A fond farewell to a good friend.

By Tom Owens
August 21 2002

For most of us, life is something we take for granted. We breath freely, walk about unhindered and complain frequently about the world around us.

Roy Maddox wasn't like that. Who was he? Nobody. He was nobody at all. He's the one you'd never notice in a crowd...unless you eyed the oxygen tank he carried with him, and wondered,"what on earth is wrong with him?". Roy had a rare lung disease. I can't even spell the name of it, but what does it matter? Roy was dealt a raw hand. Did he complain? No. Did he use it to obtain sympathy? No. In fact, the only complaint he ever raised was that it was such a pain in the butt to lug that stuff all over the place. My brother was his best friend. He helped him with that. Many a day, my brother would drive down to have the tanks refilled, and Roy would buy him lunch and say thank you. My brother of course would try and refuse, but Roy would hear none of it. Roy loved kids. My nephews were just as much his as they are mine, if not more so. They called him "Rolly".(they are 4 and 5, and don't quite get the name Roy yet) They loved him very much. He always had a smile for them, and loved to lift them up, even though the effort nearly put him into siezures. He would take off the oxygen and suffer with heavily labored breathing just to play with them.

Roy would show up to help you move furniture when noone else would. It didn't matter to him that he couldn't do it...he'd try like hell anyway. Roy, in short, was as good as they come. A FAR better man than I am, and probably ever will be. He loved NASCAR racing the most. He ate, drank and slept it along with my brother. They raced NASCAR 2000 online together like a religion. He liked Formula 1 too. He was one of the "converted" fans that my brother and I have made together over the years. He liked BMW. He really liked Ralph Schumacher. On GP3, he drove Ralph's car and liked to believe he was just as good. To be honest...he was close. He was VERY good. But in the end, Roy lost his battle with the disease that robbed him of the simple act of breathing. Something we all take for granted with every breath we take. Of all the times I was around him, I never once heard him complain. He did say once, "Man...I'd love sometimes to be rid of the hardware...I wish they made this stuff smaller."

Roy was laid to rest today. He was 35 years old. 6 months older than I am. I have a 9 month old daughter. I had thought just recently that my life was just really starting. Roy's is over now. I take comfort in knowing that he's not afraid anymore...that was one thing he did have. Fear. Fear that when the short breaths came, that it was the end. He dealt with that in a manner that deserves the Knights Cross, the Medal of Honor and the Victorian Cross and then some.

In a world that constantly reminds us that people can be mean, hateful and just plain rude for no reason at all, Roy was the one that would restore your faith in the fact that there ARE good people. That there IS a such thing as something for nothing. He would give you everything he had and then some...and would NEVER take anything from you in return.

I know this article isn't about Formula 1. It is about racing though. A fan has passed. Not only a fan, but a trully beautiful human being. With all the stories of betrayal, theft, murder, overpaid people and the like...I just wanted everyone to know that there are trully beautiful people in this world. Roy Maddox is his name.

God's speed Roy.
We will miss you.