By Bob Burbach
Marysville- For the 44th time Paul and Kathy Hawes’ Marysville Raceway Park will honor the drivers, car owners, officials, families and friends that are a part of this growing motor racing venue. The 2012 Awards Banquet will be held this Saturday night at the sparkling new Colusa Casino Resort in Colusa.
Championship point racing trophies, cash and contingency awards will be handed out in all four primary classes. The Pro 4 Sprint Cars will also hold their banquet in conjunction with the MRP celebration. In the four primary MRP classes the MRP Winged Sprint Car Champion Billy Wallace, the MRP Mini Stock Champ Misty Castleberry, the MRP Super Stock Champ Brent Hall and the 2012 Hobby Stock titlist Jeremy Hammons will all be honored.
The annual “State if the Raceway” address will be offered by promoter Paul Hawes. This should be of interest to everyone associated with the Raceway. Promoter Hawes will talk about off season improvements to the track and the potential addition of a championship a point racing class into next year’s schedule. In an economy that has been eating up traditional local racetracks for breakfast, MRP has shown remarkable progress. In advance of December’s annual mid-winter promoters meeting in Reno, it will be of significant interest to see what Promoter Hawes has to say.
Mike Dehoogh will once again oversee the production and presentation of his annual photographic overview of the season past. Casey Lansdon’s invaluable assistance on this presentation this year is noteworthy.
This is also an opportunity for those of us associated with this great California dirt track to get together and simply party for a while together. MRP has become a 2nd home for many of us for some 30 weeks every year. It is only fitting that we conclude the season with a bang.
As always, Promoter Kathy Hawes has put together a delectable menu for the gala affair. From the pre-event appetizers to the gourmet buffet dinner presentation, everything is 1st class all the way.