KNOXVILLE, Iowa (January 12, 2017) – Sam Hafertepe, Jr., of Sunnyvale, Texas, was voted the 2016 “Driver of the Year” by the North American 360 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers for the first time. Hafffertepe, the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) national tour champion, earned ten (10) of the first-place ballots cast in the year-end poll. Sam Hafertepe, Jr., and Keith Dobbs earned the “Team of the Year” award, too
Those drivers ranked second through fifth, respectively, are Johnny Herrera of New Mexico, Wayne Johnson of Oklahoma, United Racing Club (URC) champion Davie Franek of New Jersey and Aaron Reutzel of Texas. Rounding out the ‘top ten’ for the season are Empire Super Sprints (ESS) champion Steve Poirier, California Civil War Series champion Andy Forsberg, United Sprint Car Series (USCS) champion Morgan Turpen, Derek Hagar and Sammy Swindell. In addition to Sam Hafertepe, Jr., others receiving one first-place vote each were Davie Franek, Andy Forsberg and Morgan Turpen.
Giovanni Scelzi of California 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. Jack & Bonnie Elam of J&J Auto Racing will receive the “Builder/Manufacturer of the Year” honors for 2016. In addition, Todd Buffenbarger of www.tjslideways.com will receive the “Media Member of the Year” award. Pete Walton of the United Sprint Car Series (USCS) and Glenn Styres of the Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Canada, will share the “Promoter of the Year” honors and USCS champion Morgan Turpen will receive the “Wild Card Award” in 2016.
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 2017 at tracks throughout North America. The awards were announced at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.