I cannot remember a message more shocking for myself than the one I received on Sunday about the passing of former Sprints on Dirt competition director and official Mike Olrich. I first met Olrich when he was assisting then series head Jason Fausey with the series. After Fausey decided to step back from running the series for the 2007 season Olrich came aboard. For some reason we both hit it off and remained in contact until his passing on Saturday. Olrich used to live in the same neighborhood I lived in; we both grew up in small towns, and just seemed to have a lot in common. One would be hard pressed to meet a nicer person.
Most of the memories I have of Olrich and my announcing days with the Sprints on Dirt series are intertwined together. From silly things like making last minute runs to get copies of membership forms, talking about family life during endless support division races, to being asked by him, “How do you think everything is going?” for what seemed like the 100th time we shared the adventure of being part of a racing series.
I often joke when you are a race official the best you can hope for at the end of the night is for everyone to be safe and to not get yelled at. It was a running joke between Olrich and myself that he particularly enjoyed this sort of punishment as he coached youth sports in multiple seasons for all three of his children on top of being a race official. As much fun as he enjoyed us at the race track Mike was always quick to tell me what his son was up to in football and or his daughter in softball. At one point I joked he would take up coaching co-ed water polo with horses when he ran out of sports to be involved with during a particular season.
One thing about Olrich that always struck me even when he was a race official he commanded a universal respect from the competitors and rarely if ever heard a bad word about him.
Another memory that stands out is the time he road with us to Ohsweken Speedway for the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals. My wife Stephanie and I picked Olrich up at his home where he thought the yard looked like a disaster. Mike worked in horticulture at Michigan State University, and I would love to have my hard look like what he considered to be a disaster. We listened to music, laughed, and even discovered Mike’s love for Swedish Fish candy (I had never met anyone that ate them). One of the lasting memories from that trip was our visit in the hotel hanging out to have dinner while others ventured to casinos or bars for the evening. Olrich wasn’t a party guy, but he very much enjoyed the company of everyone in the series.
After Olrich’s officiating days were done I found myself wishing he was one of my neighbors instead of living across the state. We still kept in touch periodically via e-mail and saw each other at the race track. Every winter we would try to get our schedules to align for a race trip, but his sports schedule and my family schedule never seemed to line up. We did get to visit one more time during a very unusual situation where Olrich’s house had multiple trees blown down before his daughter’s graduation open house. I called and woke him up in the middle of the afternoon asking if he needed assistance, but was quick to mention how overwhelmed he was at the people that had helped him. Eventually the open house was held at another location and we had a great visit, fully expecting to see him again down the road.
While I am saddened by Olrich’s passing and have a constant thought of his wife and kids on my mind at the moment, I am glad that when I look back at his life I got to experience so many great moments that I would not trade for anything. Like virtually everyone else I just wish we had more time to add to them.
Visitations and funeral for Mike Olrich will take place in Durand at Watkins Funeral Home with visitation Tuesday 6 – 8:00 p.m. and the funeral will be Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.
Images of Mike Olrich we have over the years. This gallery will be added to as we find more.
