From Bob Baker
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (January 11, 2017) – The late sprint car driver Bryan Clauson of California and then Indiana has been named the recipient of the 2016 “Thomas J. Schmeh Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Sport” by all three voting panels of the North American Sprint Car Poll. According to poll founder and current National Sprint Car Museum curator Tom Schmeh, after whom the award was permanently named back in 2014, “The poll’s Outstanding Contribution Award is the museum foundation’s highest honor for current achievers in the sport, as it is voted on by industry insiders from the 360-, 410-cubic-inch, and non-winged sprint car divisions. I think our panelists saw Bryan’s legacy with the Race to Save Lives organ donation program and they decided this just had to happen. It speaks to the genuine respect that voters in all three classes had for what Bryan accomplished during his short but remarkable life and career.”
Past recipients of the North American Sprint Car Poll’s “Outstanding Contribution to the Sport Award” are as follows: Dave Darland, Sammy Swindell, Fred Rahmer, Johnny Gibson, the late Jerry Reigle, Steve Sinclair, Kasey Kahne, Tom Schmeh, Dick Jordan, the late Fred Brownfield, Doug Auld, the late Hank Gentzler, Tony Stewart, Emmett Hahn, Allan Holland, Dave Argabright, Ron Shuman, the late Kevin Gobrecht, Jack Hewitt, the late Jack Miller, Brad Doty, Art & Carol Malies, Dave Bowman, Ralph Capitani, the late Ted Johnson, Mark Kuchan, Steve Kinser, the late Don Martin, Steve Beitler, Lee Brewer, Jr., Mark Kinser, Frank Lewis, the late Earl Baltes, Casey & Beverly Luna, Elayne Hoff, Jean Lynch, the late J.W. Hunt, and Bert Emick.
The North American Sprint Car Poll is an annual awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. All awards will be distributed in 2017 at tracks throughout North America. This award was announced at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.