The first award tonight has been put in place to recognize an outstanding achievement or accomplishment throughout the past season. Past recipients include Mike Kekich, Randy Ferguson, Mark Murphy, and our outstanding safety coordinators Keith Shilling and Brian Turk.
Tonight, two up and coming young drivers will join this group.
The first is a young 18-year-old rookie, who chose to begin his career in one of the toughest divisions in western Pennsylvania- the big-block modifieds.
When it was all said and done he recorded 5 top 10 finishes, qualified for all three of the feature events in a strong 44-car field in the Bill Emig Memorial in only his second night of competition at Mercer Raceway Park, and also in an outstanding field of 50 small-block modifieds in the Little Guy Nationals. He finished 14th in the big-block modified points, despite missing the first three nights of the season with just a 358 cubic inch engine. Quite an accomplishment you might say.
Mr. Nick Ritchey, will you please come forward to receive our first 2001 Outstanding Achievement Award?