Fubar, continued from page 2 taining our equipment plus working in many specialties; MIKE SLAGTER for his tireless help both running the pits and construction/repair help to LOL; and NORM JOHNSON as Board member, personnel committeeman, and work at all LOL competition and show events. Alan Murray passed out the nifty Bill Blass shirts for LOL Region Championship awards. Thanks to Jim Griggs for his work on the shirts. As usual the CenDiv Regional/National awards had not been distributed in time for the banquet, but recognition must be given to our top National Points finishers: Norm Nelson (EP Champion), Steve Thomson and Jon Brakke (2nd in FC and GT3 respectively), and Gerry Kraut (4th in SRF).
Tom Fisk distributed Solo II Championship Awards. Results for all LOL Championships (Solo, RallyCross, Rally and Road Racing) can be found in recent TONNEAU issues. Solo II Rookie of the Year was a runoff between DEAVIN PEARCE (first place with 5 wins in CSP) and CHRIS KOEHLER (who came on strong in a tough G Stock grouping with two wins in 5 events entered plus fast time of day in one event). Chris also traveled to Milwaukee and wound up second in GS. Koehler got the nod, but congrats to both young drivers for great first years. Solo II Driver of the Year was presented by last year’s winner Chris Baye, and TOM FISK was called back to the podium to receive the award. Tom racked up CS wins in eight of the nine events he entered. He also organized the Rochester event and helps in timing and scoring at all events. Other nominee MATT WIEMAN had duplicated Fisk’s win total, so it was a tough choice with CHRIS HOLTER and CHRIS BAYE also nominated.
Kerry Freund handed out awards in both the LOL ProRally and Road Rally Championships. Mark Utecht awarded Rally Driver of the Year to TODD JARVEY, who turned in a number of top finishes in his Galant this season and narrowly nipped other selectee DOUG DAVENPORT. Rally Co-Driver/Navigator was a four way battle. ERIC CARLSON got off to an early start with 2nd in class at Sno-Drift. He also racked up top finishes at Maine and Ojibwe along with taking time off during a stage to help free a competitor who was high centered off course. KATHY FREUND ran four events this year, two with a Polish driver, but was able to successfully handle the language barrier. She came in 2nd in the LOL Pro Rally championship. AL KINTIGH worked with Doug Davenport all season and wound up with top finishes at Michigan early and late plus Pennsylvania and Ojibwe, where they repaired the car from a Friday rollover and came back to finish 2nd Saturday. Al spends a lot of time mentoring new co-drivers while helping other competitors get ready to run. EMILY BURTON-WEINMAN ran her second season in Pro Rally, won her class Friday at Ojibwe and the next night hit a tree! That earned her a trip to the hospital but was cleared after medical check. She is the LOL series champion in Production. Al Kintigh seemed a popular choice as this year’s winner. BRUCE WEINMAN, a man active in all aspects of the region’s activities, was then called up as Shelby Hockert Award winner.
Gerry Kraut had a previous commitment so it was my pleasure to present the Skogmo Memorial Award for most improved driver. We had three nominees from Rally/Rallycross and two from road racing. MICAH ERICKSON rallycrossed older
brother Todd’s car well in his 2nd year of competition and finished just behind Todd in U-2 Stock while winning his class in the final event. Micah helps prepare Todd’s car, works with other drivers, brings other new drivers into the sport and helps setting up for events. Some of KATHY FREUND’s season highlights were detailed for Rally CoDriver of the Year, but she also was active in RallyCross with two top five finishes in the first 5 events and plans a full season in both series next year. STEVE JONDAL started racing a F-440 three years ago and this year moved into F-500, with his driving skill taking a major step up as well. Steve turned in a perfect 3 wins for 3 BIR Regional races and ran an aggressive National racing program to finish 7th in CenDiv points to earn a trip to the RUNOFFS. Despite being hampered by a 24th position on the starting grid, Steve jumped past 7 cars on the first lap and finished 13th. Steve was running times competitive with FF at BIR, and looks forward to an even better year in 2000. DAVE KENNEDY also had an outstanding year in Spec Racer Ford, which we’ll detail more thoroughly for the Road Racer of the Year award. J. B. NIDAY had a great year in both Rally and RallyCross. In his first year in Group 2 Pro Rally back in ’98, J. B. finished 12th in CenDiv; this year he won the championship. He notched a steady string of top five finishes in Divisional rally events, while in RallyCross he ran away with the U2P championship. He plans to start Y2K in ice racing, running both Rally and RallyCross plus some IT racing. Steve Jondal is our 1999 Skogmo winner.
Crew Member of the Year had another 5 hard working nominees. TODD ERICKSON probably spends more time working on other people’s
Fubar,
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Tonneau On-Line January 2000
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Copyright 2000, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: January 3, 2000
