PHOTOBILLY - Billy "photoman" Haffer dies in car accident!

With heavy hearts and deep sympathy, from the Jon Ripperda Crew and family! I am so glad i went to Montgomery now to see and chat with Billy! I am really going to miss the Big Thumbs up after a heat win and talking to him in victory lane. He was the happiest person to talk to! I will truly miss PhotoBilly! God Speed!
 
Glad I had the pleasure of talking with you Friday at tri city...gonna miss ya friend..god speed...aj cline and family
 
Wow..super nice guy!! God speed Billy and prayers to the family as well as all of his friends. What a shocker
 
I am at a loss of words right now! We lost another dear friend in the racing community...Photobilly loved racing, always had a smile on his face, and camera in hand you just never knew when he would snap your picture. He was a great friend to many. My thoughts and prayers are with Danielle and the rest of Billy's family! RIP Billy! I don't think our racing family can handle anymore this year. For sure one of the worst racing seasons by far. Yes the races will never be the same we don't have the best dirt track announcer and we lost our biggest fan and a great photographer...but we all know that they would want everyone to remember the good times and continue on...Godspeed Photobilly
 
very sad to hear about this today. Photo Billy was such a nice guy, it seems like nearly every time i went to the races, no matter where, he would walk up and say Hi, ask me if i had my car, ask me where i was going the next day etc. Another big loss for the racing community......
 
Thoughts and prayers to both families.
I'm just shocked by this news.
Billy was a great guy and I will miss him for sure.
Adam
 
prayers go out to photo billy we can complain and moan on here but we as a racing family all come together when tragidy strikes man it ****s that we lost another in our family of race fans lord we as a racing family come to you in this time of need to ask you for you healing hand as you call upon another one of your children and i ask you lord that you lift the spirts of photo billys family a men
 
So sorry to hear This I am just speechless ..I really real fo is daughter. She had to deal with her mom. Passing away now she has to deal with the passing of her dad..how much can a person go though. God bless her and the family. RIP PhotoBilly u will be missed very much. Pat Harper
 
What a great guy was Photo Billy. I got to know him when I raced at Highland a few years back and I just got to see him again at Montgomery this past weekend. When I won the heat, he had a great big ol smile on his face, shot my pic, then came over and gave me a big high five. The racing community has definately lost one of the good ones. Thank you Billy for the life that you did have, and thank you for letting me be a part of it. May God bless his family in this difficult time.
 
Billy was one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. Our thoughts and prayers go to his family. He will be truly missed.

The Salty Dog Racing Team
 
Gonna miss seeing Billy @ almost any track I went to. For years I could count on Billy showing up @ the midget races no matter where we where running,snapping my picture and then getting my autograph in his ever present spiral notebook as he did for all the other drivers. I even remember him doing this back in my Allied modified days @ Charley Town. Back in 2007 Me and Jeff Palazzolo where driving Bob Galbraiths antique midgets @ The Arnie Knepper Memorial and Billy came running over,proud as can,be showing me the digital screen of his camera and saying I'll get ya a copy of the print. After that everytime I would see him he would say Man I forgot to bring it with me. But then last Febuary about closing time the phone rings, Hey Howard its Billy,I'm on 270 and got some pictures for ya. We benched raced for a good 2 hours. Heres the pictures he delivered. GOD SPEED BILLY,Get some good shots of Opperman & Weld up there.
 

Attachments

  • haffer1 (800x631).jpg
    haffer1 (800x631).jpg
    101.9 KB · Views: 241
  • haffer2 (800x616).jpg
    haffer2 (800x616).jpg
    87.1 KB · Views: 226
one of my biggest supporters, im at a loss for words, everyone deserved to have a fan like billy and a friend, wow :(
 
His family is deeply touched by all your prayers, thoughts, emails, texts, facebook messages and phone calls. I have talked with many of you who I have not spoken to in years and made some new friends myself. I am still way to shook up to post much but will share some stories and more about Billy when I get to that point. I stopped by his home in St. Peters today where he lived with his mother Betty and brother Tony, and daughter Danielle. They are obviously shaken and don't have many answers to all of the "how" questions concerning the accident. But what I can tell you with certainty is that Billy deeply cared for you all the same way you felt for him. He was always calling and texting me when you were in need of prayers or your family had gone though a tragic event. When you were hurting it deeply touched him.

Thanks so much for the love and support you gave Billy during his life and after his life here was complete. We certainly didn't know it would end this way, but I can't help but smile thinking about this image in my mind. I'd love to see the look on Mike Meuer's face when Billy came through the gates of heaven about 1:14 AM this morning! I bet Billy was excited to see a familiar face just as you all were when you saw Billy at the track. And the first thing out of Billy's mouth to THE TALKER GUY was "Guess who won the feature last night!?". Billy was a huge part of 2 families, the HAFFER family and the DIRT RACING family. Me and my brother Randy were fortunate enough to grow up with Billy and shared many memories with him in both families. He was so special and loving. His heart was the best and you all described him so perfectly I can't add much more to that. God bless you for your love and support to us all, it has been a sad day in our family and was was a big part of the fun in all our family gatherings. The stories he would share and the way he told them were priceless and he loved telling them to his uncles!

Deepest appreciation for all you all did for Billy's fun life,

Rod Haffer
Cousin and best friend
 
rip Billy and Tony , Billy always had a smile and a handshake whenever he saw me ,you will be missed , and i was glad to call him my friend .
 
** FUNERAL FOR PHOTO BILLY **

Viewing Friday 5-8 PM at Hutson Funeral Home in Steelville, Mo.

Viewing Saturday 9-2 Hutson Funeral Home in Steelville, Mo.

FUNERAL 2 PM and Burial at Haffer Cemetary, 14 miles outside of Steelville.

We hope this works with some of your schedules and you are able to share a memory or two with his family as we lay him to rest in that great racetrack in the sky. God bless you all for your thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to us all.

~ Rod Haffer
 
This has indeed been a rough season for our racing community. The good Lord must surely be putting together the ultimate dirt track! My thoughts and prayers to the Haffer family, and others suffering due to this tragic event.

Rick Worley
 
Wow I can't put into words how sad this is. Billy you were the best, you'd go grab Christian at the racetrack to make sure he got in robs picture and several times told me I HAD to jump in!! Rob loved your advice and stories from the races! Last year u drove all the way to highland in the middle of the week to bring me some pics I wanted, your love for racing, friends, and family will never be forgotten because your legacy lives in the pictures you left with us!! Thanks for sharing your heart with us!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.




Back
Top