Former Gov. Mark Schweiker waved the green flag to start the races Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway Complex in Somerset County, but his duties also marked the start of the 20-year celebration of the rescue of the Quecreek miners.

The dramatic rescue two decades ago of the nine miners trapped 240 feet below the surface under a Somerset County field, 10 miles from the racetrack, is being commemorated this week with a series of events. They include gatherings of many of the survivors of the Quecreek mine and the man who coordinated the effort to save them.

Before Saturday’s races, six of the nine miners, along with Schweiker, reunited and swapped stories from both their experiences underground, efforts on the surface and their lives in the years that followed.

The rescue captured the nation’s attention in late July 2002 when the nine became stranded underground on July 24 below the flooded mine. They were trapped for 77 hours as workers plotted and executed what was initially thought to be a nearly impossible attempt to save them.

With no communication, it wasn’t clear whether the group had survived or could be returned to the surface.

Schweiker was the former lieutenant governor who was elevated to the state’s top job nine months earlier after popular Gov. Tom Ridge was tabbed to run the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Schweiker became the face of the rescue and two decades ago announced that “All nine are alive.”

He said Saturday’s gathering was like a family reunion.

“They were from underground and didn’t know me. Somerset County and these folks gave me a home away from home,” Schweiker said. “This reflects on a remarkable event, and I’m thrilled I’ve been able to get to know these folks.”

Dozens of rescuers came together to craft a plan to reach the men: John Unger, Robert Pugh, Blaine Mayhugh, Ronald Hileman, Mark Popernack, John Phillippi, Randy Fogle, Dennis Hall and Tom Foy.

Unger, Pugh, Mayhugh, Hileman, Phillippi and Foy attended Saturday’s reunion.

Hall, 68, died May 13 and was honored Saturday.

“It’s really nice to see these guys again,” Foy said. “We only see these guys one time a year.”

Kelsey Mayhugh was just 7 when she and her mother learned her father, the youngest of the miners, was trapped.

“I was really scared. And all I wondered was when my dad was coming home,” she said. “He really didn’t talk too much about it for the next 10 years.”

Blaine Mayhugh, like most of those trapped, never returned to the mines.

“Before I went into the (rescue) capsule, I took off my belt, and I knew I wouldn’t put my family through that again,” Mayhugh said. “It is a good feeling to see everyone again.”

Bill Arnold, executive director of the Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation and owner of the farm under which the flooded mine sat, said Saturday’s reunion was the first of a week of festivities that includes a car cruise on Sunday and events at the mine site next weekend.

“It’s really special to get everyone back together,” Arnold said. “The guys aren’t working together any more and are not in touch as much as they used to be. I feel incredibly blessed we had such a good result.

“This was a feeling that we are still Americans and we persevere.”

Schweiker told the crowd that the events at Quecreek 20 years ago was “80 hours of hell.”

“We succeeded that night,” Schweiker said.

During the first intermission break of Saturday’s racing program the miners came out to the track to the applause of the crowd.

Arnold said Saturday’s reunion was to acknowledge the past, the miner’s struggle to survive and their rescuers work to make that happen.

For the miners, it was another chance to reunite.

“I miss this group,” said Phillippi, who attended his first reunion in a number of years. “It just seems like a long time ago — and sometimes not long enough.”

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