The first of what was many awards being presented were to the drivers that ran weekly at the Perry Bullring. The top 10 drivers in each of the weekly divisions were honored for their success during the 2009 season. The 4 Cylinder Stock divisions saw drivers of all ages finishing in the top 10 in points for the entry level division. Brian Johnson of Castile
The Mini Cup class started out as a club when they were first introduced to WCIS but by the time the 2009 season started, they were competing every week and this club turned into a very competitive weekly division. Michelle Becker was crowned division champ over her brother Robbie and James Binder. Daniel Majchrzak and Amy Becker rounded out the top five at seasons end with Kennedy White, Johnny Scutt and Jesse Harloff completing the field.
The Super Stocks are one of the most competitive divisions that take to the 1/3rd mile Bullring every Friday night. Bobby Lippa was crowned Champion over Brian Gordon, Brian Gleason, Mike Chenaille, Todd Stone, Brad Collings, Lexi Wilson and Jeremy Gray. The drivers all thanked their crews, sponsors and families for supporting them throughout the racing season.
The mighty Modifieds took the podium next with John Barber taking home the track championship. 2008 SST tour champion Joe Evans finished right behind Barber in the points chase followed by the veteran Dick Kluth, Steve Fuchs, Patrick Emerling, Mike Bliss, Greg Utberg, Dan Hoag, Ed Schueler and Don King. Out of the one sentence answers that the drivers were giving to track announcer Steven Petty were some of the better answers of the evening. For example, “7th sucks less than 10th”, “I think I got sided tracked this year” to “4th doesn’t suck as much as the rest” to “I’ve got to thank my wife. Jody said I wouldn’t say that”.
There were many special awards that were presented included the Most Improved Driver award and that went to Austyn Fugle (4 Cylinder), Mike Chenaille (Super Stock) and Steve Fuchs (SST Modified). The Hard Luck award went to Brad Collings (Super Stock) and Joe Evans (SST Modified). The Hard Charger award was presented to James Binder (Mini Cup), Eric Hastreiter (4 Cylinder), Brian Gleason (Super Stock) and Joe Evans (SST Modified).
The Best Appearing Cars for the 2009 season were Eric Hastreiter (4 Cylinders), Kennedy White (Mini Cups), Brad Collings (Super Stock) and John Barber (SST Modified). The Lady in Racing award was presented to Cassie Logsdon of the 4 Cylinder division. Cassie also ran in the Super Stocks as well and she will be running full time in a Super Stock for 2010.
There were three special awards that were presented and one of them went to Infield Director Mike Adamczak. The percervience award went to Brian Gordon and for the family effort; the Kluth family was honored for all what they do for the sport.
The Sonny Grimes Sportsmanship Award is in honor of Sonny Grimes, a former starter at WCIS who passed away. In his memory, the award was presented this year to Greg Utberg of the SST Modifieds. Entering the WCIS Hall of fame for the class of 2009 is Jim Roberts. Jim was the welder at the speedway from day number one back in 1998. He started building microds in 1949-1950 and from there the racing grew from running a B-Mod in the mid 60’s to running a Super Modified at Oswego Speedway in 1966. His three sons, Donny, Ronnie and Billy were all racers in their own right and now they carry on the tradition to help the racers in whatever way they know how. Jim Roberts passed away during the summer of 2009 and his family accepted the award with a standing ovation from the crowd.
The SST racing series was presented with their awards and 2009 WCIS Super Stock Champ Bobby Lippa Jr taking top honors for the SST Super Stock tour. Bobby was followed by Jay Mudra and fellow WCIS campaigner Todd Stone with Robert Fink, Pete Pieczynski, Brittany Jack, Bill Semmler, Brian Gleason, Brian Gordon and Cassie Logsdon completing the top 10 for the Supers.
Amy Catalano was crowned SST Modified Tour Champion in 2009. Amy also took top honors at the Spencer Speedway in the Sportsman-Modified division. Her son Tommy accepted the award on her behalf as well as receiving the Mechanic of the Year award for his father and Amy’s husband Dave Catalano. Andy Jankowiak was the runner up this year in the final standings. Andy was also the runner up in points at his home track, Dunn Tire Raceway Park
The SST Series would like to thank their sponsors and tracks that support the series, Dunn Tire Raceway Park
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