"Bud" Ormiston of Denver, Colorado

R.I.P. March 8, 1998

On Sunday march 8, 1998, E.E. "Bud" Ormiston of Denver, Colorado died of a heart attack while on his way home from Tucson. Bud was not only one fine speedway engine builder and sponsor, he was a great ambassador for speedway and one of the best friends I have ever had. Bud had many friends all over the United States and Canada.
- Jim Jaudon Bsaclter@aol.com

From Michelle Pieper ( pieper1@prolynx.com ):
I knew Bud for about 15 years ever since Brad Linkus owned and operated a track called Mad Max up at Bandimere Speedway. My husband Kenny Pieper and Bud's son, Scott Ormiston, started racing on the exact same day some 17 years ago and are very close. Unfortunately Kenny and I were in Europe at an Eis Speedway Long Spike Ice Gran Prix World Championship when all of this took place. Ken was in the race program and we did not hear about Bud until we got home. I wished we had learned of this sooner as to have been able to call Scott from Holland. I just saw Bud in Louisiana when he and Scott put together a race at Possum Cove. Bud was a very important man to speedway and he had touched everybody's life for many years. Kenny tells of a story when he was in El Centro, CA in about 1986/1987 for a "Denny Pratt Memorial" race. Kenny was entered in this race and travelled down all on his own & very tired. Kenny went to lay down in his van and all of a sudden he heard the best sound ever. It was Bud Ormiston, who drove by himself all the way from Colorado to California just to see Kenny and the Speedway races. Who else but good ol' Bud. He was always there for everyone. Bud was also very instrumental in the start-up with Mairl Pieper in the building of the new IMI Motorsports speedway/flattrack. After the Pieper family retired from running races, Bud was there to bring in new riders and new bikes from all over the country to keep speedway alive. Scott even came back to race, very successfully, in the 1997 season. IMI awarded Bud Ormiston with an award in 1997, the most recent among many, at our race banquet. Bud had speedway tracks in his backyard throughout the years and some very awesome and unique trophies made that have never been outdone. IMI will host a memorial race in Bud's honor to be announced at a later date. We will all greatly miss Mr. Bud Ormiston.

Bud was also there for the Canadian ICE team in the 1998 California races to help them out with advice and transportation. Jeff Orosz, Gary Hesmer, and John "Crash" Dymtrow both are very glad they got to meet him.

His son, Scott Ormiston, a longtime speedway racer can be reached at (303) 289-7249 or e-mail, Phatnine@aol.com thank you.