IRWINDALE, California - The ninth annual Irwindale Speedway Championship Awards Celebration honored nine oval track Whelen All-American Racing Series
2007 champions and four champions from the eighth-mile Irwindale Drag-strip Saturday night at the speedway. The site for the sixth consecutive year was a huge tent located at the track's chalet area between the main grandstand and the pits. More than 500 persons attended the catered buffet dinner at 5:30 on a 78-degree evening and award ceremonies continued to 7:40 p.m. Track announcer Gordon Stewart, "Lugg Nuttz" of the Speak Freaks TV/radio show, and chief announcer Bruce Flanders co-handled emcee duties. A pair of large TV screens in the dining area provided taped 2007 season highlights by RAZ Video for each track series. Taped video interviews with each champion played on the screens before he received his awards and spoke from the stage.
Honored champions received trophies, jackets and other awards. For the seventh year in a row the late model series sponsor, the Auto Club of Southern California, presented the ACLM champion a trip for two. This year the trip was a cruise instead of the usual flight to Hawaii for the series champion and his wife. Top ten drivers in each series point standings were called to the stage by name, series by series, for their engraved glass trophies. The top ten drivers in each series posed on the stage for group photos. AC Delco presented its champion with a championship jacket.
CHAMPIONS: The nine oval track champions saluted individually were:
Ø AC Delco Super Late Models: RIP MICHELS, 42-year old three-time SLM champion at IS won 11 of 19 SLM point races, including seven in a row from race four through race ten. He also had one second and two third place finishes and won by 62-points (824-762) over 2006 IS late model series champion Travis Thirkettle, a SLM rookie.
Ø Auto Club Late Models: TIM HUDDLESTON, the 2005 ACLM track champion at IS, won three of 15 main events, had three seconds and one third. The leader of the High-Point Distributing "blue crew" five-car team won by 18-points
(578-560) over his rookie protégé Jace "the Ace" Meier, from Las Vegas.
Ø Vista Paint Super Stocks: DARREN CHEEK repeated his 2002 VPSS championship. He won four of 14 features. He had seven seconds and three thirds to finish in the top three in all 14 races. Cheek won his second title by ten points
(722-712) over season-long friendly rival Bryan Harrell, an eight-time 2007 IS main event-winner, including the final double-points race.
Ø King Taco Super Trucks: PAT MINTEY, JR won two of the 14 series races, including the final, double-points main on October 6. He won his first IS championship by 20-points (692-672) over 20-year old Matt Hicks, a seven-time series main event winner.
Ø Legend Cars: DARREN AMIDON, 22, won his first track championship by 32-points (688-656) over Tom Landreth, the five-time series champion. Amidon won one main event in race three of 14, which fell short of the seven victories by Landreth. Amidon had five seconds and four thirds; his lowest finish was eighth. Landreth fought an uphill battle all season after a DNF 2-points night in race two.
Ø Justice Brothers Mini Stocks: TYLER ROGERS, a 22-year old second-generation driver, won his second consecutive IS championship in the entertaining 4-cylinder series. The Riverside driver won six of 13 series races to go along with two seconds and a third; he defeated runner-up Kevin Bernhardt, the 2005 series champion, by 64-points, 642-578.
Ø BG Products Pure Stocks: JEFF ELDER won his initial IS track championship in the fourth year at IS for the entry-level class. He won two of the 14 main events (which included four Figure 8 races) and took the championship trophy by 88 points (658-570) over Ron Davis. It was the largest victory margin of the year by any IS oval track champion.
Ø Pick Your Part Outlaw Figure 8s: STEVE STEWART repeated his 2005 IS Figure 8 championship. The Long Beach resident became the first repeat Figure 8 champion at IS in eight years of Figure 8 competition. He won two of the eight point races and had the slimmest victory margin of any 2007 champion-four points (422-418)-over Billy Ziemann, the first IS Figure 8 champion in 2000.
Ø Bandoleros: ANDREW ANDERSON, of Lancaster, was the youngest 2007 IS champion at age 14. He won five of the nine 2007 main events and had the fastest qualifying time in eight of the nine events. Andrew defeated his 13-year old brother Aaron by 38 points (428-390).
Ø The eighth-mile Irwindale Drag-strip at the southeast end of the track property, operates weekly races on Thursday nights for all comers. It operated four Summit E.T.
Championship Series classes. The champions were:
Ø Sportsman: Doug Gibson won by ten points (474-464) over Jack Swanson.
Ø Pro Summit: Chuck E. Killian, Jr won by 66-points (530-464) over Valerie Houmard.
Ø Super Pro Summit: Alan Hoefer won by 66-points (422-356) over Eldon Smith.
Ø Motorcycles: Tony Pellettera triumphed by 104-points (489-385) over Ronnie Avina. Gibson and Pellettera repeated their 2006 drag-strip championships.
In fact, Pellettera earned his fourth consecutive ID title on his motorcycle.
ROOKIES OF THE YEAR:
Ø SLM: Travis Thirkettle (second in final points with one feature victory).
Ø ACLM: Jace Meier (second in points with one feature triumph).
Ø Super Trucks: Connor Cantrell, 17 (fourth in points with four second places).
Ø SS: Ed Reid, Sr (18th in points, no wins).
Ø Legends: Cody Swanson, 16 (ninth in points, no wins).
Ø MS: Jacob Rogers, 18 (tenth in points, no wins).
Ø PS: Chad Kelly (third in points, two main event victories in PS Figure
8 mains).
Ø There were no Outlaw Figure 8 or Bandolelro rookie honorees.
OTHER AWARDS: Mike Johnson, the sixth place ACLM driver with one feature victory, received the 2007 IS Sportsman Award. Jim Thirkettle, a former stock car champion driver who runs pit operations for his SLM driver/son Travis, received a Lincoln Welder as the 2007 IS Crew Chief of the Year. Manny Gonzales, who joined IS operations before the track opened in 1999, was the surprised recipient of the IS employee of the year award. He received the honor for keeping the track premises clean, fresh and pristine all year. He even paints the crash-walls after each Saturday night racing event. Jeff Williams, the 2006 West Coast Pro Trucks IS champion, won the four race WCPT 2007 series at IS by 26-points. He had one victory and four-second place finishes.
Bob DeFazio, IS General Manage/COO, welcomed banquet attendees and said, "This is your banquet. We have a great race track, but without great racers we aren't much." He added that he hoped "everyone would pray for all those affected by the recent wildfires in Southern California. Some people could not attend tonight because of the fires." DeFazio thanked all three IS staff members who worked so hard to make the 2007 banquet successful. He added that IS has a lean, hard-working staff who make operations run smoothly all year. He mentioned that last Saturday the Toyota All-Star Showdown winner, Joey Logano, 17, received the largest main event winning check in track history ($33,284).
DeFazio then paid tribute to three motor-sports giants that racing lost this year. They were:
Ø Wally Parks, 94 who succumbed September 28. The NHRA drag racing founder, long-time president and CEO was supportive and inspirational in IS starting its eighth-mile drag-strip.
Ø Shav Glick, 87, who covered motor-sports for the Los Angeles Times for
37 years until he retired in 2006, lost his courageous battle with melanoma on October 20.
Ø Bill France, Jr., 74 who succumbed on June 4. Bill, Jr. ran NASCAR for decades as the successor to his father Big Bill, who founded the stock car sanctioning body in 1947. DeFazio added that Bill, Jr. was responsible for tremendous NASCAR growth in recent decades and always cared about racing's roots-short track racing. A video tribute to Bill, Jr. followed.
Emcee Flanders thanked friends of IS and read a list of contributors to the banquet and all series sponsors were highlighted in a video. Special thanks went to Callahans, Courtyard by Marriott, in Monrovia, Craftsman Tools, Echo Lawn Products, Finish Line Motor-sports, First Centennial Bank, Five Star, Impact Racing, Jan's Towing, Justice Brothers High-Point Distributing, K & N Filters, LA Racing School, Lincoln Electric Welders, Racecar Factory, Sirius Gearheads, Sparkle Car Wash, Spaghetti Eddys and Super Trucks, Inc. Series sponsors listed in the printed program at the banquet were AC Delco, Auto Club, King Taco, Vista Paint, Pick Your Part, Justice Brothers, BG Products and Summit.
Flanders reminded everyone that next Saturday will be open competition racing for the Outlaw Figure 8s, Late Model and Super Truck series. The ninth IS racing season will conclude on Thanksgiving evening (November 22) with the annual "Turkey Night" USAC Midget Grand Prix. plus USAC Western 360 Sprint Cars and Ford Focus Midget racing.
In his closing remarks, track builder/owner Jim Williams said, "Thank you all for racing here. We have one of the greatest car counts in the country.
NASCAR headquarters staff complimented competitors here. We will continue to operate and try to improve Irwindale Speedway each year. You're the best there is.
Have a wonderful holiday season." As a video tribute to track sponsors played on screens, a recording of "We are the Champions" by Queen played over the PA system. Attendees used their complimentary tickets for beverages and mixed drinks and visited inside and outside the huge tent. Four 2007 IS championship cars were parked on display outside the front of the tent. They were Tim Huddleston's No. 50 ACLM Chevy Monte Carlo, Pat Mintey, Jr's No. 35 Chevy S-10, Darren Cheek's 1976 Chevy Camaro, and Tyler Rogers' 1970 Ford Pinto. Howie Zechner, of RAZ Video, said he will have tapes or DVDs of the 2007 championship award ceremony available soon for $25.00 each. Contact him at www.razvideo.com or by telephone at (626) 449-1175.
TOP TEN IN 2007 IS OVAL TRACK SERIES POINTS:
Super Late Models Late Models
Super Stocks
1 Rip Michels 824 1 Tim Huddleston 578 1 Darren
Cheek 722
2 Travis Thirkettle ® 762 2 Jace Meier ® 560 2 Bryan
Harrell 712
3 Andrew Phipps 744 3 Michael Wright 542 3 Eric
Sunness 624
4 David Beat 688 4 Kevin Callahan 542 4 Greg
Crutcher 620
5 Derek Becker ® 676 5 Chris Carmody 498 5 Dan
Fitzgerald 540
6 Dan Moore 664 6 Mike Johnson 458 6 Ken Brown
532
7 Stephen Peace 630 7 Dan DiGiacomo 440 7 Julianne
Seeley 496
8 Scott Dodd ® 580 8 Scott Jenkins ® 438 8 Rich DeLong
III 494
9 Scott Conaway 544 9 Brian Jones 428 9 Gary Read
® 488
10 David Ross 514 10 Aaron Staudinger 348 10 Jeff
Grill 438
Super Trucks Mini Stocks
Legend Cars
1 Pat Mintey, Jr 692 1 Tyler Rogers 642 1 Darren
Amidon 688
2 Matt Hicks 672 2 Kevin Bernhardt 578 2 Tom
Landreth 656
3 Logan Henson 578 3 Rich Garver 566 3 Bob
Landreth 526
4 Connor Cantrell ® 556 4 Steve Rogers 562 4 Austin
Grabowski 494
5 Todd Cameron 490 5 Eric Reed 520 5 Gary
Scheuerell 472
6 Miles Copenhaver ® 464 6 Tom Dye 488 6 Mark
Iungerich 452
7 Dana Higgens 432 7 Dennis Croasmun 480 7 Chad
Schug 438
8 Eddie Tafoya 426 8 Rod Schmitt 470 8 Matt
Hart 410
9 Kenny Smith 400 9 Ted McDonald 420 9 Cody
Swanson ® 400
10 John Israel 392 10 Jacob Rogers ® 418 10 Josh
Geer 374
Pure Stocks Outlaw Figure 8s
Bandoleros
1 Jeff Elder 658 1 Steve Stewart 422 1
Andrew Anderson 422
2 Ron Davis 570 2 Billy Ziemann 418 2
Aaron Anderson 390
3 Chad Kelly ® 520 3 Rusty Stewart 398 3 Ashlee
Ambriz 352
4 Tommy Agosta ® 498 4 Robbie Stutzel 370 4 Lexi Moore
330
5 Dave Foster 472 5 Tony Curtis 370 5
Eric Sloan 326
6 Harry Michaelian 448 6 Don Rogers 298 6 Tyler
Fabrozzi 308
7 Mike Colato, Jr. 444 7 Robert Snyder 188 7 Andrew
Porter 272
8 Patrick Miller ® 384 8 Tom Smith 164 8
Brianna Holley 218
9 Curtis Drye 328 9 Jesse James 158 9
Will Kozak 198
10 Mark Whitson 276 10 Patrick Miller 158 10 Aubree
Porter 172
