|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
The CASA Chronicles (No. 22) Keeping up with the California Asphalt Sprintcar Association By Glenn Hopper |
|
San Jose, CA....The California Asphalt Sprintcar Association held its
annual Championship Honors Banquet Saturday February 10th at Jackson
Rancheria Hotel and Casino in Jackson, California. The Championship honors also
incorporated honoring the first ever "Best in West" Series Champion.
The evening began with cocktails and appetizers as a huge projection screen ran a photographic slideshow capturing the 2006 season in vivid color. Thanks go to both Big John's Photos and Dennis Mattish for their fine photography throughout the year. After a fantastic steak and shrimp dinner and while dessert was served, CASA President and CEO, Scott Clough welcomed Hall of Fame announcer Kenny Takeuchi to the podium to serve as Master of Ceremonies. The awards ceremony began with the presentation of the "Driver's Choice Award", an award given by drivers, crew chiefs, and the CASA board members to an individual who best represents CASA and makes significant contributions the club's success. This year's recipient was a very surprised Joe Helberg who fielded two beautiful and competitive cars for the bulk of the season and participated in every event. For the last two seasons, the Helberg's have represented CASA in a very positive way. In accepting he was clearly pleased to be chosen and noted he was anxious to begin the 2007 campaign. Next, Glenn Hopper, Director of Media Relation and Publicity, and head of CASA's rookie program presented the 2006 "Rookie of the Year" Award to 16 year old Joe Helberg who narrowly edged Jim Kaiser for the top rookie honors. "Jo-Jo" thanked his family and sponsors for all their support as well as the many veteran drivers who offered him advice and encouragement. CASA Secretary/Treasurer Carla McCreary presented all the hardware throughout the evening and as the slideshow transitioned to driver close-ups, Takeuchi introduced the top ten CASA drivers of 2006 beginning with Ryan Baumgartner who powered his Joe Hauck Motorsports #24 to tenth in the season standings. Greg Anderson was honored for his ninth place finish, Matt DeMartini thanked car owner Ric Carr for his support and Carr in turn thanked Matt and his family for their eighth place effort. Seventh place Jeff Gardner was honored and sixth place finisher Glenn Hopper thanked long time good friend and last season's car owner Earle Stanton for a fun season and 29 years of friendship begun when Hopper bought his first race car from Stanton. The top five awards began with CASA President/CEO Clough stepping in as presenter to Carla McCreary who accepted the fifth place trophy for her 2006 driver Tony Iacobitti. Brian McClish was honored for his fourth place effort and third place Jim Kaiser took to the podium to accept his trophy for third. Jim thanked his brother Alan and family and crew for a great campaign. Second place hardware saw Helberg back at the podium where he collected his trophy and gave duplicates to his sponsors and supporters. Despite the program moving along swiftly it was finally time to honor the 2006 California Asphalt Sprintcar Association Champion. Takeuchi read through the long list of season accomplishments which included a four race win streak, a wedding, a dominating victory in the second annual Mike McCreary Memorial, midget wins, and capturing the prestigous Turkey Night Grand Prix. Noting that the unfortunate cancellation of the last scheduled event denied our Champion a chance to celebrate at the track, the celebration would commence immediately as 2006 CASA Champion Tony Hunt was greeted with a standing ovation. At the podium Hunt was honored to be introduced by Hall of Famer Takeuchi noting that he was introduced at the USAC national banquet by Parnelli Jones and was in equally fine company tonight. Hunt thanked CASA for all their efforts and related how proud he was to participate in our series, thanking CASA officers, officials, and members. He called car owner Alan Kaiser to the podium and they recalled how they met to form such a dominating team. Hunt was retained at the podium as there was one more honor to be bestowed. CASA's Scott Clough and USAC Western Stares Director of Operations Tommy Hunt combined to award the inaugural CASA/USAC "Best in the West" Series Championship trophy to Hunt who won the opening race to take the unique series points lead which he never relinquished throughout the campaign. The point format only awards main event finishes and has only a single point differential per position, making it imperative that every finishing position counts. Hunt made every finish count and was pleased to accept his award from both Clough and his own dad, Tommy. Said newly crowned champion Hunt, "I know first hand how difficult it is to produce a series like this and I appreciate all the efforts made so we can race here." Takeuchi then closed out the evening which was enjoyed by many. A large number of participants stayed the night at the hotel, enjoyed the casino gaming and met for breakfast the following morning. The 2006 season now gives way to preparations for a busy 2007 which is just around the corner. The CASA/USAC "Best in the West" Series begins Saturday, April 14th at Madera Raceway. Keep in touch with all CASA racing activity through the CASA website: www.casaracing.com |
