2006 Horizon Award

Shining brightly in the distance is the horizon- a spectacle that can make you mysteriously continue to look forward into the distance.  Our Horizon Award was put into place to recognize drivers, whose careers shine as brightly as the sun on the horizon.  Past winners of this award are Don McKnight, Matt Lux, Brian Woodhall, Chad Reitz, Andy Paden, Jeff Banyas, Jeremy Paup, Bryan Shaffer, and Brad Rapp- an impressive group of talented, young racers.

Young blood of course is one of the most important elements in the makeup of our Horizon Award.  No race track can survive into the future without a strong contingent of young lions.  They add color and excitement to our program each and every Saturday night and it is truly an honor to watch them grow and develop into some of the region’s toughest competitors. 

This year for the first time we felt it necessary to give out three Horizon Awards as these young drivers certainly fit the mold.  And what a crop of a talent they were as simply the sky is the limit for these three.

The third Horizon Award goes to the youngest of the three award winners.  Not only is he the youngest, but smallest in stature.  If size and age had anything to do with it, he certainly wouldn’t be wheeling the fastest car on dirt- a 1200-pound, 800-horsepower creature.

This driver was a winner at Mercer in the Micro Sprints at just 16 years of age before stepping up to the Sprint Cars this season.  Many questioned if this 17-year-old was ready to handle one of these 410 beasts.  While there was times he struggled to get a handle on the power, he surprised many with his consistency and strong runs.  His season’s best performance came on May 27 when he led the first six laps of the feature and finished an impressive runner-up to Rob Eyler.  He’d go on to finish 6^th in points with 9 top 10s despite missing one show to go on vacation. 

He turned some heads on Friday nights at Lernerville Speedway where he came home 11^th in points and was also a front-runner when he competed at Tri-City Speedway on Sunday nights. 

He has one of the best looking race cars in any division in the region and placed runner up for the National 410 Sprint Car Rookie-of-the-Year.

We’re proud to give Danny Holtgraver our third Horizon Award.