I just recieved a text from ryan d. that a fellow west coast racer has passed due to prolonged illness from lukemia. he fought hard but gave way this evening at 9:45 pm. Anyone who knew phong he had a passion for racing that not alot of people saw because he was finishing up on a beautiful project that he soon was to drive. it was the sickest pro fwd da. it had alot of meaning to him and i believe some of the fabwork was done by the late fabman, who passed a couple of years ago. may he rest in peace and my prayers go out to all his family and all the friends who knew him. i will miss him and our sport will to. godspeed Phong.

here is the message from his family!

Dear Friends and Family, As most of you know, Phong Tran (Isaac’s dad) was diagnosed with leukemia late October of last year. The moment Phong found out he was ill, he was determined to live and not let this not let this cancer take over his life. For the past few months, Phong had been in and out of the hospital, gone through multiple chemotherapy treatments and did exactly what the doctors instructed. The battle was not easy, but he kept fighting with a positive mindset that he will win. The last chemotherapy weakens his immune system and his blood counts were low. The doctor said it was normal so Phong waited patiently for his counts to go up. Days come weeks come months later, his counts were still low. His body was susceptible to infections which lead to sores in his mouth and infection in his blood. He took antibiotics, but the infections did not go away and the pain continued to rise. The next intervention was to go through the bone marrow transplant with hope that it will increase his blood counts and to get rid of his infections. The oncologists have already warned Phong that the risk was extremely high with 5-10% survival rate. Phong was not afraid and wanted to move forward with it anyway. His family respected his decision and supported him all the way. The bone marrow transplant started on Saturday, May 14 with the duration that it will go on for the next 30 days. At 7:36am on Saturday, May 21, Isaac and I received a message from Phong’s older brother. The message said that Phong had a stroke last night and we must go to the hospital immediately. Isaac and I rushed to the hospital. During our drive there, the two of us were worried, lost and confused at the same time because we saw Phong less than 12 hours ago. He was fine when we left the hospital and there were no signs or symptoms that a stroke was coming his way. The stroke was unexpected and rare for Phong’s situation. Everything happened so fast and no one could control the situation. The neurologists, oncologists and his primary doctor could not figure out why he had a stroke as they were closely monitoring his condition. The treatment team sought every intervention possible to save him, including surgery to release the pressure from his brain, but the surgeons said it would harm him more than it would save him. In less than 48 hours, Phong Tran passed away last night in the hospital with his immediate family by his side. It was sad to see him leave, but we are happy that he is now in a peaceful place. Phong was 32 years old and worked as a passionate mechanic. He was a caring and devoted father, son and friend. He will be deeply missed by friends and family. The family is planning the funeral service. Detail information about the date, time and location will follow shortly. In lieu of flowers, donation may be made to Phong’s family by clicking on the link below. Thank you for your on going support!

http://funds.gofundme.com/phongs-funeral


Tina Lo

 

God bless Phong and his family during this hard time.

 

god bless

 

That is terrible to hear.

Thoughts and prayers are with his family.

 

to anyone who didnt know phong by name theres a picture of him when you click the link. man after a day of praying about and reading the whole story from the family its so tradgic. he found out about his illness just after the las vegas ifo at the end of last year. what a brave guy. ill miss him!

 

this coming cmi will be dedicated to the memory of phong tran. We will be setting up a raffle and dontions that will benifit thr family 100%. For anyone who would like to donate products lmk we will be moving forward with any way to help the family. We will be haveing a monster bbq in celebration of his life. The next cmi is june 13th I believe.

 

Phong was a very close friend of mine. He was introduced to me through Viet Lam. Viet Lam had told me Phong was part of our raceteam "Wicked Racing" and represented the NorCal branch of Wicked. Because he was part of our race team we backed him 110%! That was the morale back in the day. Back up your hommies all the way. Phong treated his friends and customers in NorCal the same way and made a boatload of friends who back him up as well. He touched the lives of many and made an impact on their dreams and aspirations in drag racing. Most of all he was a good friend. Phong truly had a heart of Gold!

He always came over my house looking for used race parts he can use on his racecar. Alot of stuff from our CRX days. He was always calling me on what he should use on his racecar as well as his friends cars. He was always relaxed and always talked about racing non-stop. Phong enjoyed it greatly and worked extremely hard at it. It was his passion. I know his dream was to see his PROFWD go down the track and from what I hear his friends will make this dream come true.

Phong Tran will dearly be missed. I will miss the conversations with him. I will miss him coming over to see what used parts he can buy. I will miss that little guy who had a heart larger than life. But he will be with us in spirit in every conversation or pass down the racetrack. I know he is probably hitting 7 second passes in his PROFWD car in heaven right now and enjoying every moment.

God Bless Phong Tran.

Rest in Peace my good friend................

-Ron Bergenholtz

 

I was hopeing you would see this ron I know you guys were good friends he was going to lend us his m4 for lisa's car as well his good friend ryan too. They both have done everything to help us. Heart of gold for sure thanks ron for chiming in. he always told me put in n lets take it to la and let bergenholtz play with it. I will miss him checkin in on me, im sure he still will.

 

RIP Phong...OG for sure..

 

RIP

 

"This is supposed to be a goodbye for you
But Goodbye is something we just cannot do
So smile Phong Tran, We'll join you someday
In a place where happiness can forever stay

And until that time we'll remember what we shared
In the many ways we showed how we cared
And my only regret is that you faded too fast
But we still shared a friendship to last."

Rest in Peace
You will be missed....

TEAM LIGHTSPEED/DNR

 

Hey guys its Skipp,

Ryan and I were among the few people who knew the whole situation with Phong's illness from early December 2010. In typical Phong fashion he did not want people to worry. One thing you have to know about him is he loved to help, but didn't really like receiveing. We would fight at restaurants over who would pay the bill, and I would often fake using the restroom so I can pay for him.

Ironically I met Phong at CMI many years ago, and then one day he showed up at my shop...we clicked from day one. I ended up working for him, and he introduced me to Viet, Ron Bergenholtz and company, Dr. Charles, and many many import racing icons.

I used to be on the scavenger hunts to Ron B's garage with him, and boy it was like Christmas!

We all thought he was going to pull through and join us back at the track. He is one of the best friends I have ever had, and will never be replaced.


Yo Chad, thank you for responding to my FB message and helping us get the ball rolling for the CMI thing. I actually called Ron a few hours before Phong passed, and filled him in on the situation.

Please everyone understand that out of respect to our friend we really kept his illness private, just as he would have wanted. I will say, I am so touched by how many people he impacted, and I don't think he knew either.

Phong will live on, in our memories, in our cars, and in our sport. His son, Isaac will finish what his dad started one day at the track, and that is something we are all going to keep a close eye on.

Phong was a member of my family, and I want to thank everyone for being so supportive.


"PTR LIVES"

 

phong was layed to rest today and it was a beautiful ceremony, we decided to hold off till the west coast outlaw race july 30th and 31st to have time to get his car running and get some things together for a raffle to help fund some things for the car for his son to eventually finish his dads dream.

 

Sorry to hear. Thanks for doing so much for the racers outside of the track Chad. You're a good man for that. Prayers out to his family and friends.

 

RIP Phong!!! We will miss u!!!

 

if it were me im sure someone would would do the same to help my girls. cause as well as phongs dreams were for his son to follow in his footsteps my girls will one day follow in mine.

 

RIP Phong

 

Godspeed.

 

RIP Phong. My prayers going out to his family and love ones.

 

RIP