Here's what I put up on Facebook earlier today remembering many of my FB Friend are heavily involved in Motorsport.
2013 hasn't been a good year for Victorian Motorsport 
I've been informed this morning of the passing of Mick Ronke, CEO of Winton Motor Raceway.
Mick has been at the helm of Winton, and Wakefield Park, for many years and I've know him since I started working at race meetings at Winton in late 1985.
Mick was a Telecom Exchange Maintenance Tech in Benalla and I was an Exchange Installation Tech in Melbourne so we had a shared friendly rivalry that existed between Insto's and Mato's that we kept up even long after he left Telecom to take up the CEO post at Winton.
Mick was never shy to ring me if he had a Telecom/Telstra issue he needed dealt with and I remember well the 9am call the day after a Mobile phone issue the Barbagallo V8's that weekend a few years ago "telling me" we're not going to have that problem here in 2 weeks are we Paul. Mind you I'd already arranged with him months earlier to park one of Telstra's Cell on Wheels units next to the Admin building and Mick was only too happy to provide us with a 3 phase power connection for it.
I'll save the story on how Mick and Heather convinced Telstra to add a Mobile Phone base to the Winton Exchange for another day 
No one can deny Micks passion for Motorsport or his dedication to the Benalla Auto Club, Winton & Wakefield and god help anyone who ever tried to get one over on him or Winton, even V8Supercar teams and management respected Mick and his passion.
Daryl Mac has commented that some saw Mick as a "Hard B*****d" but those of us who really knew Mick often saw the lighter and softer side of him especially during the tradition post event "Debriefs" in his office at Winton where many a story from the days action and days gone by were shared.
I'll miss Mick, in fact I already am, not just as a friend but as a man who taught so many of us so much over the near 30 years I've know and worked with and for him in our shared obsession called Motorsport.
My sincere condolences to Matt, Adam and the extended Ronke family at this time of loss and please feel comforted in the knowledge that the extended Winton & Wakefield "family" is sharing your grief at this time.
So far this year we've lost;
Pat O'Neill (Winton Safety Team member),
Barry Petersen (Former Chief Flag Marshal & President of the Victorian Flag Marshaling Team),
Norm Drew (co founder of Avalon Raceway)
and now Mick Ronke.