Morrow Award to be Presented at Riverside

The second annual edition of the Legends of Riverside II event will see three 500cc racing pioneers have their names inscribed on the Harry Morrow Trophy. Tom Meehan, Ralph Ormsbee, and George Keck will all be rewarded on March 26-28 at the Inland Empire's Riverside International Automotive Museum.

The three will join John Streets, Bob Wenz, Bob Schilling, Bruce Kessler, Peter Becker, Ken Nichols, and Tom "Rigger" Cecil as Morrow awardees.

The Morrow award consists of a Cooper F3 alloy wheel and goes to the person who best represents the sportsmanship and camaraderie of 500cc vintage competition.

“Those three guys were the early pioneers of the 500s. They were wonderfully eclectic, racing for the pure fun of it, while tweaking the noses of the so-called "elite motorsportsmen," said Tom Cecil, the 500cc Club of America's Director, who will present the three with the award.

"The only one I know very well is Tom Meehan.  I don't know if he'd like the comparison, but if Pete Lovely is our Stirling Moss, then Tom is our Alf Francis,” Cecil continued. ”Pete recruited Tom from the Foss Tugboat fleet, promising 'I can't pay you as well as the tugboats do, but I can promise you a lot more fun.'  And so it was."

"As for Ralph and George, besides their adventures in 500cc racing, George built the original VW Special as it was called; sort of a poor man's Porsche 550 - which ran very well.  Ralph had a number of different cars, including the HWM Chevy, which he advertised in the Seattle Times for $5400."

The annual Legends of Riverside is a limited-attendance event, as only 250 slots are available for the full three-day presentation.