by Skip Wall
Fritz Augustine is known by many as “Pops” in the Procup Series. On the racing pages he is known as “Top Cop” as he was the one person who looked over the many Procup cars that passed thru the inspection lines. “Pops” knows all the ins and outs of a Procup race car as the Competition Director for the USAR Procup Series.
Augustine is retiring at the end of the season after being in the racing world some 49 years.
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Being a former Marine, Augustine could talk the talk and back up what he says. But it was his stern voice that would put a man in his place if he was right or wrong. Many times if Augustine found a man guilty of a rules violation or a pushing the envelope a little, “Pops” had a way of getting a sheepish grin out of the violator.
More than once Augustine would say “rules are guidelines to go by” but Augustine would come down hard if it was a flagrant foul. Once Augustine stabbed a drivers tires, he had confiscated, to prove a point. That driver had a choice to make, either give up a win or get suspended. In another incident Augustine caught a crew chief sneaking soaked tires back on the tire truck. That resulted in a suspension.
However at the next race after the suspension was served, Augustine was like nothing ever happened between the two.
Augustine is well liked and the victim of some pranks. He had a scooter that he traveled in and around the Procup bullrings. It had a basket on the back of it. Once a stuffed dog was placed in it to represent “Toto” from the movie “Wizard of Oz”. It had a scene where the wicked witch of the east was going down the road with “Toto” in the basket, implying that “Pops” was a wicked witch.
Another was a part he had in that basket was replaced with Miller Lite cans.
He was also picked on by the media when he brought his scooter to the series banquet.
Augustine is well respected up and down pit road. He gets more respect from drivers and crew members than the race director, series director or president. Why? Augustine has a way with people. He gave them the most respect and treated them the way he wanted to be treated, a trait he had learned throughout his career. He let himself be seen up and down pit road. You didn’t have to go thru so and so to see him. He didn’t see it another way. He treats you as that your just as important to the racing world as he is. It was all about respect, something that a lot of people don’t see these days.
Augustine is also a guy that you can go to with personal problems. He would haul you around to a part of the track where you could share problems and not be in public.
The whole series felt his loss when his wife “Charlie” passed away. Moreover she went with him everywhere he went as Augustine pursued his love for racing.
Augustine is also the top cop in the annual Snowball Derby in Pensacola Florida.
Augustine served in the Procup series since its start.
His health went down some in the past few years and he took a job, close to his Florida home helping school kids. You could be sure he will teach these kids the world of respect. He would come around Procup racing when he could.
Though Augustine is retiring after 49 years, don’t look for him to be away. He will tell you that he misses racing. Just like his toughness days being a grunt, it would not be surprising to see him at the Snowball Derby or any other weekend race near his home.
He was presented a plague signed by series president,Gene Cox and the whole throng of the series, just before the season finale at Lakeland, for all his service in Procup.
One thing for sure, he will be missed and hard to replace in the Procup series.
[SKIP WALL has covered the USAR ProCup extensively as well as being a spotter for some of the series top drivers. Skip’s latest venture is Southern Motor Racing]
