Deepest sympathy and a story...

Posted by Mark M on Sunday, August 10, 2003

I wanted to share this story of my experience with Mark and Roger.
My 9 year old son Jake and I saw Roger at the Parc Expose at the Oregon Trails Rally on Saturday the 12th. Roger was very busy with the car and after a few moments he was gone, we didn't get a chance to talk with him. A few minutes later Mark showed up at the car and also was busy with preperations and talking with a crew member. After he finished his conversation and closed the car door, I asked if we might have a autograph. He smiled and in a most friendly way said "sure". Jake got a replica of the Lovell/Turvey #1 car the week before and he was hoping for Mark to sign it, we even brought a Sharpie pen along. Jake played with the car a bit and Mark noticed that the Aerials were broken off and made a comment about them and smiled. I took a picture of Mark signing Jakes car, I will attempt to post it in the photo section. We also had two posters and two hats from the Subaru booth and Mark took the time to sign both our posters and then asked if Jake would like his hat signed too, Jake said "sure". We chatted for a few minutes and Mark handed my Sharpie pen back and I said no, please keep it. Mark smiled and said "yes, maybe I will need to sign something else". We wished him good luck and went off to see some of the other cars. A short while later, we saw Mark at the Subaru booth signing many posters and I wondered if he was still using the same pen. I must say that Mark was one of the most gracious and sincere people I've met. He made Jake and I feel like old friends, just a very incredible guy.
We would like to extend our sympathy to all that were close to Mark and Roger.

Mark and Jake