I hope your holidays were great. While nobody can predict exactly what will happen in the coming year or decade, here are two pretty sure things: Aaron Merriman will win close to one thousand races in 2020 and the world will be a bit sadder place with the death of former USTA Publicity Director John Pawlak last week. Around Thanksgiving I saw a write-up on Aaron saying he was approaching 900 wins on the year. My first thought was another good year, and then I thought what a shame he won’t reach 1,000 for the third straight year. Well, Mr. Merriman certainly succeeded in proving me wrong. Aaron came into Monday, December 30 with 993 wins on the year. He had won an amazing 112 races in the first 29 days of the month, which projects to over 1,400 wins for a full year. On his last racing day of the year, he took three races at The Meadows in the afternoon, pushing his win total to 996,  and then headed up I79 to the Ohio Turnpike to pilot four more winners at Northfield Park, finishing the year with exactly 1,000 wins. Not bad for a guy who wanted to be a postman growing up. Handicapping note: Merriman’s Meadows wins paid $19.80, $12.00 and $6.20 (not the favorite). At Northfield he drove two favorites, a second choice and a $15.00 winner. What’s truly impressive is that while he is an intense competitor, he also maintains perspective on his life and hectic schedule. Well here is some perspective for you, at just 41 and assuming he stays healthy, Merriman has a legitimate chance to catch Dave Palone and become the all-time leading driver in the history of the sport. Merriman has averaged 1,000 wins annually over the past five years. He is 16 years younger than Palone and currently stands about 7,100 wins behind the great Pennsylvania driver. He has been picking up between 500 and 600 wins on Palone annually for the last several years.  Palone, now 57, is averaging 447 wins annually over the last five years. That is an impressive number, but Palone has cut back on his trips behind the gate over the past five years and figures to do so even more in the future. I don’t know how long Aaron can keep posting 1,000 win seasons, but if he averages “just” 750 wins annually for the next 16 years (when he would be Palone’s current age), he will be sitting at 24,000 wins. Palone would need to average 312 wins over that time to maintain his lead and I don’t see Dave driving into his 70’s. There are too many golf courses to experience. Dave Palone is a great driver and Aaron Merriman is on the verge of becoming one. Nobody has been as good for as long as he has been, and while it is years down the road (and based on staying healthy – Aaron has had a couple of bad accidents), it would not surprise me at all for Aaron to eventually pass Palone. It will be worth watching. Aaron started his harness racing career at Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio and so did John Pawlak, who passed away on December 27 after a long illness. John began working at the Telegraph Road oval in 1978 and I raced there in the summer of 1979. Pawlak did a bit of everything at Raceway – announcing, marketing, promotions and handicapping. I think the only thing didn’t do was run the track kitchen, but he spent time there and that is where I first met him. I was a struggling 20 year-old aspiring trainer with half-a-dozen $2500 claimers, but John always had time to wish me well and congratulate me on one of my rare successes. I never dreamed I would run into him again 20 years later. By then he was the United States Trotting Association’s Publicity Director and I was freelancing and doing part-time PR work at Northfield Park. I attended my first Ohio Chapter U.S. Harness Writers Association luncheon in Columbus and the room was filled with legendary harness writers. I was the new kid, but John, for some unknown reason, remembered me from Raceway Park and took me around introducing me. He didn’t have to, but he did. I believe he would literally give you the shirt off his back if you needed one. At Northfield, we relied on Pawlak and his U.S.T.A staff, including Paul Ramlow and others, for racing information and to share photos for big races. When we organized a new owner’s seminar, we asked if John had anyone he could send up to represent the U.S.T.A. He sent himself and his presentation was the highlight of the event. Pawlak, a Communicator’s Hall of Famer, had a self-deprecating sense of humor, but he could also be scathing if the situation called for it. I also got a chance to share the Little Brown Jug radio duties with him for a couple of years, and I was amazed at the depth not just of his knowledge, but of his analysis. He was a deep thinker who could still relate to just about anyone. While John has been sadly absent from the sport over the past several years, he never left the thoughts of those who came in contact with him. As his wife Kris said, “He is now with the angels and free of his pain. He will be greatly missed by his family and friends.” Rest in peace, John, and thank you for your kind words and help. That’s it for now. See you in the next decade. Now go cash. Probably on Aaron Merriman.