In the beginning...
Carol Kell Has sense retired from race promoting. So after many phone calls and emails the Shelman's decided to give one a try. The "TPQ ALL OUT" was born. 1 race 1 great time!
Tim, Maria, and daughter Allie Shelman raced an indoor series at Oakwood Arena where they met Carol Kell, the promoter. They became friends with Carol and Maria started working registration at the series. Because Tim loved racing, he began to promote the series and doing his best to facilitate a tight-knit racing community. Tim began teaching racing classes and taking charge of riders' meetings and PR work (which anyone who knows Timmy, knows he's good at PR work).
Carol mentioned that she would love to team up with the Shelman family and promote an outdoor series. We used Carol's 20+ years of race promotion experience, Maria's organizational skills and industry contacts, and Tim's on-track racing experience. It was the perfect ingredients. At a brainstorming meeting, Carol lets fly, "TPQ3!" Fortunately for Tim, whose infamous second moniker is TPQ, some people outside the meeting overheard something strange and new "TPQ3." "What's this TPQ3?" they asked. It was too late to change the name, and thus the TPQ3 was born.
The inaugural race event took place at Straddeline in June 2008. Motorcyles raced Saturday, quads raced on Sunday. While the numbers started off painfully low, they grew over the 3 race series. In 2009 the series returned for another 3 race run at Straddleline. Tim, Maria, Carol, and many racers from Washington and beyond hope the series continues with great success.
The Shelman Family
Tim and Maria Shelman met in high school, and got married at the ripe old age of 19 in 1990. They had a daughter, Allie, in 1995. Fast-forward to March 20, 2000: Tim raced his very first race on his 30th birthday at Pacific Raceways, which was then S.I.R. It was a life-changing experience for the entire Shelman family. Taking turns watching their daughter and racing motocross, Tim and Maria made it a family outing. It wasn't long before Allie got in on the fun too. In October of 2001 was Allie's first race on her 6th birthday, also at S.I.R. It's been non-stop since.
Allie has moved through the mini-quad ranks and is now the proud owner of a Raptor 250. She's been known to take home some hardward now and again. Tim went from racing a Banshee at a small indoor track to racing in the Pro ranks at the same small indoor track and on the national level with WORCS. Maria has been known to thrown on a helmet and jump a double now and again, but she can be found in the WORCS semi working registration at the races and on the phone as the Chief Administrative Officer.
"The family that plays together, stays together."
Carol Kell
I came into the promotions end of racing back in 1993 when my husband Ron went to work in Alaska. I thought, "Why not? I need something to do and it will only be for a couple years". Well, that was almost 20 years ago! Our family comes from a dirt track background with both my sons, Speedy and Eli, earning National Numbers and competing in the professional ranks of dirt track racing for a few years. My husband Ron, who prefers to be as far in the background as he can get, was the mechanic for both the boys as well as a few other racers over the years.
I came into the MX side of things a few years ago when I decided to try to run a Rough Scrambles series at Oakwood Arena, with the focus on family and children. I wanted to have a venue where everyone could compete, no matter if they pulled their bike or quad from the barn each winter or whether they were a regional or national competitor. I just tried to give everyone a chance to compete and have fun.
I met Tim and Maria through the Oakwood series and we became friends, the rest, as they say, is history.
I hope to see more new faces as the series progresses!!
Copyright 2009 TPQ Unlimited
