Deaths • July 31, 2009

Andre Espaillat died peacefully on Saturday, July 25, in the arms of his husband, after a long and courageous battle with cancer (multiple myeloma).

A longtime resident of Dallas who was living in Seattle and Vancouver, Espaillat was a motorcycle enthusiast, racer and teacher. Known as the "2 Wheel Tiger," he wrote extensively about his illness at motocancer.blogspot.com, and inspired thousands with his courage, insight and humor.

Espaillat was a member of several Dallas organizations, including the Texas Sports Bike Association, the North Texas Sports Bike Association, the Spectrum Motorcycle Club, CMRA, RPM/WERA and the Dragonflies.

He is survived by his husband, Ed Fortuno III, of Vancouver, B.C.; and his mother, Anita-Louise, brother Rick, brother-in-law Gary, sister Trina and niece Alex, all of Dallas.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the International Myeloma Foundation (myeloma.org), the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (leukemia-lymphoma.org) or the American Cancer Society (cancer.org).

A celebration of his life with his Dallas family and friends will be held at a private residence on Aug. 8. For more information, e-mail
esfortuno3rd@gmail.com.

TO PLACE A NOTICE
We print notices of deaths of members of the GLBT community at no fee. A questionnaire is available to assist you in organizing the information. Certain information is required. The questionnaire can be e-mailed, faxed or mailed to you. You may supply photos as prints (color or B&W) or scans (min. 300 d.p.i. at 3X5). For more information or to submit a notice, e-mail nash@dallasvoice.com or call 214-754-8710 ext. 128.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition July 31, 2009.
site seo есть ли смысл

8 Comments

GaryK on July 31, 2009 at 9:22 am

There is an amazing quote on his blog (motocancer.blogspot.com) from one of his many friends and I wanted to share it:
“Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy.”
Shine on, Andre.

chris mckee on July 31, 2009 at 11:10 am

I dont know this man – but ran across his story, looked at his blogs, and wow – such dedication, support, love, and compassion during his illness – his partner trying to be so strong but secretly hurting just as much, it all got to me today – I admit i teared up readind some of the final entries leading up to his death, very moving, and oddly inspiring. I could only hope to have that kind of support and love from a man one day.

Bob Dickey on July 31, 2009 at 1:10 pm

I had the distinct pleasure of racing Andre for a number of years in CMRA. Over the years I got to know him and the rest of his team, Out-and-Out Racing. My admiration for his skills, off and on the track grew each season.
We have lost a wonderful person and God has recalled yet another to His fold.
Thank you, Andre, for your friendship and your knowledge so bountifully shared.

Wade Bartlett on July 31, 2009 at 4:17 pm

I followed Andre’s lead and advice in modifications to my EX500 racebike years ago. Through those experiences, we got acquainted enough for me to sign on as a rider for the EX500-team at the 24-hour WERA race at Willow Springs back in 1999, which he oversaw. Andre was always a steady voice of reason, witty and intelligent, open and honest. I will remember him for the rest of my life, and I miss him already. The world is a grayer place without Andre in it. Godspeed, my friend.

Jeff on July 31, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Andre was a great person and a good friend. He was one of the first motorcyclists I came across who was also gay. And man could he tear up the roads…put a lot of pro riders to shame. You’ll be missed my friend.

Irwin Arnstein on August 3, 2009 at 2:35 am

Andre was a friend of mine and I had a few emails with him only a few weeks ago. He had a small motorcycle shop which I patronized in Carrolton, and we used him for printer repair when he was in that trade at my business. He was an excellent rider, good mechanic, good advisor, and good friend. When I did motorcycle road race photography he would sometimes drop in to spectate when he wasn’t racing. We are poorer for his loss. Godspeed.

Chuck Mccoy on August 6, 2009 at 11:12 pm

Andre took me under his wing when I was a brand new racer. It’s really lucky that I had bought an EX500 and that somebody told Andre about it. He had pretty much quit racing by that time, but not totally. As it turns out, he insisted I buy the beloved “EX from Heck” that he had created and campaigned to some success. What a machine. I really didn’t know anything useful about how motorcycles worked or how to ride them until I got that machine. There were a few years of pleasure knowing Andre before he left town. I could tell several fun & funnie stories, but maybe just 2 or 3 is better.
Early, before I had the EX from Heck, he convinced me to go down south of Houston to run practice at this foolish old blimp base. Jeez, wasn’t really a death-trap, damn thing was way too tight to go very fast. It was an incredible injury trap, though. Like 20 of us had been told to bring shovels & brooms. Never before & never again will I get on a track with that much dust & dirt. Anyway, after we’d been sweeping it for an hour or so Andre says to my son Bentley, probably a 7th grader at the time, “Come on, let’s test it.” I didn’t think anything of it.
Moments later we all looked up at the sound of screeching tires to see Andre’s Ford Explorer coming through a hairpin curve, wheels and parts of the body pointing in every direction it seemed. As I remember the scene it wasn’t at all clear exactly which direction it was sliding, or where it was about to go. It WAS clear that Bentley didn’t even have on a seatbelt. This was clear because his whole body looked thrown up onto the dash board, with his face pressed against the windshield. Both arms and legs were flailing, obviously searching for something solid to brace against.
It didn’t roll, and Bentley thought it was fun. Glad he was fine, his help made getting truck and restrooms with a broken knee easier on the drive home to Dallas.
As Andre coached me through learning to ride a real race machine he’d always tell me, “If it’s not squirming around under you, you aren’t going fast enough!” The EX from Heck was absoutely are real race machine and I got to where I made it squirm enough that even racers I could never catch gave me pats on the back.
In what was probably Andre’s last race, I know he wasn’t riding the EX from Heck, surely wasn’t his RC51, but I don’t really remember the machine. anyway, I think it was RPM at Hallett Racing Circuit and Andre may have been in the season points chase. But he had crashed earlier, hard enough that his right arm & hand were noticeably worse for the wear. When his next race was up we’d gotten the bike repaired enough to go to the starting grid and he had gotten suited-up. But he couldn’t raise his right arm under his own power enough to grip the handlebar and the throttle. He could, however, get his right hand on the twist grip by lifting it with his left hand.
The problem for him was that he couldn’t get me, or anybody else in the pits, to duct tape his hand on the throttle so he could go out and race.
Today Bentley is away in the Navy. When I told him about Andre passing his instant comment speaks to all about the kind of man Andre was. Ben said, “After that road trip I took with him I understood for the first time how to respect somebody that was very different from me.”
I’m glad I knew Andre. I’m glad my son knew Andre.
There is way more than a pit wall that separates the competitor from the spectator. Race on Andre. Amen.
Chuck McCoy
Dallas, Texas
CMRA 659

Ed Fortuno III on August 18, 2009 at 2:06 am

Thank you all for the memories you wrote about my husband. I appreciate them more than you’ll ever know. My email address is available above. Feel free to send me a note or two.
With love,
Ed
P.S. To Chuck – give my regards to Bentley. Andre had always thought of him as a great kid. I also just found out that the EX is still racing with the CMRA.

GaryK on July 31, 2009 at 9:22 am

There is an amazing quote on his blog (motocancer.blogspot.com) from one of his many friends and I wanted to share it:
“Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy.”
Shine on, Andre.
chris mckee on July 31, 2009 at 11:10 am

I dont know this man – but ran across his story, looked at his blogs, and wow – such dedication, support, love, and compassion during his illness – his partner trying to be so strong but secretly hurting just as much, it all got to me today – I admit i teared up readind some of the final entries leading up to his death, very moving, and oddly inspiring. I could only hope to have that kind of support and love from a man one day.
Bob Dickey on July 31, 2009 at 1:10 pm

I had the distinct pleasure of racing Andre for a number of years in CMRA. Over the years I got to know him and the rest of his team, Out-and-Out Racing. My admiration for his skills, off and on the track grew each season.
We have lost a wonderful person and God has recalled yet another to His fold.
Thank you, Andre, for your friendship and your knowledge so bountifully shared.
Wade Bartlett on July 31, 2009 at 4:17 pm

I followed Andre’s lead and advice in modifications to my EX500 racebike years ago. Through those experiences, we got acquainted enough for me to sign on as a rider for the EX500-team at the 24-hour WERA race at Willow Springs back in 1999, which he oversaw. Andre was always a steady voice of reason, witty and intelligent, open and honest. I will remember him for the rest of my life, and I miss him already. The world is a grayer place without Andre in it. Godspeed, my friend.
Jeff on July 31, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Andre was a great person and a good friend. He was one of the first motorcyclists I came across who was also gay. And man could he tear up the roads…put a lot of pro riders to shame. You’ll be missed my friend.
Irwin Arnstein on August 3, 2009 at 2:35 am

Andre was a friend of mine and I had a few emails with him only a few weeks ago. He had a small motorcycle shop which I patronized in Carrolton, and we used him for printer repair when he was in that trade at my business. He was an excellent rider, good mechanic, good advisor, and good friend. When I did motorcycle road race photography he would sometimes drop in to spectate when he wasn’t racing. We are poorer for his loss. Godspeed.
Chuck Mccoy on August 6, 2009 at 11:12 pm

Andre took me under his wing when I was a brand new racer. It’s really lucky that I had bought an EX500 and that somebody told Andre about it. He had pretty much quit racing by that time, but not totally. As it turns out, he insisted I buy the beloved “EX from Heck” that he had created and campaigned to some success. What a machine. I really didn’t know anything useful about how motorcycles worked or how to ride them until I got that machine. There were a few years of pleasure knowing Andre before he left town. I could tell several fun & funnie stories, but maybe just 2 or 3 is better.
Early, before I had the EX from Heck, he convinced me to go down south of Houston to run practice at this foolish old blimp base. Jeez, wasn’t really a death-trap, damn thing was way too tight to go very fast. It was an incredible injury trap, though. Like 20 of us had been told to bring shovels & brooms. Never before & never again will I get on a track with that much dust & dirt. Anyway, after we’d been sweeping it for an hour or so Andre says to my son Bentley, probably a 7th grader at the time, “Come on, let’s test it.” I didn’t think anything of it.
Moments later we all looked up at the sound of screeching tires to see Andre’s Ford Explorer coming through a hairpin curve, wheels and parts of the body pointing in every direction it seemed. As I remember the scene it wasn’t at all clear exactly which direction it was sliding, or where it was about to go. It WAS clear that Bentley didn’t even have on a seatbelt. This was clear because his whole body looked thrown up onto the dash board, with his face pressed against the windshield. Both arms and legs were flailing, obviously searching for something solid to brace against.
It didn’t roll, and Bentley thought it was fun. Glad he was fine, his help made getting truck and restrooms with a broken knee easier on the drive home to Dallas.
As Andre coached me through learning to ride a real race machine he’d always tell me, “If it’s not squirming around under you, you aren’t going fast enough!” The EX from Heck was absoutely are real race machine and I got to where I made it squirm enough that even racers I could never catch gave me pats on the back.
In what was probably Andre’s last race, I know he wasn’t riding the EX from Heck, surely wasn’t his RC51, but I don’t really remember the machine. anyway, I think it was RPM at Hallett Racing Circuit and Andre may have been in the season points chase. But he had crashed earlier, hard enough that his right arm & hand were noticeably worse for the wear. When his next race was up we’d gotten the bike repaired enough to go to the starting grid and he had gotten suited-up. But he couldn’t raise his right arm under his own power enough to grip the handlebar and the throttle. He could, however, get his right hand on the twist grip by lifting it with his left hand.
The problem for him was that he couldn’t get me, or anybody else in the pits, to duct tape his hand on the throttle so he could go out and race.
Today Bentley is away in the Navy. When I told him about Andre passing his instant comment speaks to all about the kind of man Andre was. Ben said, “After that road trip I took with him I understood for the first time how to respect somebody that was very different from me.”
I’m glad I knew Andre. I’m glad my son knew Andre.
There is way more than a pit wall that separates the competitor from the spectator. Race on Andre. Amen.
Chuck McCoy
Dallas, Texas
CMRA 659
Ed Fortuno III on August 18, 2009 at 2:06 am

Thank you all for the memories you wrote about my husband. I appreciate them more than you’ll ever know. My email address is available above. Feel free to send me a note or two.
With love,
Ed
P.S. To Chuck – give my regards to Bentley. Andre had always thought of him as a great kid. I also just found out that the EX is still racing with the CMRA.