Ron was co-owner of an Indy Light racing team called R&K Racing. The Indy Lights Series was a “B” racing series started up by CART and Ron actually built the first 20 cars of the series in his machine shop in Dayton, Ohio. In the middle of the night on November 8, 1988 he and his team were traveling home from a race in Florida when their vehicle struck an illegally parked truck on the side of the highway. “We had just topped off (the fuel tank) so we had 180 gallons of fuel,” Ron explained. “When we hit that truck the trailer went right into the fuel tank. Of course it just blew up, everything was lost and it just melted everything. I don’t remember any of it because I was asleep. Maybe that was a good thing.”

Ron lost his middle son, Donnie DeHays, 30, in the accident and he wasn’t supposed to live himself. He woke up in the hospital five days later with numerous broken bones, including his legs, and a crushed chest. While he was under, the doctor asked Ron’s brother what he did to stay in such good shape. “He (the doctor) said that I had the heart of a 19 year-old,” Ron confides. “My brother told him that I played a lot of racquetball and the doctor said, ‘Well, that’s the reason that he’s still here.’”

After a year of rehab, Ron was able to again play the sport that he credits to saving his life. He entered the Ohio State Doubles Championships with Jim Burrows that year and they won their age division. Since then Ron has played in several National Doubles Championships and in 2000 earned a bronze and gold medal with Paul Baron in the men’s 55+ A/B and 55+ consolation divisions, respectively. Recently he participated in the 2001 National Doubles Championships in Las Vegas with partner Nick Adesso.

Ron also began working with race teams again after completing his rehab. “After the accident my team was wiped out so I just started freelancing, working for everyone else.” Ron has worked for “well, just about everybody” including A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, and Al Unser Sr., to name a few. For the past three years Ron has been working as the Vent and Jack pit-crew member on Team Xtreme, which boasts eight top-10 finishes this past season. The driver, Airton Dare, was named the 2000 Rookie of the Year.

Ron’s goal is to win the Indianapolis 500, which he has never won but came very close. “We finished second when I was working with Al (Unser) Sr.. Last year, with Airton (Dare), we were running second with 22 laps to go and we had a real good shot at winning but we blew a motor.” At 66, Ron has the distinction of being the oldest over-the-wall pit-crew member in the league but has no plans to retire until he can get a win in Indianapolis. “We have a very good driver and we definitely have the team to do it. That’s really the only reason that I am still here (working).” Then he adds with a smile, “Of course I am the oldest man over the wall so maybe I feel like I have something to prove.”

It wasn’t exactly the “Shoot-out at the OK Corral” but there were plenty of shots fired. When the smoke finally cleared, a five-time world-ranked professional racquetball champion who goes by the “handle” of Cliff Swain, was still standing. In spite of a slight, flesh wound to his ego (when he was outdone by one Texas “hombre” who also knew how to handle his racquetball hardware) Swain still emerged the top gun.

Right: Swain signs posters, while club program director Leo Vasquez looks on. 

Nevertheless, Chris Robinson, one of the top players in Texas, showed Swain a bit of “Texas hospitality” by out-shooting the 35-year-old champion by a slight margin of 13-11 in one game. In fairness to the visiting Swain, however, he did allow each of the four “gun-slinging,” or more correctly, “racquet-slinging” Texans, two serves to his one. In addition, he had to contend with several questionable calls by the Arlington Maverick’s racquetball director and house professional Leo Vasquez.

“I might have made a couple of close calls but everyone was having fun and we wanted to show our guest that Texas has some good racquetball players too,” said Vasquez. “I think I made the correct calls most of the time but when you’re refereeing a game where one of the players hits the ball between 140 and 180 miles-per-hour, there are bound to be some questionable calls

Cliff Swain has one of the fastest serves in racquetball at 180 miles per hours. Brian Fredenberg has been clocked at 140 mph.

“Swain is a professional and one of the nicest racquetball players you’ll ever meet,” continued Vasquez. “He could have easily, protested any of the calls but he’s a gentleman and didn’t want to disrupt the exhibition.”

Swain traveled with former No.1 world-ranked racquetball player Dave Peck, who retired from the pro circuit in 1988. 

Shown left (L-R): Leo Vasquez, Bob Sullins, Cliff Swain and Dave Peck.

The three Texans who fell victim to the sharp-shooting of Cliff Swain, were Hal Perry, Oscar Gutierrez and Brian Fredenberg. Fredenberg suffered from an injury to his “trigger-finger” or rather his thumb. That, however, would not have made much of a difference as Swain displayed his lightning-fast serves and shoot-from-the-hip style of volleys.

Roughly a hundred racquetball players from all over the metroplex and beyond came out to witness the exhibition at the Maverick Athletic Club. At the conclusion of the event, a cake cutting ceremony was held for the players and fans.

“All-in-all, everyone had a wonderful time and witnessed some awesome racquetball,” concluded Vasquez. “Hopefully, Swain’s visit has helped to highlight the sport of racquetball and will provide more visibility and interest for it.”