 If this article (see right) from the Lakeside Speedway program had been written several years later, it would have had to include Rick Losh's further accomplishments in the Colorado racing community. Including, but not limited to eventually winning the CARC Lakeside Speedway "Rookie of the Year" award in the Street Stock division in 1982 & "Most Main Event Wins" in the Limited Late Model division in 1984. Rick has lettered ( literally ) 100's of race cars of all different types over the years. Rick said, one year at Lakeside he was looking at all the cars in the pits that he had lettered at the time & he had made $500.00. He laughingly adds "hey, at $35.00 a piece, you couldn't go wrong!". He also painted & lettered every sign visible, right down to the start-finish line & "The Total Winner's Circle" at Colorado National Speedway in the early '90's. I'm not sure, I wasn't there, but I'd be willing to bet that Rick was born with a paint brush in one hand & a steering wheel in the other, as he went on to be the brake man for the "Train of Pain" train at CNS in 1992. Rick has also been known to drive the race car hauler for the "Marshall Chesrown owned, Total Petroleum sponsored" NASCAR team of Rick Carelli at various times as well. Having lettered many of Rick Carelli's cars over the years, Rick Losh was also responsible for the paint scheme & layout of the Total Petroleum-Chesrown Chevrolet NASCAR Winston Cup cars of the early '90's. Also during this time, Rick Losh had one of the most dangerous duties on pit road, he was the tire carrier, ( part of the "over the wall gang" ) for the Chesrown-Carelli team. These days Rick is still makin' "the best damn signs in town" & somehow found time to become a volunteer fire fighter, does this guy ever slow down?. GEEZ!, I guess not! Here's some of Rick Losh's endeavors & contributions to the racing scene over the years...
Rick Losh finished 6th in points in the CARC Street Stock division at Lakeside Speedway in 1982, an accomplishment that earned him the "Rookie of the Year" honors for that season. In the above photograph are some of the people that helped Rick get to that point, (L to R)-Jim Brown, Kip Beals, Rhonda Losh, Doug Dreith, Carol Dreith, Kelly  Layton, Rick Losh & Rick's wife, Gail. By 2005, Rick & Gail Losh have celebrated 25 years of marriage! Man, that seems rare these days, way to go guys, congratulations! Rick wanted to pass along a great big "Thank You" to Gail for her support all these years. One of Rick's most valuable pit crew members that didn't get to be in this photo was Mark Losh.
 Rick didn't race in 1983, but by 1984 he was back in the winners circle at Lakeside Speedway. The CARC officials must have been glad to see Rick back. Here, he's not only recieving one, but two trophies. Let's see, that's one trophy per trophy girl! Way to go Rick! This is the year Rick finished 3rd in points for the CARC Limited Late Model division.
Rick Losh driving the # 95 Pontiac Lemans bodied CARC Limited Late Model at Lakeside Speedway 1984.
 Rick Losh collecting more hardware at Lakeside. For the 1984 season, Rick & Jim Brown built this Limited Late Model. The car started life as a 1971 Chevy Chevelle, but by the time Rick & Jim were done with it, it was a "Pontiac" & one of the most competetive race cars at Lakeside. Rick not only finished 3rd in points this year, but also won the award for "Most Main Event Wins" on the 1/5 mile asphalt oval. If they had given awards for most race cars lettered, Rick would have won that too! In the background to the left of this photo is Doug Longo & Rick Carelli.
This is the car at the begining of the 1985 season at Lakeside. Here, Rick Losh is wheeling through the south turns. Though 1985 proved to be one of the most difficult season's for Rick, he still managed to finish 3rd in points at the end of the year.
 At some point during the '85 season Rick had to completely re-body, re-paint & re-letter his creation after some on track "incidents". The below photo is the result of all that hard work. What a beautiful Stock Car this was! Just look at those numbers & all of the air brush technique used here. Rick's helmet even had a "gold leaf" # 95 painted on it. This wonderful photo was taken in the pits at Lakeside Speedway by IMAGE + PLUS. Take a minute to gaze at some of the cars in the background of this shot, the ones I can identify from left to right are..Darrell Taylor's Gremlin Modified # 93, Jim Mein's Buick ( I think ) Late Model # 76, Mark Dreiling's cool little "super coupe" # 5 Modified ( I think ), Dave Cottrell's Buick or Oldsmobile ( I think ) Pure Stock # 86 & Rick Carelli's Modified # 6.
  I think the one line printed in the 1985 Lakeside Speedway program almost says it all, didn’t it? The other really funny part of this is, Rick Carelli ran over and grabbed Head Flagman Greg Witherwax’s black flag and disqualified Rick Losh for this on track maneuver! Must not have been a flame retardant bikini.
 As per Rick Losh himself, “Yep there I am workin’ hard.” He’s the one in the driver’s suit all the way to the right in this photo. Teammate Jim Brown’s #77 Sportsman is parked right next to Rick’s #95. Jim Brown owned the car Rick Losh drove & Rick owned Jim’s car. Also in this picture is the #3 Colorado Automobile Racing Club Modified of Skip Mikula who, recently has been racing with the Englewood Racing Association in a Supermodified. This photo was taken from the open air grand stand in turn one at Lakeside, that obviously had not only a view of the track, but gave the fans a great sense of what was going on in the pits as well. 1985.
 Rick Losh was the “brake man” for the “TRAIN OF PAIN”, here he is in action at Colorado National Speedway following the “gas man”. No offense intended! That’s what the guy driving the front car of the train is called. The car has an engine and throttle. The middle car has no drive train or driver and the rear car has a driver and only brakes. By the way, the gas man in this photo is Glen Leach, This photo was taken by Joe Starr in 1992. Does anyone out there remember the night Joe Garone and Rick Carelli teamed up to race a train at CNS?
From the November 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway, we see the Total Petroleum-Marshal Chesrown-Chevrolet Lumina ‘Cup’ team making a pit stop in the very first ‘Cup’ race the team qualified for. This was truly exciting stuff for the Colorado racing community back then! In this photo, we’re looking at a four tire, fuel stop. The right side tires have already been changed and ‘lugged’ on the car. Rob White has just taken care of the right rear tire and the ‘jackman’ has, with two pumps of the jack handle lifted the left side of the car off of the pit road asphalt. Joe Garone is at work loosening the left front wheel lugs, Glen Leach is stuffing the cell full of fuel, Roger Chesrown is catching what’s left over and won’t fit and Rick Losh is carrying the left rear to ‘Total Ernie DeCroce’ to apply. Rick Losh wanted to add that ‘earlier in the season we got to Atlanta and on the first lap Rick (Carelli) qualified into the race. He tried to go faster on the second lap because Crew Chief David Ifft did not tell him he was in the race. On the next lap, Carelli ‘slapped’ the wall and ‘flattened the car like a pancake’. ‘We took the parts that were salvageable off that car and put on our backup car and landed in Phoenix with the car you see here.
Isn't this a cool story?
A bunch of Colorado racing enthusiasts, who basically began their dream of racing at a little 1/5th mile paved oval in Colorado, and end up in the big leagues of NASCAR!
Good Stuff.
Here, Just after winning the ‘SLICK 50 500’ Winston West race at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) is the Total Petroleum-Marshall Chesrown-Chevrolet Lumina Driver and Team that made it all happen and ‘come together’. Standing, L-R, is Glen Leach, ‘Gas Man’, Roger Chesrown, ‘Catch Man’. Rick Losh lovingly adds we used to call Roger, ‘Mother’. ‘He took care of us’. He’d cook our meals, wash our bottles of water we’d drink from, during the long hot days of summer on pit road and was Marhall’s dad. Ernie DeCroce, Front Tire Carrier, and Joe Garone. ‘Joe (Garone) at this time, was not the Crew Chief of the West Cars, but was the rear tire changer and chief mechanic of the Winston West cars and the Crew Chief of the SouthWest Tour cars we ran at the time’. Then we have Rick and Cathy Carelli. Pat Smith, Tire Changer. At this point in time, he is now working for a top Sprint Cup team. Rob White, Tune Up man, and Engine Maintenance, he was also the Front Tire Changer. ‘Very fast at his job.’ Unfortunately he has since passed on.
Kneeling, L-R, Rick Losh (MAN! THOSE ARE SOME WHITE TEETH Rick!  ), Tire Carrier and went over the wall. Rick would also change gears and make sure ‘everything was tight’. He would safety wire and put a little ‘dab’ of silicone on everything to make sure it was tight. Rick adds, ‘these cars would rattle themselves to death’. He was also known on the team as ‘Sign Painter/Mechanic’. hmmm, interesting combination. But I’m here to tell ya’ all, this guy could ‘do it all!’ Then we have kneeling next to Mr. Losh, Ron Briscoe, ‘Jack Man’. He and Rick Losh and Ernie DeCroce would help setup the pits prior to the race. And next is Cathy Carelli’s son, Brian.
As an aside, Joe Garone and I went to school together and his was one of the first race cars I ever 'lettered'. It's funny, Joe and I would always 'argue' back in the '80's that 'dirt was for racin' and asphalt was for highways'. That was his argument. Mine was, dirt was for planting potatoes and racing was for asphalt! Anyway, it all worked out, as Joe went on to become 'The Second Man in Charge at NASCAR, doing much of the safety and development of the then Winston Cup Cars (among other things) of the day for NASCAR in the late '90's and early 2K's. And I always enjoyed racing, whether it was on dirt or asphalt.
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