it. David took 3rd place while racing in a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt. After that night he had the racing bug and continued racing all of his life. David lost his battle to cancer on March 8, 2020, weeks after racing at Speedweeks in February of that same year.
David raced multiple classes but had his most success driving super late models at New Smyrna Speedway. He won the regional Nascar short track championship in 1991 and won the National Championship in 1994 at Volusia County Speedway. In the final 2 events of the 1994 series, due to rain outs, the competition from other regions (Freddy Query night one and Jack Sprague night 2) flew in to try to secure the title for themselves. David won both nights, becoming the only undefeated National Champion, winning 22 out of 22 races.
David ran Grand National races at Daytona and Charlotte and ran Busch races at Charlotte and Talladega. He had more starts in the Snowball Derby at Five Flags then any driver ever had. There were numerous years that David could claim the title of the winningest short track driver in the United States. He won every prestigious race at New Smyrna Speedway at least once, and ran every year in their World Series of Asphalt Racing Speedweeks. He never drove for anyone, but always owned his own cars and own equipment. In 47 years of racing he only had 3 sponsors, with TM Ranch and Steve Holland by his side for over 30 years. Some of his team had been with him for close to 40 years and they worked because they loved racing and they loved David.
Continuing A Legacy
David was diagnosed with lymphoma on January 30, 2019. He won that battle and went back to racing in the Snowball derby that same year. He continued to compete at New Smyrna through Speedweeks of 2020. Tragically he became ill and was diagnosed with AML Leukemia on March 6, 2020 and the Lord called him home only 2 days later.
David was a hero to many either through racing or through the quiet ways he would help people, often with no one knowing he had even stepped in. David loved kids. He handed out hundreds of trophies at the racetrack. Most weeks his trophy didn’t ride home with him – it accompanied a child home and is probably still gracing a bookshelf as a treasured memory.
I’ll share just a couple stories that directly impacted our decision to choose pediatrics to continue Davids legacy. In 1987, Jackie Whiddon (currently serving on the board of David Rogers Forever #11 Charities) was diagnosed with cancer. David accompanied her parents to doctor visits to help them navigate the overwhelming onslaught of information that parents face when a child is beginning cancer treatment. He continued to be Jackie’s cheerleader through treatment and throughout her life.
One of his top fans, Little Tina, was in a horrific car accident around 1997. David spent multiple hours with her at the hospital and made sure the celebration was complete when she was released, sending her home in a limousine.
The Story of Bellah
David followed the story of a little girl named Bellah. She was adopted by one of my close friends when she was 3. Born with severe medical issues, Bellah endured extensive medical care. Bellah needed, and received, a 5 organ transplant requiring her to spend a lot of time in the hospital. When she heard that Mr. David was sick in the hospital and had an ileostomy, she just had to talk to him.
The problem was that she was next door at Arnold Palmer Hospital and was waiting for air transport to Miami. She got to Miami and convinced her mom to let her send a video to Mr. David, even though she would be heading into surgery herself in a short while. She encouraged David and inspired him. There were many times during his journey that he claimed, “if Bellah can do it then I can too”. Bellah lost her battle on August 20, 2019. I was so afraid to tell David, but with tears in his eyes he told me that she was happy now.
I followed and pray for a few children on social media that have medical issues. In February 2020, a child posted a picture of his brave gown and asked his followers to help provide these gowns for everyone on his hospital floor. We donated a gown and talked about how neat it would be to have a racing gown. I think Bellah was always on our mind and we envisioned having been able to give her a racing gown to wear, and how we could help kids like her. At some point I messaged brave gowns with the idea but we didn’t connect on the project.
The Legacy Continues
Then our own tragedy struck. The following month, on April 19, 2020, what would have been David’s 65th birthday, the owner of brave gowns posted a picture of her brother Mac. He had also battled AML leukemia. He was her inspiration for brave gowns. I shared a picture of David’s car and said that it was my dream to have a gown designed to honor my husband, who I had lost the month before to AML. She messaged me and said she would make this happen for me.
I knew I wanted those gowns but my thoughts went no further. On June 26, 2020 Five Flags Speedway held a Forever 11 race. They had t-shirts made for all of the track workers and provided a box of shirts to Steve Holland (who we affectionately call Bossman) of TM Ranch. He gave us shirts and I posted a picture of our daughter wearing one. I received so many messages from people wanting to buy a shirt! I talked to Pat Bryant, the track owner, and she gave me the information to proceed with selling the shirts. Now we had a way to fund our gowns!
New Smyrna Speedway has renamed their super late model series the David Rogers Super late model series in David’s memory. What an honor! I asked if I could set up a table during big races to sell t-shirts and face masks to fund our Brave Gowns and they gave me their blessing.
We are now a Florida non-profit and are working on all of the paperwork necessary to become a 501c3. You can currently go onto the brave gowns website and order a David Rogers racing brave gown and mask to be delivered to a child in the hospital or to be sent to me to personally deliver. I would love to eventually have teddy bears designed to wear a Rogers racing t-shirt for children walking into scary places to have a friend to take along. I truly feel that God has been in charge of this and if we will just be diligent in listening for His voice, that He will take David’s charity where it is meant to go. The most important thing to me is that his memory is honored and children’s lives are made a little bit better.