ImPRESSions©
The Official Newsletter Of The American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association
June 2009 Vol. 42 No. 6
Southern VP Mike Harris Retires
After a long career with the Associated Press, AARWBA Southern Vice President, Mike Harris, is retiring. Visit Michael Knight’s blog for a fitting tribute that includes comments from 40 of motorsports most important people. For example: BRIAN FRANCE: “Mike Harris has been the pri- mary source of NASCAR The Speedway presented AARWBA Southern Vice news for our growing fan President Mike Harris, with a retirement helmet. base for decades. Mike’s reporting was instrumental in the establishment of Fom left: Fred J. Nation, Executive Vice President, NASCAR as a national sport. We’ll miss seeing Communications; John Griffin, IRL Vice President of Mike in the media center and will be thinking of him Public Relations; Mike Harris, and Ron Green, Direc- as he improves his golf handicap. Thank you for tor Public Relations. your service, Mike. All the best to you and Judy.” Visit Michael Knight’s blog at: In This Issue: http://spindoctor500blog.blogspot.com/ - Contest Winners Announced Page 2 - Wade & Lester Win Aflac Awards Page 5 - Have You Been To Indy? Page 6 Mike may be leaving AP, but he will be writing freelance, and maybe even a book when he - Indy Breakfast Photos Page 6 tires of golf. He will also remain in his - News & Notes Page 9 current post as the AARWBA Southern Area - From The Archives Page 10 Vice President. - Over The Years Page 11 - Membership Application Page 12
American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 2008 AARWBA CONTEST WINNERS (Presented at AARWBA awards breakfast, May 23, 2009, Indianapolis, Indiana)
MOTORSPORT BOOK NEWSPAPER COLUMN WRITING 1. L. Spencer Riggs, “Langhorne!: No Man’s 1. Dave Argabright, “Lazier Conquers Indy Challenge,”
Land,” Pitstop Books
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2. Sheena Baker, “More Than a Little Earnhardt Left,” -
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National Speed Sport News
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NEWSPAPER NEWS WRITING 3. Susan Wade, “Horrific Crashes Bring Out 8
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True Feelings,” National Speed Sport News 1. Bill Sessa, “Swindell Sprints to Win,” 3
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1. Bill Sessa, “When the Sprint Cars Roared,” v
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 2 2008 AARWBA CONTEST WINNERS (Presented at AARWBA awards breakfast, May 23, 2009, Indianapolis, Indiana)
MAGAZINE FEATURE WRITING ONLINE FEATURE WRITING 1. Ron Hedger, “Bob Devine: A Racer,” 1. Dave Argabright, “30 Years Later,” OpenWheelRacers.com Sprint Car & Midget
2. Susan Wade, “Gary Scelzi is Point Man for Safety,’” 5
2. L. Spencer Riggs, “The Race of Two Worlds,” 0
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3. Nancy Knapp Schilke, “Revival of St. Petersburg 8
3. Ian Wagstaff, “Centennial Chase,” )
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Jerry Miller, “Indy’s Heroic Losers,” - Image,” USAtoday.com 5 Whole Truths (anthology) 0
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ONLINE TECHNICAL WRITING 2 MAGAZINE TECHNICAL WRITING 2
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 3 2008 AARWBA CONTEST WINNERS (Presented at AARWBA awards breakfast, May 23, 2009, Indianapolis, Indiana)
PHOTOGRAPHY – PRINT ACTION TELEVISION FEATURE PROGRAM No awards 1. Michael Campbell, “Flying at the Doty,” FlatOut
2. Bruce A. Bennett, “Pole Dancing,” PODCAST/WEBCAST 5
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Newspaper News Writing, Newspaper Column Writ- t Competitionplus.com s ing, Magazine Event Reporting, Magazine Column a
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RADIO FEATURE PROGRAM
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 4 Wade and Lester Claim Top Aflac Journalism Awards For Their Coverage of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
Veteran motorsports journalists and longtime California State University, Fullerton College of Com- members of the NHRA press corps, Susan Wade munications, Fullerton, Calif. and Will Lester, were named top winners in the Aflac Motorsports Journalism Awards of Excel- "On behalf of NHRA I would like to congratulate Will
lence in honor of Russ Catlin, an annual contest and Susan for their respective accomplishments in
5 that recognizes outstanding coverage in major winning Aflac motorsports journalism awards of excel- 0
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2 made today in Concord, N.C. at Lowe's Motor public relations and communications, NHRA. "Both 4
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Speedway as part of the Coca-Cola 600 festivities. Susan and Will are veteran journalists who have cov- 8
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The awards are among the most coveted in mo- Other winners included Mike Hembree of NASCAR u
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Wade earned the award in the Writing-Daily cate- in High Point, N.C. in the Broadcast-Local category for o
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fatal crash last June at Old Bridge Township Headquartered in Glendora, Calif., NHRA is the prima- o
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Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J. The entry, titled ry sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the i
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"Mourning All Day; Drivers and Owners Pay Trib- United States. It presents 24 national events through its o
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ute to Fallen Scott Kalitta at NHRA Super Nation- NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. NHRA has A
s als," received several favorable comments from 80,000 members and 140 member tracks. The NHRA- r
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lead and ending." Wade will receive a plaque and mit Racing Series and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal s
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Contact Andy Hartwell and let’s make it happen! in this fiery explosion of a funny car; Heat waves ©
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 5 Have You Been To Indy? If you have attended the Indy 500, please send us a note telling us how many times, when you first went and for what reason, and do tell us about your most memorable year at the Brickyard. Send your memories to: Andy Hartwell - [email protected] or to:
Dusty Brandel - [email protected]
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"Straight Shooter" Award sponsored by Fernandez Racing co-sponsor of the AARWBA Breakfast s t
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 8 News & Notes Miller Motorsports Park - Dave Overpeck Scholarship Saluting A Great Media Team! Winner Announced
Recently Michael Knight attended the American Le
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media facilities, the right attitude, and a PR director A
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P my-miller-time.html Blaine Kinsey, a sophomore at Indiana State University, is h
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Send your url and the name of e the media at major motorsports venues. t
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[email protected] Kinsey is a communications major at ISU with a
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fan, Kinsey has attended races at many major facilities. & Include a paragraph or two about what your
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breakfast Saturday, May 32 at the Indianapolis Motor a
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Speedway - by Overpeck's widow, Karen and AARWBA o
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issues or problems you may have had - or are n
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 9 From The Archives Artists! Express Yourselves!
Are you an artist? Do you like to draw, sketch, or paint illustrations of cars and the people who race them? Then why not showcase some of your work in this newsletter?
All artists are invited to submit an example of 5
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motorsports. Any single photo you are proud of. We will print n
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Who is this lady telling the world that reading 9
the National Speed Sport News is the best way n o
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i we will run it in a future issue of r Peter Gregg at Lime Rock Park e
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A ImPRESSions. On the IMSA grid - middle 1970s.
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American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 10 Over The Years Submitted By Johnny McDonald
Over the years it’s the little things that sometimes remain in your memory.
For instance, we can recall an unusual TV star in the primitive days of the tube or a Riverside hot rodder getting the most he could out of
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b The tracks were primitive - like Torrey Pines - run on roads left behind by the Army at Camp Callan. Another r
u
B was the midgets and modifieds racing before 15,000 fans on Balboa Stadium’ s tight quarter mile normally used
e for high school track meets. Didn’t matter. That track would be the proving grounds for seven Indianapolis 500 u
n winners. e
v
A
s As for the TV star that was Parnelli Jones, who won so many jalopy races at old Gardena Stadium. The s
a
P nation’s first television station in Hollywood was KTLA and they were searching for anything that would attract
h
t attention. r
o
N
2
Of course, getting attention was a byproduct for Jones who would excel in sprint cars, win at Indianapolis and 2
9
post big wins in Baja off-road competition. And, that was before he became a prominent businessman. n
o
i
t
a
i
The SC student and Texan were Phil Hill, who won a pair of races in 1952 at Torrey, and the man in those cov- c
o
s
eralls who won two years later gained fame as a car builder. That was Carroll Shelby. s
A
s
r
e
The TR-3 driver was Dan Gurney who would quickly graduate to a Ferrari and then stun the NASCAR crowd t
s with four straight Motor Trend stock car victories at Riverside International Raceway. Of course, Indianapolis, a
c
LeMans and Formula One successes would follow. d
a
o
r
B That driver in the controversial special was Roger Penske. The rules at that time called for two-seat wide sports
&
s cars but Roger’s had a single seat chassis. He won the argument and became more prominent as an Indianap- r
e
t
i
olis car owner, placing 14 of his cars in Indy’s victory circle. r
W
g
It’s always nice to look back and know you were there on the ground floor. n i
c
a
R I recall Ivan Stewart telling me that he went to his family for permission to seek an off-road racing career. At the
o
t time he had a good job as foreman at a prominent fence company. But 80 victories later at Baja and in stadi- u
A
ums he proved he had made the right decision. n
a
c
i
r
Stepping stones could be wobbly but rewarding, like Don Edmunds leaving the Southern California short tracks e
m
A
for a visit to Indy and becoming rookie of the year in 1957. It was his only race there.
e
h
T Those were the successful ones I remember. There are so many others who may have been in the wrong place
©
s
at the wrong time only to see opportunities pass them by. t
n
e
t
n
Being triumphant was one thing but, I always had a soft spot for the guy who tried but wasn’t quite good o
C
enough. l
l
A
American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association, Inc. (www.aarwba.org) “Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage Of Motor Sports” 11 American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association Inc. 922 North Pass Avenue, Burbank, CA 91505-2703 Phone: 818-842-7005 FAX: 818-842-7020 "Dedicated To Increasing Media Coverage of Motor Sports" The AARWBA is the oldest and largest professional organization of its kind. Founded in 1955 in Indianapolis, it has grown to more than 400 members throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Each year the AARWBA members select a 14-driver All America Team from Open Wheel, Stock Car, Sports Car, Drag Racing, Short Track, Touring Series and At Large championship categories. An annual banquet is held to honor these drivers each January. AARWBA also sponsors several contests for its members and established the “Legends in Racing” auto racing hall of fame.
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