In Memory Of James Shown

It’s racing time again and our team, Under Pressure Motorsport will be travelling to Bowling Green, KY to the NHRA Jegs Super Quick Series Memorial Day Weekend 2021 Beech Bend Raceway Park for a full weekend of motorsport at its finest.

Greg Gaskin will be performing under pressure this weekend along with Bob Sargent and Mike Bagley. This will be the first time we will have our entire team racing together in the same race.

Best of luck to our guys.

Memorial Day is a beautiful day where we all get together to honor the men and women who died while serving in the military, and this weekend will be extra memorable for the family of dragster racers because one of their very own was lost December 5th, 2020 due to Covid-19 complications.

Straight from Oakl e y Motorsports website they said,

“With major support from Oakley Engine Performance we will be honoring and celebrating the life of James Shown at this very special Memorial Race.”

James Shown, from Niagara, KY, was not only an NHRA member, a Jegs Super Quick Champion and an OSCA member and Series Champion, he was a family man who was married to the love of his life, Debra Shown for 38 years and we here at eSVYN had the pleasure to speak with her about her loving husband and this upcoming race weekend.

She told us that it’s been a daily struggle and how much she misses him. He was her husband and her best friend. He had a passion for racing and he was such an awesome person. Debra said,

“It breaks my heart that he passed away not knowing the impact he had on people.”

He had a heart of gold and what helps her to go on is that she knows in her heart how much he loved her and that he would never want her to suffer. She is building a house and will build a memory wall to display all of his accomplishments and his Wallys (trophies) in memory of him.

James and Debra, who’s 38th anniversary was only a few days ago, May 20th, also worked together for 19 years, therefore the hardest part of her day is when she’s driving to and from work without him, but she is looking forward to this race weekend and the ceremony that will be in his honor.

She believes that this race, that is sponsored by Phillip Oakley, their life-long friend and who has been her rock since the passing of her husband,

“Will be therapy for me and my family.”

James is also survived by his only child, Shana Miller, who shared very powerful words on her Facebook page,

“Sometimes, the person you need to talk to most, is in heaven.”

Shana also shared a beautiful story on her page that touched us and was such a strong message of strength and perseverance we felt we had to share it. She said,

“As mom and I were sitting at Oakley’s trailer about to leave. A butterfly landed on moms back. When it flew off it landed on my arm. I made the comment “maybe it’s dad”. It then moved to my hand and stayed there for a while. At that moment I knew. Daddy is proud, and that’s all I’m trying to do. Is make him proud.”

Shana is a dragster racer competing this weekend. She will also be doing a burnout stage and making the first pass in her dad’s dragster car before the National Anthem in his memory. All the drivers will also be dedicating this race weekend to her dad, Debra’s husband, James Shown.

We here at eSVYN, Terry Lyles and Under Pressure Motorsport give our condolences to Debra and her family and a prayer to all the drivers who will be performing under pressure this weekend.

If you would like to watch the beautiful ceremony live honoring James Shown, Oakley Performance will be sponsoring the LIVE FEED for the event produced by Warren Evans and dragracer.tv.

Over 60 Yrs Old and Still Winning!!

Christi Gaskin, Greg Gaskin, Christi’s daughter, Lisa Gaskin And the winner is… Greg Gaskin by a fraction of a second. Yes! The Under Pressure Motorsport Team went to Muncie Indiana, just north of Indianapolis to race. While the team was there only Greg Gaskin out of the 3 man team raced his car to the […]
Over 60 Yrs Old and Still Winning!!

Over 60 Yrs Old Driving 150 mph

It’s a new race season and eSVYN is once again on the track. We’ve geared up to sponsor Gaskin Racing with its new name Under Pressure Motorsport (UPM). And our family here knows a thing or two about Performing Under Pressure since we have the fabulous and very talented PhD Terry Lyles, (my husband) who is also a sponsor, terrylyles.com.

Can you imagine driving over 150 mph in only an 8th of a mile stretch of road from a dead stop in only 4.5 seconds? And you better be able to stop that 16 foot long beast too because after you cross the finish line you only have another 8th of a mile before you hit the sand pits. That might not sound so bad but many cars have hit those pits and actually flipped. Yikes! Now imagine doing all of that and being over 60 years old!!!

But to the Under Pressure Motorsport (UPM) team who are all over 60 years of age, it’s in their blood – since childhood. And we here at eSVYN love all athletes so there was no question that we weren’t going to jump on board with these really cool guys!!

Let’s meet the 3 UPM driving dare devils to see what makes them tick.

We’ll start with the patriarch of the Gaskin family, Greg Gaskin.

Greg Gaskin – UPM driver from Indianapolis, Indiana

Greg Gaskin is born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He’s been racing cars since birth and he loves it as long as he doesn’t have to turn right or left. That’s why he’s an expert drag racer. No turn signals here. He loves working on his racecar daily but when he’s not going super fast he loves spending time with his grandchildren, his grand-dogs, he loves being an awesome husband to his beautiful wife Lisa and also taking plenty of naps.

He’s a huge jokester, a movie buff and loves to vacation in Florida.

One time he had a friend who was getting married in Tennessee so he drove his Corvette down for the wedding. Of course he gets pulled over by the police where he not only got a ticket but he also lost his license. Let’s guess why? You’d be correct. Too fast baby!!

But talk about a horseshoe and a prayer, the father of the bride down there in the Volunteer State was the county sheriff to which by the end of the night he had a ripped up ticket and a fully re-instated license. Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit. Now that’s what we call divine intervention.

We’re going to ride this wave with Greg as he gears up for the great Indy race at the Lucas Oil Raceway. Best of luck Greg!

Let’s meet our next UPM driver, Mike.

Mike Bagley – UPM driver from Southern Connecticut

Mike Bagley hails from Southern Connecticut but now resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. He too loves working on his racecar, upkeeping his house and he works part time. He also loves bowling, he’s an usher at church and he would love to meet Shirley Muldowney before he or she gets too old. And when he’s not showing off his racecar he loves to show dogs. Interesting. We’ll have to explore that one in another WordPress.

One thing he always says is that he’s the perfect size to drive a racecar. Well we are ready and willing to take the ride with our pint-sized, powerhouse driver named Mike. Go Mikey go!! Let’s win, win, win!!

Our third fabulous driver is Bob Sargent.

(Update: Bob Sargent is no longer driving for the UPM team. We wish him well in all of his endeavors.)

Bob Sargent – UPM driver from Indianapolis, Indiana

Bob Sargent is also born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana where he sells real estate. Bob stays busy. When he’s not working and perfecting his racecar he runs bingo at the Moose, he loves to entertain his 7 grandchildren, his 5 great grandchildren and still finds plenty of time and adores playing backgammon with his 87 year old father on a weekly basis.

When he was 18 he worked at McDonalds. One time at the end of one of his shifts he and his buddies drank beer and stacked all the cans up in a pyramid and left it for the openers. Hahaha!! Well it turned out the police were called and it was a big deal and with another horseshoe and a prayer they never figured out who did it.

Well in Bob’s real estate profession he can make anything happen!! And we’re going to make it happen on this journey with Bob and his racing career.

These guys are awesome, family loving, law abiding cool dudes. And we are so proud and excited to be following their racing career. And eSVYN will keep you updated and informed about how these fabulous drivers are doing.

If you want to help these guys too we have t-shirts and hats for sale here and here or you can meet them at the race when they’re in your town and purchase there. Just look for the below poster and you’ll be able to purchase and meet the drivers in person. They would love to meet you.