George “Ernie” Schorb passed away on May 7, 2013. He was born on September 4, 1930, in Paris, France, to US Citizens, Virginia Arthur and George Schorb. His father died when he was 2, and by the time he was 4, he was living with his mother in a houseboat on the Miami River. After graduating from Miami Jackson High School, he joined the US Navy and served from 1948 to 1958.
He became interested in drag racing as a teenager and joined the Ramblers Road Club in 1951. He raced a ’34 Ford at the night drags on the beach in Daytona. Ernie saw there was nowhere to legally drag race in South Florida so he lobbied local government. He helped create the Florida State Championship Drag Races at Amelia Earhart Field in Hialeah, which later became Masters Field. In 1954 he became Regional Advisor for the new National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). In 1956 he created Southeast Drag News a publication that covered drag racing action in the Southeastern states. In 1957 he first met the founder of NHRA, Wally Parks, who was impressed by Ernie’s talents and hired him to become their first business manager. In 1959 he returned to Miami as NHRA first SE Division Director.
In 1966 he was hired as a promoter for the new Miami-Hollywood Dragway. He followed the pattern of public relations for the rest of his life. Ernie had a unique talent to be able to formulate an idea, lobby those in a position to make it happen, and accomplish change for the better. Over the years, Ernie had many beautiful classic cars. A favorite of his was a black 1963 Thunderbird which was in Don Garlits Drag Racing hall of fame for many years.
In 1982 he was inducted into the NHRA Southeast Division Hall of Fame. Throughout his association with NHRA he had both a business and personal relationship with Wally Parks who, in 2000, presented Ernie with a Lifetime Achievement Award for the creation of the NHRA Winternationals concept. In 2002, he received the Pioneer Award from the NHRA at the Gatornationals in Gainesville. In 2005 he received a special tribute during the golden anniversary of the NHRA at the US Nationals in Indianapolis.
In 1998, Ernie moved from South Florida to the Orlando area and began another career with Walt DisneyWorld. He was a member of the Creative Idea Forum Group and received numerous accolades for ideas which were submitted and implemented to improve and expand Disney theme attractions. He became a member of the Disney Partners of Excellence Program. In 2005, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Entertainment Department. Ernie is probably the only person to have been awarded a “Wally” from the NHRA, and a “Mickey” from Walt Disney World.
After retiring from Disney, Ernie moved around the country living in Virginia, Missouri and finally settling in Tallahassee where he worked for Devoe Moore at the Tallahassee Auto Museum. He created an exhibit honoring Wally Parks and instituted the first Wally Parks Day in December of 2008. In 2006 Ernie was inducted into the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame in Henderson, NC, and became an active member of the Hall of Fame. In 2011 he was awarded the Wally Parks Motorsports Statesman Memorial Award from the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame.
Ernie is survived by his many friends all over the country too numerous to mention, and by Julie Milligan of Pleasant Hope, Missouri, and Rosey Hunter of Tallahassee, Florida whom he loved as daughters, and “adopted” grandchildren Brittney Hunter, Cheyenne Milligan, and Annalise Milligan.
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