NEAR Hall of Fame Honors Bones Bourcier
Mark “Bones” Bourcier will receive the Charlie Mitchell/Jack Ratta Memorial Award at the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame Banquet Sunday, Nov. 16 at Maneeley’s Banquet Hall in South Windsor, CT.
Bourcier, a native of Southington, CT and currently an Editor At Large for Speedway Illustrated Magazine, joins an impressive list of honorees. Drivers Mike Rowe, Deke Astle, Jim Martell, the late Fred Schulz, Ron Wyckoff, the late Pappy Forsyth and Fred Borden, car builder Dave Tourigny, historian R.A. Silvia and sports car pioneer the late Briggs Cunningham will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Ticket information and order forms can be found at the New England Antique Racers website (www.near1.org).
Honing his skills at local media outlets and then at Speedway Scene and Trackside Magazine, Bourcier has become one of America’s premier auto racing scribes, twice winning the coveted Miller Racing Award of Excellence in Honor of Russ Catlin. They are part of a host of writing awards that also includes the Eastern Motorsports Press Association’s Frank Blunt Memorial Award.
He did memorable work for Stock Car and Open Wheel magazines and has appeared in several national outlets including National Speedsport.
While Bourcier, who began watching race cars at Plainville Stadium, is a national figure in the motorsports writing fraternity, he has never forgotten his roots. He has written and/or edited books on New England racing heroes Bugs Stevens, Richie Evans, Ed Flemke, and most recently Bentley Warren. They are on a list of books that include biographies of Bill Simpson, Tony Stewart, Parnelli Jones and Dave Darland and a history of Utica-Rome Speedway.
The Mitchell/Ratta award honors the memory of two of New England’s top scribes, Mitchell writing for the Norwalk (CT) Hour and Ratta for the Manchester Union Leader.
Bourcier has been part of the NEAR Hall of Fame almost from its inception, serving on the selection committee and making presentations.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEAR PR