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The
Motor Sports Press Association will honor Northern California
drivers and car owners as “Racers of the Year”, the equivalent
of an elite “all star” team, for their accomplishments during
the 2011 season at its 49th annual Awards Dinner March 7 at
the Blackhawk
Auto
Museum in Danville, Ca.
The driver
roster for this year’s awards includes two national champions
in sprint cars and sports cars, an Indy 500 Rookie of the Year
who nearly won the race in his first attempt, a NASCAR stock
car champion and a sprint car and midget driver who was in the
hunt for a national short track open wheel title during a
history-making season in which he won most of the country’s
significant races in his first year racing outside of Northern
California.
In addition,
Infineon Raceway will receive the MSPA’s top honor, the Gordon
Martin Award, for its fund-raising program that has
contributed millions of dollars for Sonoma
County charities over many years. The award, named for the late
and highly influential motorsports editor of the San Francisco
Chronicle, acknowledges broad contributions to motorsports.
Since 2001, the track’s Speedway Children’s Charities of
Sonoma County has contributed $3.9 million to dozens of area
organizations ranging from the Boys and Girls Club to the
Salvation Army. This is the second Gordon Martin Award for
the track in the last decade.
Other racers to
be honored this year include:
Motorsportsman
of the Year: Chris Luck, Scotts
Valley, Ca. As co-owner, Luck built the Elite/GLR Racing team
to the top level of sprint car competition, winning back to
back national World of Outlaws championships in 2010 and
2011. Luck is also the title sponsor of the weekly sprint car
series at Watsonville Speedway.
Outstanding
Contribution to Motorsports Award: Mike and Kathy Hayworth,
Del Rey Oaks, (Monterey). This husband and wife team have
volunteered a collective 62 years of service to Northern
California sports car racing. Kathy Hayworth is a two-time
president of SCRAMP, the Sports Car Racing Association of
Monterey Peninsula, the governing body for Mazda Laguna Seca
Raceway. Mike Haworth is a national steward in the Sports Car
Club of America (SCCA), the nation’s largest amateur racing
organization. Both of the Hayworths have also volunteered
countless hours working behind the scenes at weekend events at
Laguna Seca, Infineon and Thunder Hill raceways.
Open Wheel Road
Racer of the Year: J.R. Hildebrand,
Sausalito. The 2011 Indy 500
Rookie of the Year finished 14th in the final points
championship. His most dramatic finish was second in the Indy
500, when he limped across the finish line in a crumpled car
after hitting the wall in the last turn while leading the
race. His other top finished included a fourth on the oval in
Iowa and a seventh on the road course in Motegi, Japan.
Open Wheel Oval
Track Racer of the Year: Kyle Larson, (Elk Grove),
Sacramento. He finished second in the United States Auto Club
(USAC) national driver standings in his first year of
nation-wide competition. Displaying a great versatility to
drive different cars, Larson won in winged sprint cars,
non-winged midgets, and long wheelbase dirt championship
cars. He won some of the nation’s most significant short
track races including the Belleville Nationals for midgets,
USAC’s Ultimate Sprint Car Challenge and the Gold Cup,
Northern California’s most prestigious sprint car race,
defeating the national World of Outlaws drivers in the
process. At the Four Crown Nationals, Larson won midget,
sprint car and dirt champ car races on the same track on the
same day, only the second driver to do that in the event’s 30
year history.
Oval Track
Stock Car Driver of the Year: Matt Scott, Antelope, Ca. The19
year old driver won his second consecutive NASCAR Late Model
Stock Car championship at All American Speedway in 2011 in
Roseville. Scott dominated the series, winning six races and
finishing in the top four in all14 races that counted toward
the championship.
Road Racing
Sports Car Driver of the Year: Joey Hand, Sacramento. As a
team driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, Hand was a co-winner of
the biggest sports car race in America, the 24 Hours of
Daytona. Also, driving for BMW Motorsports, Hand was a
co-winner of in the second biggest U.S. sports car race, the
12Hours of Sebring, winning in the GT category. Hand is also
a class national champion in the American Le Mans series and
finished fourth in Australia’s most competitive international
event, the Gold Coast 600.
At Blackhawk,
the MSPA will also induct three racers into its Hall of Fame.
Tim Green, San
Jose, a three time state sprint car champion and a former
Rookie of the Year in the national World of Outlaws sprint car
series, Green is also a two time track champion at Knoxville,
Iowa, considered one of the country’s most competitive
regional series. Green won over 200 main events at tracks
such as the former
Baylands Raceway
Park, San
Jose Speedway, West Capital Speedway and is a three time
winner of the highly competitive Dirt Cup in Skagit,
Washington.\
Johnny Lomanto,
Hollister, a winner of over 300 races who dominated roadster
racing in the late 1940s, drag racing in the 1950’s and hill
climbs in the 1950’s and1960s. Lomanto also has been
inducted into the Legends of Motorcycle Racing.
Cal Niday, a
consistent winner on the URA midget tour in the late 1940s and
a three time competitor in the Indy 500, where he was the
second fastest qualifier in 1954.
The MSPA Awards
Dinner is open to the public. Ticket information is available
at (408) 733-6135 or
bethgsvl@comcast.net
The Motor
Sports Press Association is a not for profit journalism
organization comprised of writers, broadcasters and
photographers who cover all forms of racing in Northern
California and who annually recognize the achievements of
professionals in motorsports throughout the region. |
