This Saturday, Kingstree residents and fans of Kart racing will descend on Sunshine Kartway in St. Matthews for a race to honor local legend Shane Mouzon. Mouzon, who passed away in August last year, brightened the lives of friends and family of Williamsburg Academy with his positive attitude and infectious smile since the age of 10.
Shane first came to Williamsburg Academy in the fourth grade. He was attending public school at the time, but the Academy hired its first resource teacher for students with disability and spots opened for 10 students. Shane’s parents applied because of his learning disability – he was accepted and never looked back – digging himself so deep into the Williamsburg Academy family that several generations of students and teachers all know him immediately at the mention of his first name alone.
He quickly took a shine to Stallions athletics, becoming a fixture around both the practice field and on game day, adding football and softball to racing on his list of favorite activities. According to Shane’s father Keith, Shane wasn’t as concerned about the competition or the outcome of his favorite sporting events.
He loved sports because that’s where the people were. “Shane just liked people. He liked to be around people. It wasn’t about racing or whatever – he just liked the people,” says Mouzon.
Former softball coach Cheryl McClam remembers a team trip to Orlando. Shane accompanied the girls to Florida and “when it was time for the first game we couldn’t find him. The game’s getting closer and closer and the girls are asking me, ‘Where’s Shane, coach?’ I knew he wasn’t going to miss the game, because he never missed a game and sure enough just as the game gets going, he shows up. I asked him – ‘Where did you go? We thought you were lost.’ He puts his hands on his hips and says ‘Coach, do I look lost to you?’”
Despite his shenanigans – or maybe because of them – his legacy as a people person was untarnished. “Our kids loved him, and he loved our kids, and he’d do anything in the world for them,” adds Rankin. For Shane friendship didn’t always wear green and white, in fact WA head football coach David Rankin remembers that, despite being the Stallions’ number one fan “he’d abandon us every once in a while – if we were getting beat bad he’d head off to the other team!”
Shane could be seen at the SCISA basketball tournament supporting Spartanburg Christian each year (because they were the dominant force in those days, naturally). “He’d jump on the bandwagon with them, and they’d always take him under their wing. They would give him a t-shirt and he’d be cheering with the Spartanburg Christian people.”
Besides racing, sports, WA, and making friends, one of Shane’s great loves was food. “We’d get on the bus and he’d have a bag of candy, potato chips and a drink,” says coach Rankin “and we’d stop at a convenience store to rest the players’ legs and he’d get something there. Then we’d get to the game and he’d be mad because the concession stand wasn’t open yet.”
The weekend he got sick, Shane was supposed to be with track owner Kart enthusiast Mackie Flood for a race. Flood had known Shane for about 20 years through the world of racing and was sad to learn that Shane had changed his mind that weekend, going to visit his mother in Rock Hill instead. Shane was in the hospital by Monday and never recovered. As word spread through the racing world, Flood noticed the way everyone was reacting and figured he would have a lot of support to do something big as a memorial.
That’s where the idea of the Shane Mouzon Ultimate Junior Champion came from. “The reason it’s juniors is because Shane loved the kids. All the adults could race all they wanted to – when those kids hit the racetrack, he was clapping at the fence, I mean – it was unbelievable,” says Flood. He started to organize the race about 10 months ago, after he got the go-ahead from the Mouzon family who wanted the money to go to WA, where it will be used to renovate and rename the softball fields in Shane’s honor.
Another reason fans should be excited about the race is the return to action of former Kart champion Carrie Price. Price raced from the age of six until she was 15 and took to the track across the southeast. Shane was her biggest fan, and he followed her every step of the way. “He never missed one of my races, and he never missed a volleyball game, cheerleading competition, softball game – he was always there.” She valued that support because it sometimes came at personal danger to Shane. “Whenever we raced on a track that had a lower fence, he’d always be hanging over the fence, rooting me on and I could see him every time I passed.” There was also off-track support, too – mainly in the form of trash talk. “[I remember] he would always talk to the other racers and would be telling them how good I was and how fast I was. Everywhere he went, he was bragging about me and he would support me whether I was in the back or in the front.”
Price is coming back to honor Shane’s memory, but she speaks for everyone involved when she says that she’s not too concerned about winning, “I just wanna race – I know it would make Shane happy.”
Sunshine Kartway is located at 23 Preference Road in St. Matthews. The race starts at noon, but gates will be open at about 7 a.m. Tickets are $15 the day of the race but can be purchased earlier from Williamsburg Academy in person or by phone for $10. More information is also available at www.shanemouzonmemorial.com