Henry “Hank” Palmer Schoolfield Jr., 79, of Winston-Salem passed away Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, at Silas Creek Manor. He was born in Reidsville on July 5, 1928, to Henry Palmer and Margaret Wheeler Schoolfield. Mr. Schoolfield was president and owner of Universal Services Inc., which is a public relations and advertising agency with Universal Printers and Southern MotoRacing divisions. He was a publisher and editor of Southern MotoRacing, a bi-weekly tabloid newspaper with emphasis on motor racing news from the Southeast. He also covered major national and international events. Auto-racing clients have included a variety of tracks. The longest-running of these relationships were with North Wilkesboro Speedway, from 1961 until it closed in 1996; and seasonal weekly racing in Winston-Salem’ s Bowman Gray Stadium from 1961 to 2004. He founded the Southern MotoRacing publication in 1964. Also in 1964, he co-founded Universal Racing Network in a partnership with radio announcer Bob Montgomery, and became the network’ s sole owner when Montgomery died in 1971. The network produced and syndicated radio broadcasts of as many as 16 NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) races yearly with as many as 300 stations. He was on the production staff for the first ‘ live’ television broadcast of stockcar races, a closed-circuit venture of TelePrompter Corp. for Daytona 500 in 1967 and 1968. His recreational activities included fishing, and until recent years, hunting. Mr. Schoolfield is survived by his loving wife of 58 years, Thelma H. Schoolfield; and a daughter, Judy S. Holstrom, and her husband Bruce of King. The funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Hayworth-Miller Silas Creek Chapel, with the Rev. Lee Strange officiating. Burial will follow at Shiloh United Methodist Church Cemetery in Julian. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. today, Jan. 11, at the funeral home. He was loved and will be missed by his family, friends and the racing world. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 4A Oak Branch Drive, Greensboro, NC 27407.(Winston Salem Journal/Guest Book)(1-11-2008) Comment by Fox’s Mike Joy at FoxSports.com: With the passing of Hank Schoolfield Thursday in Winston-Salem, N.C., I wanted to share a few of my thoughts: Hank was a stalwart and a pioneer of racing news in print, radio and television, and had a lifelong devotion to the sport that is seldom seen today. We were friendly competitors when I ran Motor Racing Network radio, which broadcast the races not carried by Schoolfield’s Universal Racing Network. When MRN eventually acquired the rights to URN’s tracks, Hank refused Bill France, Jr.’s offer of compensation. The highly-principled and independent reporter preferred to fold his radio network rather than be bought out by NASCAR. I’ll always admire Hank for his energy, his independent spirit, and the great success he had in promoting the sport he loved.(1-11-2008)
