TRIBUTE TO FREDDY

Frederick (Freddy) Mercer Hopkins IV died on 11/13/2021 at 5 am at home with his beloved family, after a hard-fought battle throughout 2021 against an aggressive, invasive lung cancer.

His departure was too fast.

Freddy Hopkins was always fast.

• Fast with a dry, wry joke – but never made at anyone's expense.
• Fast with an observation that told you how much he knew about the news, sports, cars, current events and the world.
• Fast to make friends. He held many lifelong, deep friendships.
• Fast to learn things – how to take apart and rebuild cars, how to take apart and rebuild houses, how to take apart and rebuild companies.
• Fast to find his true love Sandy – a love that grew from high school to celebrating their 42nd anniversary in October.

AND Fast to get his pride and joy – son AJ, named for his hero AJ Foyt – into racing and then fast into the checkered flag laps. Those checkered flags lasted for 25 years with AJ being named the top sprint driver in Indiana in 2020, which Freddy told everyone he saw.

Fast to take to being a grandfather of two beautiful girls, Faith and Khloe and a father-in-law to Morgan. He and Morgan formed a strong bond that only those two knew but you could see it.

Fred Hopkins was a decent guy. Respect. Dedication. Love for his family and friends. Steadfastness. Honor. Fred had all these traits.

Fred did what was right. He created teams wherever he was – with his wife, with his son, with his family and colleagues; he always made sure people were pulling together toward a goal and he made sure that goal was achieved. He left most with smiles on their faces.

Freddy was a guy who always delivered on his commitments. He was serious about his life and lived it with intentionality and careful planning. If Fred Hopkins did something, you knew it was the result of thought and deliberation.

Freddy was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on the last day of June 1953, a year and two months after his sister Marcia was born and two years after his parents Mary Louise Kull and Frederick Mercer Hopkins III were married. His younger sister Ellen followed him six years later.

Freddy was confirmed in 1968 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Brownsburg, graduated from Brownsburg High School in 1971 and from Purdue University in 1975. While at Purdue, he pledged Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He chose not to be initiated – a maverick, he always charted his own course - and instead lived off-campus with his life-long friend Dave Lippincott.

He was married on Oct. 20, 1979, to Sandy Sheets in what many said was the perfect wedding – down even to the funny "Help Me!" message written on the bottom of one of his shoes. Sandy and Freddy. Always in sync. Always on the go. A well-matched, good-looking couple who did it all. Fred and Sandy completed each other. Best friends. Companions. A team. True love.

During his work career, he partnered with friend David Wilson to form "Wilson-Hopkins Construction Company;" worked for Lumber One, Carter-Lee Lumber and then retired from Sanders Company. He was a lifetime builder and professional Estimator. His work was clean, professional, to spec and on time. While he excelled at work, his family and home were the center of his universe.

He was a dedicated son, living next door to his parents on South Green Street in Brownsburg throughout his adult life. With his wife Sandy, they transformed a run-of-the-mill house - literally sanding every piece of wood trim and rebuilding every element of the house - into a beautiful sanctuary. His mother-in-law Tid moved in a door away on the other side, making for happy, close family connections on a daily basis.

In November 1991, son Anthony James or AJ was born. In true Freddy and Sandy fashion, AJ was a natural athlete and daredevil. By age 3, he was driving a 2-seater go cart at full speed on the family property behind their home, with his parents watching carefully from the sidelines and guiding him. By age 5, AJ was racing ¼ midget cars. He graduated mini-sprints and then in 2020 was the top sprint car racer in Indiana. AJ dedicated the 2021 season to his dad - the most memorable race was getting the family-owned 14H car out of a 4-year hibernation, to win against 43 sprint cars on a night that Freddy and Sandy were able to attend.

Freddy was able to watch many of the races in person, with thanks to the Spikers, the Burtons and other Hopkins Racing supporters. With Sandy, Freddy was in his element – using a lifetime as a motorhead and his deep devotion to his son to be coach, mechanic, tire changer, driver, cheerleader, sponsor (all those tires!) and Dad. The Hoppy Family have spent most weekends over the last 25 years at the track.

Daughter-in-law Morgan Cloncs joined the family in 2013. In 2014 Freddy became a proud and involved grandfather when granddaughter Faith was born, followed by her sister Khloe in 2019. He was very proud of his family – his parents and beloved, late mother-in-law Tid, his wife, his son and his wife and their children, his sisters and their families and his nieces, nephews and more. He gave away his cousin Becky at her wedding, standing in place of her late father.

Freddy was a lifetime motorhead although he was always clean-cut and well-pressed even in his obsessively clean, organized shop. He grew up a few miles from the Indianapolis Speedway, which was never lost on him. He attended dozens of time trials and races. His cousin Bob Higman worked for AJ Foyt. He followed both of their careers. In high school, he took apart and rebuilt a 1953 Chevrolet truck. While in college, Freddy took his automotive skills to Dave's Citgo in West Lafayette, working for his cousin and lifelong friend David Silvers. Freddy acquired a 1981 bright red Porsche and in the winter of 2019-2020 after retiring, he decided to figure it out. That meant spreading dozens of pages of instructions and the layout of the wiring system across multiple walls in his garage. And, of course, there were AJ's racers. He transformed the old barn behind his parents' house into a workshop that was where he started and ended every day. There, he started with AJ's first car. That grew into a full-sized travel trailer. While AJ had fabulous sponsors, the primary sponsors were his parents. The investment of time and treasure fueled their time together. It was literally priceless.

Freddy's parents and sisters told story after story of his childhood escapades. Like the time he and his sister Marcia were racing around the upstairs of the family home. Suddenly, one of them fell through the warm air grates and landed on the floor a full level below where they had been playing. As a young boy, Freddy enjoyed the annual Kull Family Reunion in July at Landis Beach where he swam in the creek with his sisters, cousins and the COWS.