Words for McGurk

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It was my pleasure to be able to do the eulogy for Stroker McGurk. This is a reasonable guess at what I said.

It's a great honor to be asked to say goodbye to Harold McGrath.

Actually, I can't even pull that off with a straight face.

I'm saying goodbye to McGurk.

That's what a whole bunch of us called him.

I really only called him 'Bezerk' but that was just between him and me.

You always hear it said that life is a gift, or that friendship is a gift, or that the love of a Dad, a husband, a grandpa, a brother - welcome to his brothers - and an uncle - is a treasure provided by the Lord, but to be honest with you, I felt that a lot in McGruk's presence.

He was gifting me.

His smile was tremendous. I remember him laughing after I said something wise-ass.

I'm not sure you know it, but some of us Fuzzy's are smart-asses, and McGurk loved that.

His wisdom was astounding, and I really, really looked up to him. As one of my Dad's friends, as a great Dad to beautiful Shannon and wonderful Michelle.

We all hurt for him so much when he lost Michelle.

His family had been stripped of a pure treasure.

And I often think of the wonderful friendship that McGurk shared with so many people, and my Dad in particular.

I often think about them all hanging together back in the day; laughing, eating all sorts of goofy things - even things that they'd pick out of their lawns - perhaps drinking, telling stories, causing trouble, and drinking...(Did I say that?)

They were like the North Collins rat pack, weren't they?

They were better than the rat pack.

Dad, McGurk, Norm, Albert, Joe DeMarco, Nado, McGurk's racing pals, Joe Santa Maria, the late Johnny Gullo..and so many, many more.

They had less money and less fame than the real rat pack, but I know one thing for sure:

They ate better food, they had better women and better families.

Just know that there are so many of us gathered here today to say goodbye to a wonderful man. He gave us so many gifts.

Every day.

Every single time we saw him.

So in the days ahead, let's all concentrate on what we got from the man.

I'm thinking of his laugh.

I'm thinking of the way he fixed a million cars of a million people in this town.

(Half of those repairs were from Fuzzy drivers).

I'm thinking about the love he held for Frenchie and the girls. They were all that really mattered, and like a real man, he stood up to the task.

I was just a young boy when I first thought of McGurk as a true idol.

He raced around the tracks.

He finished first a whole bunch of times.

As he hit the finish line of life there's only one thing to truly say.

McGurk left so many others in the dust.

God Bless you, buddy.

There are a whole bunch of us left here who are gonna' miss you.

Thank you for all of the gifts.

(I really wish I could yodel here, but I can't!)

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