By Bob Baker
KNOXVILLE, IOWA (January 14, 2011) – Jason Johnson of Eunice, Louisiana, was voted the 2010 “Driver of the Year” by the North American 360 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers for the third time. Johnson, the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) national tour champion and 2006 and ’08 “Driver of the Year”, earned thirteen (13) of the eighteen (18) first-place ballots cast in the year-end poll. Jason Johnson also earned his first “Team of the Year” award as well, as he formed his own team in 2010.
Those drivers ranked second through fifth, respectively, are 2009 “Driver of the Year” Shane Stewart of Oklahoma, Brady Bacon of Oklahoma, United Racing Company (URC) champion Curt Michael of Delaware, and 2002 “Driver of the Year” Tim Crawley of Arkansas. Rounding out the ‘top ten’ for the season are Jack Dover, Roger Crockett, United Sprint Car Series (USCS) champion Terry Gray, Empire Super Sprints (ESS) champion Steve Poirier, and Selinsgrove & Williams Grove Speedways champion Pat Cannon and J.J. Grasso (tied). In addition to Jason Johnson, others having received first-place votes were Shane Stewart (two), Curt Michael (one), Terry Gray (one), and California Civil War Series champion Andy Forsberg (one).
ASCS Northwest and Grays Harbor Raceway top rookie racer Trey Starks of Washington also earned the North American 360 Sprint Car Poll “Rookie of the Year” title in his first full season of winged 360-cubic-inch sprint car competition. Due to a tie in the voting, Jeremy Anderson of Roush Yates Engines of North Carolina and Mark Badock & Cal Herdson of Triple X Race Components in Washington will share the “Builder/Manufacturer of the Year” honors for 2010, the first for each.
In addition, Allan Holland of www.hoseheads.com and Lonnie Wheatley of the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) will share the “Media Member of the Year” honors after a tie in the final balloting. For both Holland and Wheatley, it is their fourth time earning the honor, although Allan Holland has also won the ‘410’ poll honor twice.
Glenn Styres of the Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Canada, earned his fifth “Promoter of the Year” award, while Jack Dover of Nebraska will receive the “Wild Card Award” for his exciting ‘360’ sprint car performances in 2010.
The North American 360 Sprint Car Poll is an annual awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Foundation, Inc., of Knoxville, Iowa. All awards will be distributed in the spring of 2011 at tracks throughout North America. The awards were announced on the fourth day of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Final 2010 North American 360 Sprint Car Poll
rank, driver (first place votes), hometown, state/province, points
1., Jason Johnson (13), Eunice, LA, 1395
2., Shane Stewart (2), Bixby, OK, 742
3., Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK, 446
4., Curt Michael (1), Ocean View, DE, 234
5., Tim Crawley, Little Rock, AR, 222
6., Jack Dover, Springfield, NE, 208
7., Roger Crockett, Rio Linda, CA, 127
8., Terry Gray (1), Bartlett, TN, 107
9., Steve Poirier, St. Mathieu de Beloeil, PQ, CAN, 102
10., Pat Cannon, Etters, PA, 85
tie, J.J. Grasso, Pedricktown, NJ, 85
12., Jason Solwold, Mount Vernon, WA, 79
13., Brian Brown, Higginsville, MO, 62
tie, Andy Forsberg (1), Auburn, CA, 62
15., Bryan Howland, Auburn, NY, 46
16., Tony Bruce, Jr., Liberal, KS, 42
17., Jessica Zemken, Sprakers, NY, 38
18., Justin Barger, Montrose, NY, 33
19., Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD, 28
20., Butch Schroeder, Leipsic, OH, 27
21., Jeremy Campbell, Monroe, MI, 25
tie, Wayne Johnson, Mustang, OK, 25
23., Zach Chappell, Talala, OK, 22
24., Ryan Grubaugh, Saint Johns, MI, 19
25., Josh Weller, Mertztown, PA, 15
Also receiving multiple votes: Sean Becker, Dustin Daggett, Blane Heimbach, Kyle Hirst, Chad Humston, Ray Allen Kulhanek, Trevor Lewis, Eric Lutz, Garry Lee Maier, Sean McClelland, Marshall Skinner, Jeff Swindell, Gary Wright, Rick Ziehl.