Voting for the first-ever Vermont Motorsports Magazine "Driver of the Year" awards opens on Monday, November 2. The awards have been created to recognize the efforts of stock car drivers in and around the Green Mountain State, and selections will be made by fan votes from a list of nominees in five categories. The Driver of the Year awards will be presented by Subway of Barre, Montpelier, Waterbury, and Northfield.The awards will be given in the following categories: one each for the fan-voted Driver of the Year at Bear Ridge Speedway in Bradford, Devil's Bowl Speedway in West Haven, and Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre; one "On The Road" award for a Vermont driver that competes on a touring series or at an out-of-state track; and one final award for the Vermont Motorsports Magazine 2009 Driver of the Year presented by Subway.
Among the 15 nominees for Bear Ridge Speedway Driver of the Year are Sportsman Modified champion Gary Siemons of Orford, N.H., Sportsman Coupe champion Josh Harrington of Topsham, and Limited Late Model champion Dan Eastman of Thetford Center. Devil's Bowl Speedway's 14 nominees include Modified champion Kenny Tremont, Jr. of West Sand Lake, N.Y., five-time Budget Sportsman winner Frank Hoard, III of Manchester, and Pro Street Stock champion Cale Kneer of Troy, N.Y. Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl's 14 nominees include Late Model champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, Tiger Sportsman champion Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown, and Street Stock Rookie of the Year Tucker Williams of Hyde Park.
"On The Road" nominees include American-Canadian Tour champion Brian Hoar of Williston, St. Johnsbury's Stacy Cahoon, the Late Model champion at New Hampshire's White Mountain Motorsports Park, and multi-track stars Chris Riendeau of Ascutney, Josh Sunn of White River Junction, and Chris Wilk of Mendon. The nominees for the final 2009 Driver of the Year award will be the top vote-getters from each of the four individual categories, vying for the title as Vermont's top stock car racer.
"There are hundreds of talented drivers racing in and around our state that give race fans so much satisfaction every summer. Now the fans have a chance to give back to the drivers," said VMM Editor Justin St. Louis. "Every one of the racers nominated deserves recognition, but it should be very interesting to see who the fans select as the final nominees for the overall Driver of the Year award."
Voting for the Driver of the Year awards begins on Monday, November 2. Voting will be open for one week in each category, with the final Vermont Motorsports Magazine 2009 Driver of the Year presented by Subway award vote open from Monday, November 30 to Sunday, December 6. Winners will be announced following the final tallying of fan votes.
Founded in February, Vermont Motorsports Magazine is the unofficial home for online news in asphalt and dirt stock car racing in and around the Green Mountain State, covering events at all three Vermont tracks as well as facilities throughout New England and upstate New York. VMM can be found at http://vtmotormag.blogspot.com/, and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vtmotormag. For more information on Subway, visit http://www.subway.com/.
4 comments:
Please don't forget to include Vermonters Dwight & Peter Jarvis as nominees for "On the roaders".
Hi Justin,
I see my favorite Bear Ridge Driver (Charlie Lakin) did not make the cut and was wondering how you came up with the list of names.
Amanda
Andy and Amanda (and everyone else) -
As much as I would have liked to put every Vermonter or Vermont racer on the nomination lists, it simply would not have been practical.
As a rule of thumb, I included the champions from every division at the three Vermont tracks, as well as some top point drivers, some multi-race winners, or, in the case of Bryan King at Bear Ridge, drivers who accomplished something very rare (King finished in the top five in points in two divisions).
Unfortunately, some drivers didn't make the cut, like Charlie Lakin. Charlie is very exciting to watch and finished fourth in Hornet points, but it just wasn't quite enough to make the list this year. I was also impressed by Hornet racers like Karl Sheldon, Amanda Gray, Carl Sweet, Mike Ryan, Mike Chapin, and others, but I had to exclude them, as well.
The Jarvis family will be well-represented in the "On The Road" ballot, although I won't say which member(s) of the clan made the cut.
Trust me, I would have liked to put about 30 more drivers on each ballot, but it was just a matter of space and practicality.
Hope you understand, thanks for reading.
--Justin
I understand completely. I was just wondering how the drivers on the list were selected and will be happy to vote for my favorite driver on each list. It was strictly a technical question. LOL
Amanda
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