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From the Tower by Bob Frey

I'm sure everyone remembers the saying that was made famous by the ABC Wide World of Sports show years ago. You know the one, about the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." Anyone who has been involved in the sport of drag racing, or any sport for that matter, knows what it's like to experience both the highs and the lows of the sport. Win a race one week and fail to qualify the next. Have a really good reaction time in one round and then foul out in the next. Win a championship one year and don't make the top ten the next. And it goes on and on.

Every time a racer loses a round or a race I try to tell them that's it's not the end of the world. More often than not they look at me and tell me that racing is very important to them and winning is what it's all about. Well, anyone who has that opinion needs to take a stroll through the Super Stock pit area at any Division 3 race or at most national events in the central part of the country, because that's where you'll find the Super Stock Chevrolet of Jeff Niceswanger. You really can't miss it, it's a great looking green Camaro that has been part of the Division 3 racing scene for a long time. And once you get in the pit area you'll also find Amy Niceswanger, and if you spend a little time with her you'll quickly learn that racing isn't everything, even for a racing family like the Niceswangers.

Jeff Niceswanger has been racing for a long while and he gets a lot of help and support from his brother, John. "John is the big brother who used to race and who got his little brother involved in the sport," Amy said. "John drove for a while, a long time ago, but now he works with Jeff on the car." The car is a 1986 Camaro that runs in Super Stock and the team is coming off a big win at the recent IHRA sportsman race in Pittsburgh. "We went there and won the Super Stock Eliminator and we beat Anthony Bertozzi in the finals. It was a great weekend," Amy said. Amy and her husband, John, have been with Jeff at almost every event since Jeff started driving. Win, lose or draw, Amy and John can be seen cheering for Jeff and providing inspiration for him as well as a lot of the other D-3 racers. But recently it's been Jeff and John cheering for Amy and offering her support. "Amy was diagnosed with cancer back in 2006," John said. "She began her chemotherapy in June of that year and by July her hair was gone."

Like a lot of cancer patients who go through the process of losing their hair, Amy decided that she wasn't happy with that look or with the alternatives that were available and she decided that she would do something about it. "As you can imagine, losing my hair was very depressing," Amy said. "I tried on a lot of wigs and none of them were very comfortable and they just didn't look good," she said. "I knew I wanted to try something else to look as normal as I could." It was about that time that a friend of Amy's sent her some baseball caps that had blond ponytails attached to them. "That was very nice, but they didn't match my own hair, or what I had left of it, but they did make me think that there was something I could do." Amy said. Amy spoke with her mom who suggested that she get some hair that matched her natural color and attach it to a cap and that's what Amy did. "I put the hair on the hats and wore it for a long while before anyone even realized what they were. The hat was comfortable, it looked good and it looked very natural and it seemed like a good alternative to a wig."

Just like a drag racer who often comes up with a better way to race after being confronted with a tough situation, Amy thought that she had come up with a better way for cancer patients to get on with their lives. "I started making the hats for myself and then I realized that maybe I could do this for other women, too. So I got together with a friend of mine, DeDe Layer, and we decided to make some and give them to some of the patients we met at the hospital." And that's where the idea for "Soft Locks" came from. "We think it's a real alternative to wigs and the idea has really begun to catch on. Not every woman wants to wear a wig and we don't want everyone to know that we have cancer. Our hats seem to fill the need for a lot of these people." Amy and DeDe have begun to find locations in and around their Ohio home that will stock the hats. "The folks at Northside Pharmacy were the first to put some of the hats on display and we've expand from there. We now have about ten locations where the hats are on display and for sale. They range from $20 to $40, but we give them away to any children. The kids already have enough to worry about without having to pay for a hat." Amy says that one of her biggest thrills was when she went to the hematology unit at her local hospital recently and she saw a young lady in the waiting room wearing one of her hats. "That made me feel good," she said.

Like racers who move ever forward, even when faced with adversity, Amy is moving forward with her project. "We're getting the hats placed in more locations and the patients really seem to like them. Plus, with the money we raise we are able to donate to the American Cancer Society and other groups who are trying to find a cure for cancer.

My main goal someday is that nobody will need my hats." Until that time, though, cancer patients now have a choice of what to wear. "We make several style hats, ball caps, bucket style hats and things like that. Since not everyone wants to wear the same thing we keep coming up with different styles." And as for her health Amy says that the reports are good. "I just came back from a check up and they said everything looks fine." And that, in the long run, is the most important thing. Now Amy can concentrate on helping others and helping that really neat, green Camaro get to the winner's circle...again.

Anyone who would like to contact Amy about her project may call her at 740-819-0815 or you can send her an e-mail at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .