Longtime car racer ran excavating firm

5/8/2007

EDGERTON, Ohio - Stanley S. Perry, owner of Stan Perry Excavating here and a race car driver for four decades, died Friday at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing. He was 60.

Mr. Perry was competing in a race at the Spartan Motor Speedway in Mason, Mich., and crashed after about 10 laps, his son, Bud, said.

The younger Mr. Perry said it is believed his father may have died before the crash, but the cause of death will not be determined for several days.

"He got started racing back in the early 1970s," the younger Mr. Perry said. "He enjoyed racing because it gave him something to do, and he enjoyed meeting different people."

The younger Mr. Perry said his father won several track championships at Bryan Motor Speedway, Avilla (Ind.) Motor Speedway, and Baer Field Motor Speedway in Fort Wayne.

Mr. Perry was named 2006 Sportsman of the Year at Spartan Motor Speedway and was also a member of the Avilla Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, his son said.

Mr. Perry was a lifelong Edgerton resident and followed his father into the excavating business. He owned and operated Stan Perry Excavating in Edgerton since 1970. "His dad was in the excavating business and he got into it, just as his brothers have their own companies, so it's like a family tradition," Bud Perry said.

Surviving are his wife, the former Konnie Kay Akey, whom he married May 21, 1966; daughters, Shelley Landis and Camie Hicks; son, Bud; brothers, Edward, Hugh, Lionel, Monte and Tod; sisters, Angela Kennerk, Mary Jones, Beth Winzeler, Candace Conley, and Jestine Schmitt, and seven grandchildren.

The body will be in the Krill Funeral Home, Bryan, after 4 p.m. today and after 2 p.m. tomorrow. Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in St. Mary Catholic Church, Edgerton.

The family suggests tributes to St. Mary's Catholic School.