Mingle at the Mills Charity Races

Warning: This article may take awhile to load due to the number of photos.

Fun for charity at the NASCAR Speedpark in the St. Louis Mills

Yesterday the cities served by the Northwest County Chamber of Commerce came together for the 4th Annual Mingle at the Mills, a fun charity event put on by the Chamber at the NASCAR Speedpark (St. Louis Mills Mall). This event raised money for the Chamber's scholarship fund as well as the favorite charities of the winners of several races.

The races began with the Chiefs of Police Race. Unfortunately, Chief Herron of Overland was not in attendance. Standing in for Chief Herron was Andy Hale, a 3 1/2 year officer with the Florissant Police Department.

Officer Andy Hale - Florissant P.D. standing in for Chief Herron

Chief Bob Schrader of St. Ann managed to steal the show even before the race started thanks to his helmet choice.

Chief Bob Schrader of St. Ann

The race ended with victory for Chief Tony Umbertino of Charlack followed by an officer standing in for Chief Bob Dowling of Woodson Terrace, Chief Bob Dowling of Edmundson and Cheif Carl Wolf of Hazelwood. Besides coming in first, Chief Wolf was at the NASCAR SpeedPark all day organizing the setup for the event and even putting tables and chairs out himself.

Chief Umbertino of Charlack wins!

After the Chief's race there was a series of races for the Northwest County Chamber, several challenge races anyone in attendance could sign up for, a race between several OBA members (that I'm happy to say I survived) and more. Besides races there was music, bumper boats, a mini-golf challenge, and more.

Also in attendance was Miss Missouri Lindsay Casmaer. Besides visiting with those in attendance and presenting the awards at the finale, Miss Missouri also won her heat in the challenges and made a great showing in the challenge champions race.

.

Miss Missouri Lindsay Casmaer tears up the track

The finale of the evening was the Mayor's Cup Challenge. The participating Mayors earned the placement at the start based on who sold the most tickets for charity. Woodson Terrace Mayor Lawerence "Butch" Besmer won the pole position for his stand in driver with an astonishing 5,179 tickets sold. Next was Hazelwood with 2,265, Florissant with 1719, and our own Mayor Mike Schneider of Overland with 1,313.

While Overland didn't have the most ticket sales, it certainly appeared that we had the most boosters in attendance last night. Many were easy to spot due to their matching blue shirts though there were a number of Overland residents in attendance with their own sense of fashion (or lack of one in my case).

.
.........The Mayor's Cup Race..................Mayor Schneider's Race Fans

Though the limited lighting for this late evening event made it difficult to take pictures we did manage a few good shots of Mayor Schneider in action. The Mayor started the race moving quickly towards the lead. However, the pack soon started shifting around wildly resulting in Mayor Schneider going into the wall. After a minute or two under the caution flag Mayor Schneider was back in the race and managed to work his way back to 3rd place before the end. Mayor T.R. Carr of Hazelwood took the Checkered flag, earning his second win of the Mayor's Cup.

Hazelwood Mayor T.R. Carr wins again this year.

Though we had a difficult time with the lighting, we did manage a few shots of Overland Mayor Mike Schneider putting up a good fight in the race. Please note, if you click on most of the pictures in this article you will see them at full size.

All was well at the start of the race


But soon cars were scrambling, bumping and Mayor Schneider was in the wall


Back in the race our Mayor worked his way through the pack

Held back only by the limits of the Go-Kart's engine


Tearing up the turns


To finish the race in 3rd place

The race was a lot of fun and all the Mayor's (or their stand-ins) gave it their all. This race raised a lot of money for the Northwest County Chamber of Commerce's Scholarship fund and was a lot of fun to watch. Having raced earlier in the day (and finishing somewhere slightly better than last) I can say that these go-karts are a lot of fun, but racing them isn't easy.

If you missed this event this year make sure to mark your 2008 calendar for the 5th annual Mingle at the Mills next year as this event is a lot of fun with the added bonus of all the activities to be explored at the NASCAR Speedpark.