ImPRESSions©

The Official Newsletter Of The American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association

December 2007 Vol. 40 No. 10

2007 Auto Racing All-America Team Announced! Details on page 4

A1GP New All-America Team Dinner Presenting Sponsor

LEGENDARY 'EMMO' WILL BE FEATURED SPEAKER: , one of only two drivers to win the Indy Hyatt Room Deadline: Dec. 20 500 plus the and CART championships, will

be the featured speaker at the Jan. 12 All-America Team Due to the possibility of an Indianapolis Colts' playoff game the dinner, presented by A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. weekend of the AARWBA dinner, the Hyatt cannot guarantee Fittipaldi is an ambassador for the A1GP series and rooms will be available if not reserved by Thursday, Dec. 20. seat holder for A1 Team . If you need a room, MAKE YOUR RESERVATION NOW! Those interested in interviewing Emerson are encouraged to pre-schedule with A1GP Head of Media Fiona McLachlan. E-mail: [email protected] In This Issue: - Dinner news - Page 2 As of Friday, Dec. 14, the following - All-America Team Results - Page 4 All-America Team drivers have confirmed - Member Spotlight - Page 6 they will attend the dinner: Tony Schumacher, Tony Pedregon, Alex Lloyd, Mika Salo. - Member News & Notes - Page 7 - All-America Dinner Form - Page 8

American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” All-America Dinner News & Notes All A1GP Photos In This Issue Courtesy of www.A1GP.com A1GP Series New Dinner "There is a solid flavor of the Americas in A1GP’s line up with the USA, Canada, Mexico and Brazil all repre- Presenting Sponsor sented on our 22-nation grid and it’s our goal to con- A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will be the present- tinue to raise awareness of both the series and the ing sponsor of the next three All-America Team competing nations. AARWBA has a distinguished

ceremonies. The first event under this new agree- membership and a solid history of accomplishments 5

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and influence within motorsport. As a result of this 0

ment will be the 38th AAT dinner, Saturday, Janu- 7

- ary 12, at the downtown Indianapolis Hyatt. A1GP is pleased to partner with AARWBA and looks 2

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forward to a productive relationship with its members 8

Launched in March 2004, the groundbreaking ) starting with January’s banquet.” 8

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A1GP World Cup of Motorsport concept matches 8

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driver vs. driver, country vs. country. A1GP brings

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together 22 nations to compete as equals, without 7

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President Dusty Brandel said, "AARWBA welcomes s

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The 2007-08 season features 10 races. The open- P A1GP as presenting sponsor of the All-America Team

h wheel series already has visited the Netherlands, t ceremony. Working with AARWBA is a great way for r Czech Republic, Malaysia and China. Racing re- o

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A1GP to increase awareness of the series within the sumes Jan. 20 in New Zealand, then moves on to 2 U.S. motorsports media community and build impor- 2

9 Australia (Feb. 3), South Africa (Feb. 24), Mexico

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City (March 16), China (April 13) and Great Britain i

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a (May 4). Races are televised on SPEED Channel. "I want to thank Scott and everyone in the A1GP orga- i

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nization, as well as Michael Knight, for working so o

s , the 2004 Indy 500 winner, and Jona- hard to establish this new and exciting sponsorship." s

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than Summerton, 19, of Kissimmee, Fla., have s

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A1GP recently announced a partnership with . e competed for A1 Team USA. The team is fielded t

s by former IndyCar owner Rick Weidinger. A1 Beginning with the 2008-09 season, Ferrari will manu- a

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facturer and supply all engines for the next six years. d

Team Canada features drivers a

o and . Ferrari also will design and consult on the manufacture r

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Wade Cherwayko is the &

s seat holder. THINK Greener Racing is the series' environmental r

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i "A1GP is delighted to be initiative. This includes switching to biofuel E30 (30 r

W percent ethanol), carbon-offsetting, and promoting en- the presenting partner for g

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AARWBA's 38th annual c

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Auto Racing All-America R

A1GP will have a table at the dinner. Planning to at-

o Team Banquet in Indianap- tend are Hollingsworth, London-based Head of Media t

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A olis next month," said Chief Fiona McLachlan,

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Commercial Officer Scott and Team Canada a

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i Hollingsworth. "We’re r PR contact Stuart e thrilled to be associated Morrison. m

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with an organization that is e

h dedicated to increasing T Scott Hollingsworth

© media coverage of motor AARWBA members are encouraged to visit

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t sport and we view our involvement with the www.a1gp.com/press to learn more and register for n

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banquet as an exceptional platform to further full media access. n

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promote A1GP. C

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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 2 All-America Dinner News & Notes

7 p.m. -- Dinner served. Location: Main ballroom. 7:45 p.m. -- 38th All-America Team awards, presented by A1GP. Master of ceremonies, . A special tribute will be offered in memory of Bill France Jr., Wally Parks and Shav Glick.

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Other Honors 1

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In addition to the Jerry Titus Memorial Trophy and C

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Team driver honors, several other important k

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* Pioneer In Racing, recognizing longtime dedica- B

tion and achievement that have made a difference New Look at Hyatt e

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in the sport. The winner is Carl A. Haas, who is e

Dinner guests will immediately notice the renovated v confirmed to attend; A

Hyatt lobby, which was completed last month. There's s

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* Jim Chapman Award, for excellence in motor- new stone flooring, carpeting and lounge seating. The a

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sports public relations. Recipient to be revealed at front desk has been redesigned and check-in kiosks h

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the dinner; have been added. o

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* Dusty Brandel President's Award, for outstanding Level One is the name of the new bar area. One South is 2

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9 contributions to AARWBA. Winner to be an- the Hyatt's new Italian/American restaurant and is open

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o nounced at the dinner. for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Both are located on the i

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a lobby level. i

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Schedule of Events o

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Please note: Due to the renovation, it is not possible s

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Remember, we've made significant changes to the

to fit the 1963 Lotus-Ford inside the lobby. s evening schedule. We'll start and end earlier! r

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Therefore, AARWBA has canceled the previously t Please make a note of the following schedule: s announced display of this historic car. We thank the a

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All AARWBA activities will take place on the sec- Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum a

o ond level of the Hyatt. For those who need to pick for the offer to help AARWBA. r

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up their tickets, a registration table will be at the top &

s of the escalator. Coat check will be available. r

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i 5:30 p.m. -- Shav Glick Newsmakers Forum. Loca- r

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tion: Regency E & F. A series of brief news an- g

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i nouncements from various teams, sponsors, c

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tracks, series and others within the industry. This is R

o a new event, designed to make the evening a t

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A news, as well as a social, occasion. Please come

n early and attend the Forum and bring your note- a

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i book, recorder and/or camera! This room will re- r

e main open until 7 p.m. for your convenience for m

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one-on-one or small group interviews. e

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T 6 p.m. -- Reception. Location: Outside the main

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ballroom. Co-hosted by ESPN, , t

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Budweiser and Edelman Motorsports. Complimen- e

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tary Anheuser-Busch products available at two o

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self-serve bars. l

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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 3 2007 Auto Racing All-America Team Results Provided by Rocky Entriken

With voting completed for the 2007 All-America Team slot. NASCAR Busch Series champion Carl Auto Racing Team, five drivers emerge as con- Edwards was joined by on the second tenders for the Jerry Titus Award -- two from the team. world of NASCAR and three open-wheel champi-

ons although one of them runs more than 100

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mph faster than the other two if only for a quarter- 0

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That would be Tony Schumacher, the 2006 Titus )

8 winner bidding to be only the third driver ever to 1

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win the award in consecutive years, after Mario

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Andretti in 1977-78 and John Force in 1999-2000. 0

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For the second consecutive year Schumacher -

5 won the NHRA Top Fuel championship on the fi- 0

5 nal run of the season, claiming his fifth career 1

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championship and his fourth in a row. A

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The Titus, given in remembrance of the late n

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b racer/journalist, signifies the top vote-getter on the r

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All-America team regardless of category, and is

e not announced until the American Auto Racing u

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Writers and Broadcasters Association’s banquet e

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P Who will be selected as the winner of the

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t Challenging Schumacher, are the champions of Jerry Titus award for 2007? r o

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Car World Series titlist Sébastien Bourdais and 2

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Indianapolis 500 winner/Indy Racing League Drag Racing was similarly a runaway for the top n

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i champion . Also in the hunt are two, with Funny Car champ Tony Pedregon joining t

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i , the 2006 and 2007 NASCAR Schumacher on the first team. NHRA’s top two Pro c

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Nextel Cup champion, and Ron Hornaday Jr., who Stock drivers, champ Jeg Coughlin and runner-up s

A won his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Greg Anderson took the Second Team slots. IHRA’s s

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e championship. champions in Top Fuel and Funny Car, Bruce Litton t

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and Dale Creasy Jr., earned Honorable Mention. a

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Two drivers from each of seven categories are d

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o elected to the First Team, two more to the Second In Touring Series it was NASCAR Craftsman Truck r

B Team, and all drivers receiving at least five per- Series champion Hornaday and nine-time ARCA &

s cent of the vote earn honorable mention. In road champion who dominated the catego- r

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i racing endurance series, teammates with identical ry. Young phenom , who won the NA- r

W scores are voted as one entity, with the result that SCAR Busch East title at age 17, was joined on the

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16 drivers are named to both the First Team and Second Team by USAR Hooters Pro Cup champion i

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Second team this year. In two categories only one Bobby Gill. Taking Honorable Mention were NA- a

R vote made the difference between a driver making SCAR West champ Mike David, NASCAR Whelen o

t first team or not. Modified champ Donny Lia, and ARCA runner-up u

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Michael McDowell who became only the 12th driver n

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c Bourdais and Franchitti led the vote in the Open to earn All-America status from write-in votes in the i

r Wheel category, far outdistancing and team’s 38-year history. e

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Tony Kanaan, who placed second and third in the

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IRL standings. Not so dominating were the First Team winners in h

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Nextel Cup champion Johnson easily led the ries, where much closer contests marked the vote. t

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Stock Car category, with his teammate and Cup e

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runner-up easily taking the other First o

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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 4 2007 Auto Racing All-America Team

Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, co-driving the cham- In the At Large category, IRL Indy Pro Series champ pionship-winning Daytona Prototype entry in the Alex Lloyd had a comfortable margin over the rest of Grand-Am easily took one the field. Only one vote made the difference between First Team slot. The other went to DP runner-up ALMS GT2 champions /Mika Salo making who tallied just one vote more than the First Team and SCCA World Challenge GT champ ’ P1 champions Rinaldo landing on the Second Team. Joining Capello/Allan McNish, relegated to Second Team. Pobst was Frank Manzo, who won his 11th NHRA

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That pair only had two votes more than the ALMS national Alcohol Funny Car title. So close was the At 0

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P2 champions Timo Bernhard/, 7 Large category that Honorable Mentions Carl -

2 who rounded out the Second Team. Honorable Renezeder, who won 19 off-road races and two 4

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Mention went to ALMS GT1 champions Olivier )

championships, and Raphael Matos, the Champ Car 8

Beretta/Oliver Gavin, and Grand-Am DP racer Max 1 Atlantic titlist, were only a dozen votes out of First 8

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Angelelli. Team.

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2 USAC Midget champion Jerry Coons Jr. and World Information on the All-America Banquet is -

5 of Outlaws champ Donny Schatz prevailed in Short 0

available from AARWBA at 818-842-7005 5 Track over Second-Teamers Levi Jones, winner of 1

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or [email protected]. the USAC Sprint Car Series, and WoO runner-up A

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Joey Saldana. Steve Francis, champion of the ,

--Rocky Entriken k World of outlaws Late Model series, earned Honor- n

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The 2007 Auto Racing All-America Team s

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OPEN WHEEL: Sébastien Bourdais, Dario Franchitti N

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STOCK CAR: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson 2

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ROAD RACING: /Alex Gurney, Scott Pruett n

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i DRAG RACING: Tony Pedregon, Tony Schumacher t

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SHORT TRACK: Jerry Coons Jr., Donny Schatz o

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TOURING SERIES: Ron Hornaday Jr., Frank Kimmel s

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AT LARGE: Alex Lloyd, Jaime Melo/Mika Salo r

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SECOND TEAM c

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OPEN WHEEL: Scott Dixon, o

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B STOCK CAR: Clint Bowyer,

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ROAD RACING: Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas, /Allan McNish s

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t DRAG RACING: Greg Anderson, Jeg Coughlin i

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SHORT TRACK: Levi Jones, Joey Saldana

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TOURING SERIES: Joey Logano, Bobby Gill i

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AT LARGE: Frank Manzo, Randy Pobst a

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HONORABLE MENTION (At least 5% of the vote) A

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OPEN WHEEL: none a

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ROAD RACING: , /Oliver Gavin m

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DRAG RACING: Bruce Litton, Dale Creasy Jr. e

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T SHORT TRACK: Steve Francis

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TOURING SERIES: Mike David, Donny Lia, Michael McDowell t

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AT LARGE: Raphael Matos, Carl Renezeder t

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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 5 Member Spotlight David Bishop

This month David Bishop, a veteran writer, photogra- 1970 when I gradu- pher, business man and former racing promoter, is in ated from High our Member Spotlight. David has been involved in drag Point. Like many

racing on the east coast of the United States for over 42 others trying to 5

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years, having started out as a racer and then moving make a living with a 0

7 into the realm of entrepreneurial photographer and writ- camera, I did wed- -

2 er, bringing images and stories of the people in the dings, anniversaries, 4

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sport into print. He recently sold his retail photo store he reunions, nursery )

8 owned and operated for 30 years, and yet, at age 60 he schools, commercial 1

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is still an active member of the drag racing community, photography, etc...

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publishing his own magazine about the sport, East 0

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Coast Drag News. “In 1976 I moved 2

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from , 5

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We are going to let him tell his story in his own words. back to Easton, 5

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Maryland, where I “In 1964 I went to my first drag race. In 1965, at the age grew up. At that time A

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of 17, I ran in my first race. In some shape or form I I went to work in our k

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have been associated with drag racing ever since then. family business a

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Most of the time I wasn’t actually doing the driving, I was which was a retail r

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writer, or all of the above at the same time. I learned at with a custom pro- e u

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an early age that lots of people could take race photos cessing lab. We did e

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but not many people could write to go along with it just about anything you could do photographically. I A

owned and ran that business from 1976 until 2006. This s

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“In 1966 I became the track photographer at what was was in Easton which is about 50 miles east of Baltimore. a

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called, at the time, Delmar Dragway in Delaware. The h

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track owner, Bill Cathell, used to hand out a little pam- “All the time I was running that business I stayed involved o

N phlet to all the fans as they came into the track. It had in the drag racing scene. I sold my photos to manufactur-

2 the results of the previous week’s races but it didn’t ers, magazines and racers. We made up handout cards, 2

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have any pictures. It was all names and numbers. I said and trading cards, and we designed ads and so on. All of n

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i it would be nice if they could add pictures. They told me this was in addition to running my photo lab. t

a to do something to show them how it could look, and i

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bring it to them the following week. I jumped at the “Over time I also became known for writing feature sto- s

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chance. That first effort was primitive by today’s stan- ries. I held the position of Feature Editor of Drag Review, A

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dards, but it showed pictures of the winners of the four the official publication for the IHRA. I did that for about 10 r

e eliminator. The people were much more interested in years. Overall, I think I have had my photos and written t

s the pamphlets once they had pictures. People were work published in at least 25 other publications. Not all of a

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more interested in seeing the photos than they were in them were racing related. I had a dream that at some a

o reading a bunch of numbers. point I would have my own publication and it would be r

B about the average guy in racing. I like to feature the racer

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“That’s how I got started. I did that for two years while I who spends his own money, and a lot of time, and gets s

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e was in Wesley College in Dover, Delaware. When I almost no notoriety. They do it just for the love of the t

i graduated I moved on to High Point University in High sport. r

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Point, North Carolina. At that time there were two major g

n drag racing magazines being published on the east “When I shot photos for Drag Times, they too were inter- i

c coast. The first was called Eastern Drag News and then ested in the people who ran on a regional basis than the a

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it was superseded by one called Drag Times. They cov- big factory backed racers. When I started my publication, o

t ered races from Carolina to Canada. I wanted to get across that it was about the same thing. I u

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couldn’t take the name Eastern Drag News so I called it n

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“These magazines were oriented more towards the peo- East Coast Drag News. c

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r ple and photographs than towards just listing race re- e sults. I did work for them and for National Dragster, the “I started the magazine from scratch. I have some great m

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official publication of the NHRA. I still do work for them, reporters and photographers and a great editor Phil e

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40 years later. Hutchison. I do most of the production, the selling of the T

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ads, and I work with a graphic artist to do all the layouts.

s “I had a minor in journalism in college and covering rac- We started in 2003 and our most recent issue was just t

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th e es for the magazines gave me the opportunity to do printed recently. It was our 30 issue! We publish eight t

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what I wanted to do, take pictures, and stay involved in o

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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 6 David Bishop In The Spotlight Member News & Notes times a year. It is mostly full color. This issue is 56 pag- es with 48 in color. We have a small subscriber base of 800 and we give many copies away at the races. The ads support the publication and giving them away puts the ads before that many more readers. We print be- tween three and five thousand copies per issue. We

also have an internet magazine ecdnonline.com

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“Looking back, I have owned nine drag cars and I actu- 7

- ally competed in four of them. 1976 to 1990 is when I 2

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8 was most active in competition. I have run the whole

) gamut. I ran in the SuperComp class and they only ran 8

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8 that class at certain tracks. I decided to promote the (

class by setting up a series of races and so I went out 3

0 and got sponsors. I paid the points, promoted the races, 7

2 and I worked at everything from tech inspections to tak- -

5 ing photos. That experience gave me a better perspec- 0

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President Dusty Brandel congratulates AARWBA member 1

tive of racing and that is one more reason I gear my 9 Louise Ann Noeth who won one of MPG's 2007 ' magazine towards the people in racing. A

Best of the Year' awards recently. C

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“Today, the fastest growing segment of Drag Racing is Photography Category: Louise Ann Noeth, n

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Nostalgia Racing. In sportscar racing it is known as "Salton Sea Roadster" June 2007 Goodguys Gazette b

r vintage racing. Some of the cars are the actual race u

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cars but most are recreations. The original cars just e

u weren’t safe. Our publication is somewhat of a kingpin Falcon Wins Valentine n

e for nostalgia racing. Last year we covered 19 Nostalgia v

A races so that gives you an idea just how big it has be- Member Bob Falcon was recently honored by the

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come. Southern California Chapter of The Society of Auto a

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“I’ve been married for 29 years. My wife’s name is Lou- r They presented o ise and my stepchildren are Bryan, 38 and Angie, 36. N

When they were young I used to drag them to the their annual Valen- 2

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9 tracks so they have been all over. tine Memorial

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Award to Falcon in i

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a “Last year I was inducted into the East Coast Drag the Periodicals i

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Times Hall of Fame, which is in Henderson, North Caro- o

category for 2007. s lina. When they called to tell me that I was really flat- s

This award A tered, but then it reminded me that I have been around

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covered published r a very long time!” e

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works that s

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The piece that was r

B Have You Booked published in the

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racing nostalgia, r

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t pocket magazine, i Your Room Yet? r

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The Alternate,

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covered the estab- n

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lishment of events a

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popularity of Midget Auto Racing in the country.. u

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Contrary to the rumor based, popular opinion, it n

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covered the vision and organization skills practiced i

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by Dominic and "Pee Wee" Distarce in Los Angeles e

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starting in 1933. A

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They began the practice of weekly scheduled Midget T

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Auto Races on small neighborhood racetracks. This

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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 7 American Auto Racing Writers, Broadcasters Association 922 N. Pass Ave. Burbank, CA 91505-2703 818/ 842-7005 and Fax: 818/ 842-7020 Annual Dinner Tribute Souvenir Program January 12, 2008 Hyatt Regency - Indianapolis

To order your advertising space for the 2008 Dinner Tribute Souvenir Program, please fill out the form below and send your check to AARWBA at the address above. *** All Advertising Materials should be sent to Doug Caruso of Speedway Press.

NHRA Back Cover, 4-color $3,000 * Includes table of ten (10) with logo sign

IRL Inside Front Cover, 4 color $2,700 * Includes tab le of ten (10) with logo sign

CCWS Inside Back Cover, 4 color $2,700 * Includes table of ten (10) with logo sign

_____ Center two-page spread, 4 color $4,950 * Includes table of ten (10) with logo sign

_____ Full Page 4 color (inside) $2,500 * In cludes table of ten (10) with logo sign

_____ Full Page, black/white $2,000 * Includes table of ten (10) with logo sign

_____ Full Page, black/white $1,700 * No table

(All ads above VERTICAL format only)

_____ Half Page, black/white $950 * No table (Horizontal Format Only)

### Table of 10 without advertisement with signage ...... $850

*** Speedway Press is handling the printing: contact Doug Caruso 315/ 342-1363

His email is: [email protected] Deadline is December 14, 2007

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