St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club Special Awards Winners!

jdearing

Administrator
Staff member
St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club
43rd Annual Banquet of Champions
January 23, 2010
Two Hearts Banquet Center

Annual Award Presentations

First Annual St. Louis Motorsports Photo of the Year – Chris Gregory
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The First Annual St. Louis Motorsports Photo of the Year and a $100 cash prize from the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers is presented to Chris Gregory for her photo of the wrong-way, high flying action at the Arnie Knepper Memorial race during the St. Clair County Fair at the Belle-Clair Speedway. The event was sanctioned by the O’Reilly POWRi Midgets. The winning photo is in your program book and on display this evening.


Curt Lehmann Sportsmanship Award – Curt Benedick
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The winner of this year’s Curt Lehmann Sportsmanship award is a dedicated and tireless track employee who genuinely cares about the sport, the racers and the fans. His track prep work is legendary and is done to ensure the safety of the racers and the fans and provide an excellent show. He also provides a ministry for the racers and checks on those who sometimes require a trip to the hospital. His fairness, generosity, and courtesy, all hallmarks of a sportsman, are why this Award is being presented to Belle-Clair Speedway’s Curt Benedick.


Outstanding Media Award – Jimmy Dearing

The Outstanding Media Award this year is presented to a man whose website has become the premier source of St. Louis racing news. His site showcases St. Louis racers as one racing community, often very caring and generous. Receiving this year’s Outstanding Media Award is www.stlracing.com and its creator, Jimmy Dearing.

The First Annual Arnie Knepper Memorial Scholarship – John Hunn
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Arnie Knepper lived and breathed racing. He was an auto mechanics educator by profession, a member of the Champion Spark Plug Highway Safety Team and an ambassador/educator/entertainer for racing wherever he went. He could build anything out of anything. He often helped others build their race cars, as long as they worked shoulder-to-shoulder with him. When they stopped, he stopped because he wasn’t going to build the race car for them. His can-do, will-do attitude carried him through the burns he suffered while racing at Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania and through three rounds of cancer. From his first ride in a race car while still in his mother’s womb to racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Arnie exemplified how far determination and attitude can carry you.

The St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club is delighted to continue Arnie’s goals of eduating the future of the sport through a $500 scholarship to Ranken Technical College’s High Performance Racing Program. The first recipient, with a grade point average of 3.75, is John Hunn of Lake St. Louis, MO.


Bob Mueller – Bob Milleville
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The Bob Mueller Award is presented to a “behind the scenes” person whose often quiet contributions make racing successful. A former racer himself, this year’s recipient has helped new talent reach the next level, created a charity to help injured motorcycle riders, donates money to the feature winning POWRi Micro and Midget racers, and is working to develop an injured drivers fund with POWRi. He’s a racer at heart who wants to help promote and support the sport so racers have a place to race.

This year’s Bob Mueller Award winner is Bob Milleville.


Ambassador Award – Gladys Edwards
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The Ambassador Award this year is being presented to an icon of local drag racing who has won five overall, or, what we’re terming “Queen of the Hill” titles. She leads by example, and even the preschool-aged racers at her track already know you can’t go down the sand dragstrip without your Three Musketeers first.

This grandmother of six and great-grandmother of one doesn’t just bake pies and other goodies for her local community. She’s been elected to four terms on the Board of Directors for the East Missouri Action Agency which helps the low income, elderly, and disabled of St. Francois County. Along the way she quietly converts them to race fans and, even more amazingly, has the local politicians volunteering to help her.

For the past seven years, along with her daughter-in-law, they’ve spent Christmas Day delivering food to the low income and elderly. She’s the motivating force behind a back-to-school drive that provides haircuts, shoes, and vision screenings to the needy kids besides the traditional school supplies. This year’s economic downturn had her for the first time standing on a street corner collecting donations to help meet the overwhelming demand for the low income students in her community.

It is a privilege to honor this dynamo as an Ambassador not only of her favorite sport, but of her community.

This year’s Ambassador Award winner is Gladys Edwards.


The “George” Award – Duane Marbarger
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The “George” Award is presented to our most active club member in honor of Frank Suggs. Tonight’s honoree staffed our Fan Club Nights, recruited new members who also volunteered, displayed his classic race car, created the website for the Midwest Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame and, when a vacancy occurred on the board, stepped up to fill out the term. This year’s “George” Award honoree is Duane Marbarger.


Lifetime Membership – Ed Murphy
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The St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club is pleased to present a Lifetime Membership to an every-friendly and always-willing-to-help representative of our sport. He’s attended events from local slot car races to the Indy 500 and loves the World of Outlaws. He has more than a few stories to share………from his days as a bus captain for our trips to the first day of qualifying at the Indy 500 to holding office as our president and currently as our Sgt. Of Arms. He joins an exclusive list of “Lifetimers” filled with dear friends, Don Figler, Jim Mitchell and his race track buddy for over 40 years, the late Ollie Zimmerman.

A Lifetime Membership is being awarded tonight to Ed Murphy.


Dale Mueller Award – Jeff Burk
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Tonight’s Dale Mueller Award winner has passionately dedicated more than 30 years to our sport via the media. He began with a regional publication, and then served as the editor of many of the sport’s most popular periodicals. He’s now gone global both in what he covers and the audience his coverage reaches. As an advocate of stringent safety regulations he’s influenced the rules, improving the safety of the sport. He’s also the individual responsible for starting the careers of two other notable Dale Mueller honorees, Joyce Standridge and Bret Kepner. Standridge first wrote for his publication, Midwest Racer, and Kepner currently helps him cover the world of drag racing through Drag Racing Online, the leading online source of all things drag racing for ten years.

The St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club is delighted to present our Dale Mueller Award to Jeff Burk.
 




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