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| NMRA-TQ MIDGETS CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS BANQUET – By Tim Kennedy |
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Moorpark, CA., Jan. 10 – The NMRA-TQ Midget Series held its seventh championship awards banquet since it resumed operating in 2002. Chuck West was honored for the third time as NMRA champion (2002, 06 and 08) at the Grinder Restaurant here. West Evans Motorsports, for whom West drove, received the car owner championship trophy. West, from Clovis, finished in the top three positions nine times in the 11 point races and scored four feature victories. A flat tire and a mechanical failure prevented him from having as 100% record of podium finishes. West, a former USAC Western Midget Series driver, plans to return for his fourth NMRA championship. West received praise as a fast, consistent driver who makes his moves early and is in position to win every race he enters. He also willingly helps others at all times. West accepted his large trophy and thanked his fellow drivers, his father, his wife and three daughters (12, 10 and 6) in the audience. He also thanked his car owner and first cousin Evans and said he is like a brother. Owner/driver Evans was instrumental in restarting three-quarter midget racing under NMRA in 2002 after USAC stopped sanctioning TQ midgets in favor of Ford Focus midgets. Evans thanked his sponsors, dad, and wife Paula, who operated the power-point slide show during the ceremonies. Evans also thanked his five crew members for keeping two TQs running all season. He called all five to the podium and presented them gifts. Owner/driver Ron Ahrendt, a retired LAPD police officer, again served as emcee and presented plaques to the top ten drivers and car owners in ascending order. NMRA board members and officials were recognized for their work during 2008. Appreciation plaques from NMRA went to guests Josh Baltimore, of NMRA series sponsor, Ringers Gloves, and to Tim Kennedy for NMRA media work. Door prizes were distributed throughout the evening. SPECIAL AWARDS Car owner Dave Lambert received the Ron Otto Memorial Sportsmanship of the Year Perpetual Trophy. He will retain the gold trophy for the next 52 weeks until the next NMRA awards banquet. The Most Improved Driver of the Year trophy went to Scott Niven, a 41-year old Moorpark resident who works as a high-rise construction electrician in Los Angeles. Niven drove his own Stealth/Honda 750cc to ninth place in both driver and owner points. The Randy Faust Hard Charger Award, sponsored by Motorsportsrus.com, went to Scott Dobson, a 34-year old driver from Newbury Park. He enjoyed his best season to date driving Guy Barber's Stewart/Honda. Dobson recorded seven top five finishes including two 2008 main event victories at Bakersfield Speedway. He finished second in final point standings,72-points behind champion West. ROOKIE of the YEAR: For the first time in NMRA's modern era the association named co-Rookies of the Year. The award is sponsored by Racing Optics, Inc. in honor of Curly and Cookie Merrill. Anthony Lopiccolo, 22, from Brea finished sixth with 499 points. He competed in 10 of the 11 races and had seven top five feature finishes. Owner/driver Jimmy Dodson ran all 11 races and finished eighth in points with 481 points after being the leading rookie in points until the final race when a mechanical problem sidelined the 30+ year old driver's car. Emcee Ahrendt received a surprise NMRA gift—a purple seat cushion/back rest for his purple No. 87 Dave Ellis/Honda TQ. Evans named and thanked all NMRA series sponsors for their continuing support. They were: American Racing Tires, Frank's Racing Radios, DJ Safety, Schroeder Torsion Bars, Ringers Gloves and Racing Optics. He said NMRA's 2009 season will begin on Saturday night, January 24 with the annual exhibition, non-point race on the dirt covered field at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The event is run in conjunction with the monster truck organization that sells out the stadium each year. All TQ owners were requested to bring their cars to the afternoon pit party outside the stadium that attracts more than 15,000 people each year prior to the monster truck event. Evans told banquet attendees the NMRA 2009 racing schedule is being finalized with promoters currently and should be ready within two weeks. He said there will be races at both dirt and paved tracks. Dirt tracks booked already and the number of races at each are: Bakersfield Speedway (six), Santa Maria Speedway (five) and Ventura Raceway (three races—one of which will be held during the second day, Thursday, of the annual Ventura County Fair). Other likely races will be held at paved tracks Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, Blythe, CA and Lake Havasu, AZ. There could be a Friday-Saturday doubleheader at Blythe and Havasu for the easternmost swing of the southern California-based TQ midget organization. NMRA 2008 board members were Steve Parke, West Evans, Kenny Wiley, Richard Ortega, Jr and Dave Lambert. NMRA 2008 officials were Parke, Tony and Gay Otto, competition director Don Wilcox, from Hanford, Noel Dawson, Melissa DeMello and Sandi Cielatka. SEASON: NMRA began the 2008 season with exhibition, non-point races at two major league baseball stadiums—Angel Stadium in Anaheim and Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The 11 point races took place at four tracks, three dirt and one paved. NMRA raced five times at Santa Maria, four times at Bakersfield, and once at Ventura, plus once at San Bernardino. Car counts ranged from 11 to 13 per race, with the average car count 11.45 per event. Four drivers won the 11 features. West and Wiley each won four main events, Dobson won twice and part-time NMRA driver Randy Moody once. Nineteen drivers and 16 car owners earned 2008 NMRA championship points. FINAL 2008 NMRA POINT STANDINGS. DRIVERS CAR OWNERS 1 Chuck West 674 1 West Evans # 38 707 2 Scott Dobson 602 2 Paul Lopiccolo # 21 672 3 Kenny Wiley 583 3 Guy Barber # 18 632 4 Bruce Hiroshima 574 4 Bruce Hiroshima # 5 607 5 West Evans 533 5 West Evans # 36 566 6 Anthony Lopiccolo (R) 499 6 Ron Ahrendt # 87 527 7 Ron Ahrendt 494 7 Jimmy Dodson # 6 475 8 Jimmy Dodson (R) 481 8 Bruce Hiroshima # 20 460 9 Scott Niven 470 9 Scott Niven # 66 454 10 Richard Ortega, Jr. 412 10 Dave Lambert # 55 376 NMRA NEWS UPDATE: Kenny Wiley, the 2007 NMRA driving champion who placed third in 2008 points, announced that he will be driving his own WMK chassis this year. He will use No. 96 (in honor of late midget car owner Jim Boone who used that number on his USAC midget). Wiley thanked Paul Lopiccolo, his TQ car owner for the last seven years, for their successful teaming since 2002. Lopiccolo, who is the son of late California Jalopy Association driver Jasper Lopiccolo, said his son Anthony will drive his No. 21 TQ midget full-time during 2009 after being named 2008 co-rookie of the year. The Wiley and Lopiccolo teams will pit together and operate as a two-car team. West Evans said he will race his two new 2008 Spike cars built by John Godfrey in the Midwest. Evans is the Spike chassis western states distributor. Evans and his cousin West will return as the West Motorsports team drivers. He plans to keep his two Stealths as backup cars and might run one of them as a third car at some races. Evans said Greg Edenholm's two Dennis Hart-built TQs (No. 1 and 2) are expected to be back racing in 2009 after a hiatus for several years. Edenholm and former 410 SCRA sprint car driver Marc Hart will be the drivers. Steve Parke said he will step out of his No. 59 TQ and put 17-year old rookie Dakota Schweitzer, from Bakersfield, in it to race for 2009 rookie of the year honors. |
