HICKORY, NC :: One of two North Carolina teenagers who were found in a submerged car in South Carolina was a member of the racing community and a friend to Hickory Motor Speedway competitor Travis Byrd. Now, Byrd will race in his memory.
It happened last year when Jake “Ziggy” Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, went missing after a car accident. 17 days later, the two teenagers were founds in a submerged car in South Carolina. Ziegler used to help Byrd and also raced himself for a while. Ziegler’s memory will live on in the name of a scholarship set up in his name.
“Jake used to help me in my race shop when I drove for myself and also Dwight Huffman Racing,” Byrd said. “He went to the shop with us as a crew member and was a driver himself. His parents set up a memorial scholarship for a kid that goes Bandy High School. That’s also my old high school. It will go to a student there.”
Byrd will run a decal on his car in place of where you’d normally find a sponsorship decal on the hood of his Limited Late Model.
“Instead of trying to find a big sponsor to get us to the track, we’re going to run his memorial scholarship on the hood to try to help keep his memory alive and raise money for his scholarship for his memory and to give back to my community and my old high school for someone to go to college,” Byrd stated. “We’re going out on a limb on it. We’ll see what we can do to get money donated and raise awareness.”
Instead of looking for a standout student who may have straight-A grades, the Jake Ziegler Memorial Scholarship will go to an ‘average’ kid – someone who wants to go to college but may not have the grades to qualify for many scholarships or the income to achieve higher education.
“They’ll do it based on how Jake was,” Byrd said of the scholarship. “Jake wasn’t a straight-A kid, he was an average kid. That’s the kind of student they’re trying to find to give it to, somebody who wants to go to school but doesn’t have the money or the grades for a scholarship.”
Byrd also said several Hickory-area businesses have already stepped up and pledged support for the scholarship – including Gerber Collision, Hickory Sports Clips, Smokey’s Incorporated, Hickory Little Caesars and the Hickory Pepsi Plant.
“We’ve got a lot of local businesses trying to help us raise awareness, give back to his family, raise money for the scholarship and make it a cool deal for everybody,” Byrd remarked.
There is no doubt Travis Byrd misses his friend. Like so many others who help race teams out at area short tracks, Jake Ziegler worked late nights at the shop and at the track and did so without compensation. Byrd said he regrets every day that he never got a chance to repay Jake for all his help or to thank him.
“We didn’t have money to pay him to work on the car but he was always there and worked a lot of late nights,” Byrd explained. “I made it a mission since he passed away to keep his memory alive and repay him any way I can. I didn’t get a chance to repay him and never got to thank him enough. We’re trying to turn a bad situation in to a good situation.”
