If it’s Friday night and the summertime, you’d likely find Tim Erjavac at the racetrack.
“You want to say you’ve lived your life doing what you like to do and you enjoyed yourself and he did,” Michelle Erjavac, Tim's widow, said Monday.
Erjavac did not return home from the Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park last Friday night. He died after his race car and another collided during the Figure 8 event. He leaves behind his wife, Michelle, of 23 years — their two boys — and a legacy that’s hard to adequately describe.
"He was a good man," Michelle wife said. "He was a good dad, the best dad I could have chose for my boys."
His family says he always stepped up. He was a hard worker, they said, loyal and selfless.
"He would work overtime just to get me through college," his son Christopher said. "If there was something we couldn’t afford he would put his best foot forward to make sure we had as much as we could."
In 2003 — when tragedy struck Michelle’s side... Tim immediately eased the burden.
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“He took on the role of raising my brother’s kids," she said. "We lost my brother in 2003 and he had four children and he said go get them and we raised them."
The Sycamore Speedway is not commenting on what led to the crash, but posted a note about the tragedy to its social media followers.
From the comments, it’s clear Erjavac was loved by many more than the people sitting at this dining room table.
"It’s actually helped us a lot to hear all the good stuff people say about him," Michelle said. "It helps a lot with memories, we did a lot as a family, and have a lot of good memories."
Services for Tim Erjavac are this Thursday.
