Bloomington Speedway Awards Banquet
BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY P.O. Box 239 Clear Creek, IN 47426-0239 Contact: Tim McKinney, 812-372-3936 email: redclay@bluemarble.net www.bloomingtonspeedway.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BLAND, MILES & HINES HONORED AT BLOOMINGTON SPEEDWAY AWARDS BANQUET BLOOMINGTON, IN (NOVEMBER 11, 2006) - Last night the Bloomington Convention Center was filled with racers and their fans celebrating the completion of another great season of racing on the red clay of Bloomington Speedway. With the effort that the teams put into the securing their place in the season's points standings, it is appropriate that they be able to enjoy the presentation of their awards. Also, it is nice that they can share the experience with their sponsors. Also, the outing might make the time and money spent during the season a little less of a problem. From the crowd that was assembled, it was easy to tell that racing at Bloomington Speedway is truly a family activity. In fact, the Rookies of the Year in the O'Neal Wood Products Modified (Greg Amick) and the Tire & Wheel Super Stock (Tami Lawson) divisions are brother and sister. In accepting her award Tami thanked her brother, her father, her husband, and other relatives who had made it possible for her to race. Each year we have more sponsors who help increase the payout that goes out to our competitors. In addition to large cash prizes that go to the competitors for their position in the points, there are a number of special merchandise and contingency awards. For instance, each class champion received a parts washing system from Safety - Kleen, the primary sponsor for the sprint car division. In accepting his parts cleaning system, Tire & Wheel Center Super Stock champion Jeremy Hines talked at length about how pleased he had been with the system that he received last season. Before the night was over the Safety - Kleen representative was ready to hire Jeremy to be their spokesman. The amount of cash and contingency awards has continued to grow every year to the point where the awards the teams receive help them go racing again next season. We will all benefit from this next season as the pits should remain full. In addition to our division sponsors - Safety-Kleen for sprint cars, O'Neal Wood Products for modifieds, and the Tire & Wheel Center for super stocks, Hinchman Racing Uniforms, Winners Circle Motorsports Marketing, Universal Products, Fastenal, KWIK Change, Earl's Indy, Bloomington Powder Coating, Safety-Kleen, Artistic Image Photography Studio, Chase Bank (Walnut Street Station), Steak & Shake, Advanced Racing Suspensions, C-Line, Indy Racing Parts, Suspensions Spring Spec., Benic Enterprises, Vogtland NA, Circle Track Supply, J & J Auto Racing, Schonfield Headers, Williams Engines, Koorsen Fire & Security, French Lick Springs, Bob Pierce Racing, Franklin Race Cars, Sprint Mart, Intense Motorsports/J.D. Byrider Columbus, Kerr Racing Engines/Jerry Burton Masonry, Sugar Daddy's, Etc. SAFETY KLEEN SPRINT CARS - Jeff Bland, Jr. was honored as the Safety-Kleen Sprint Car champion. In this highly competitive series Bland scored three feature wins and failed to make only two features. To go through an entire season with that level of performance is certainly worthy of recognition. And, it is made even more remarkable by the fact that he had run only one sprint car show prior to the start of the season; and he ran only a handful of laps on his previous outing. Of course, Bland was also the Jeff Gordon Rookie of the Year. Bland teamed up with noted sprint car owner Danny Roberts of Indianapolis and legendary crew chief Daryl Tate. The credit for their championship was shared by the three of them. However, Jeff was the one who was new to sprint cars. Although his sprint car career got off to a rough start in the last race of the 2006 season when he got on his lid, he obviously learned from his error. He ran the entire 2007 season without putting his backup car on the track except of course when, late in the season, they put Kenny Carmichael in the backup car. This was, of course, to make certain that a mishap or mechanical failure didn't put Jeff out of the feature. As it happened, however, he never needed the backup car. Bland and Roberts announced that they will again be teamed up in 2008; and Daryl Tate will again be turning the wrenches. Danny Holtsclaw was second in the points and won the Steve Kinser Most Improved Driver award. Holtsclaw commented with a chuckle that he always thought that the most improved driver award said that you must have been really bad before. Jon Sciscoe, Bobby Stines, Kent Christian, Chris Babcock, Kenny Niflis, Arin McIntosh, Dickie Gaines, and Brady Short rounded out the top ten. O'NEAL WOOD PRODUCTS MODIFIEDS - The road to the O'Neal Wood Products Modified championship was not always smooth for champion Shelby Miles. He and his team had to build another car during the season; and he was forced to use borrowed cars to keep his hopes for repeating as O'Neal Wood Products Modified champion alive. Miles was quick to thank those who made the championship possible. He also insured the assembled competitors that he would be back in 2008 to defend his championship. In spite of all of the obstacles that he had to overcome, Shelby had six feature wins and 14 top five finishes during the season. That kind of record would be good for a championship just about anywhere. However, at Bloomington Speedway the competition is so tough that Shelby' performance was good for only a nine point edge over defending modified champion Kent Robinson. Robinson scored two feature wins and had twelve top five finishes in addition to making every feature. Another former O'Neal Wood Products Modified champion, Jesse Cramer, finished third in the points scoring three feature wins and 14 top five finishes. He also missed one show; and that was pretty much the difference between him and Kent Robinson. Greg Amick finished 4th in the points and was the Jeff Gordon Rookie of the Year for the O'Neal Wood Products Modified division. Fifth place driver Josh Eads garnered Steve Kinser Most Improved Driver honors. Matt Boknecht, Clint DeMoss, Matt Bex, Chad Combs, and Brian Yeatman rounded out the top ten in points. TIRE & WHEEL CENTER SUPER STOCKS - Jeremy Hines had the most dominant season of any of the Bloomington Speedway champions. Hines, who was the defending Tire & Wheel Center Super Stock champion, had eight feature wins and missed the top five only once. That would have to be one of the most dominant performance ever turned in at Bloomington Speedway. In accepting his championship trophy, Hines thanked his family, crew, and sponsors for helping him to his memorable season. Troy Clark of North Vernon finished second in the points on the strength of a season that saw him win two features and race in all of them. Chris Hillman had one feature win; and he also made every feature. Joe Lucas, Travis Howe, Jack Frye, Travis Todd, Winston Howe, Steve Hollars, and Josh Burton rounded out the top ten. Tami Lawson was the Jeff Gordon Rookie of the Year; and Josh Burton was the Steve Kinser Most Improved Driver. HARD CHARGER AWARDS - 2007 saw the introduction of Hard Charger Awards for each division. The driver who gained the most positions in each feature was the night's hard charger. In addition to the extra prize money that the award paid, it made the driver eligible for the Hard Charger Features. Brady Short won the Sprint Mart Sprint Car Hard Charger championship while Matt Bex won the Intense Motorsport Modified Hard Charger championship; and Winston Howe prevailed in the Kerr Racing Engines and Jerry Burton Super Stock Hard Charger championship. Mike and Judy Miles and the rest of us at Bloomington Speedway would like to thank all of those who supported us this season and pledge to provide an even better program next season. Plan to be with us on April 12, 2008 when we start a new season. END