The Legends who have made Racing a Great American Sport! Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony August 31, 2019 115th 1904 2019 Grundy County Fair Morris, Illinos The 115th Grundy County Fair is Proud and Honored to Present the following Inductees into the Mazon Speed Bowl & Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame Those Racers that have taken their final checkered Flag since we last met. Jack Markley Frank Gawlinski Sal Tovella Bobby Shell Bill Clemens Roger West Ray Young Scott Carter Vicki Carter Marks “Speedy” Hernandez George Holterman Congratulations to all the 2019 Mazon Speed Bowl Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame Inductee's! Hot Rods & Custom Cars Vintage & Current Race Cars Aluminum Fabrication & Repair Chassis Work & Roll Cages [email protected] Morris Building & Loan Congratulates this year’s inductees! As your hometown bank, we admire your hard work and dedication. John Mendoza, Vice President 211 E. Jefferson St. , Morris, IL 60450 815.942.3232 www.morrisbl.net A1 Will County Storage 2660 S. Cherry Hill Rd Joliet, IL 60433 (near Briggs & Laraway Rds, 1 mile east of Chicagoland Speedway) 815.726.8819 www.WillCountyStorage.com Email: [email protected] Safe & Secure Self-Storage Individual storage units plus: Indoor or outdoor storage available for: cars, boats, RV’s & Motorcycles Safely storing your “Stuff” since 1984 ~Licensed & Bonded for your protection~ Congratulations to All Maon Speed Bowl and Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame’ Inductee’ s! God Bless and Great Success on your Fundraiser/ Reunion! A1 Will County Storage Zografos Family Billy Hulbert, Barb Carter, Scott Carter Hulbert Motorsports would like to thank their sponsors for their support. Troutman Excavating Lallow Bar & Grill McCoy’s Service Washington Street Barber Shop Transport Colors Shorewood Fitness Quick Styx Graphics Heroes West T1 Racing Congratulations to this years inductees into the Mazon Speed Bowl & Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame. Scott Pavlis Scott started his racing career at the Mazon Speed Bowl in 1968 and raced there until the track closed at the end of the 1970 season. When the move to Grundy County Speedway came in 1971, Scott continued driving through the end of the 1974 season. Scott still holds the 6-cylinder track record of 17.65 which he set on July 26, 1974. Although a regular at the Mazon Speed Bowl and Grundy County Speedway, Scott also raced at Fairbury, Farmer City, and Raceway Park. Scott still enjoys going to all types of races and reminiscing about the fun of racing in the 60’s and 70’s. John Cowman John Cowman, won the Sportsman Championship in 1991 at the Grundy County Speedway. John has been involved in midwest Stock Car Racing since 1986 at his home track in Morris. His Crew Chief, Gordy Enerson, with more than 22 years of racing experience and his pit crew, Bryan Hendrix, Matt Higgins, Dan Semlar, and Kerry Sharp, Billy Norman, Bob Johansen, and Mike Cowman took the Green #88 1991 Howe Design Camaro to Victory Lane many times and captured the Championship Title in addition to 17 Feature wins and more than 70 total wins between Heats, Dashes, and Features. The Mobil 1 Racing Camaro was featured in the 1992 Howe Racing Catalog and also in the R.A. Benson Motorsports Catalog for that same year. Cowman Racing Fans also paid a huge role in his racing success along with his Sponsors, Mobil 1, Mr. Z Auto Body, Tri-County Disposal, Anderson Garage, Advanced Compressor Tech, R.A. Benson Motorsports, J&J Bakery, Eagle Bodies and many others especially his wife Patty and children Mike and Katie. Special thanks to Engine Builders Mike Walker and Dan Strezo and to Frank Doherty for the use of his car one night in ‘91 and to John Sherbit for the use of his spare engine at the end of the ‘91 season. One of John’s biggest accomplishments was winning the Feature Race Opening Night in ‘92 as it was his first Late Model race ever. Racer, Larry Shuler was the first person to congratulate John when he pulled off the track. It was an #88 weekly staple to throw out Green #88 Racing T-Shirts to his fans and during the week, John and his Pit Crew mentored many kids by including them in preparing the car and making them one of the crew. John Cowman will always acknowledge his appreciation to Gordy Enerson who taught him the right way to race and dedicates his racing career to a well deserving friend in Gordy. Gene Lee Gibson The son of 4 time Hall of Famer and legend in the sport Todd Gibson, and HOF Brenda Gibson. Racing has been my life. The seat in my father’s midget became open when my brother Larry went to another ride in 1997. Started winning right out of the box. In 76 races from 1997 to 2000 I won 38 features, 6 DNF’s due to 5 engine and 1 flip, and 30 top 10’s of that 26 are top 5’s. We start the 7 hour drive to Grundy County Speedway in 1998 only after I was barred from NAMARS for putting Jason Leffler on his back at Columbus Motor Speedway early in 1998. We won the first race at Grundy County and you all know what we did from there on. In 1998, 1999 and 2000 we won the SRCS Championship, Meyers Memorial, and Bob Lockhard Memorial as well as the UMARA Championship and the Illionois State Championship in 2000. I liked the longer races. My success is soley because of my father. He is a mechanical genious. We just didn’t break down. I also wanted to thank UMARA for welcoming us, especially now gone and past President Aaron Willis! He always stopped and thanked us for coming to compete. I know he understood what was involved for us to travel the distance we did and appreciated it. I want to thank the Hall of Fame Committee for voting me in to the Hall of Fame. I was sur- prised when I was notified, didn’t know you even had a Hall of Fame. Lastly I wanted to thank all my competitors that I raced against. I was treated with respect, an I hope I had made the feeling mutual. I had a lot of fun and made some good friends racing at Grundy County Speedway. I do miss it. Pat Wilda My earliest memories of midget rac- ing was when I was about 7 years old, sitting on the porch waiting for my dad Ray to ask me to go with him to Tony Saylor’s shop, so that I could watch him do what he loved, being the crew chief for Tony’s car. This was a dream for every little boy to be so close to the excitement of midget car racing. 1973/1974 Bob Magee gave me my first ride and I started my career under the alias of “Pat Magee” –car #98, because that was the name of the registered driver, for which I took over for the first year. I was known as “Looper.” 1975 I became owner and driver of the #98. I raced dirt and pavement, using the same car, and depending on which track you were going to race, you prepared the car, for that race track. For many years on the 4th of July we raced pavement in the afternoon at Grundy County Speedway, and then we travelled to Mendota Speedway to race on dirt during the evening. We raced everywhere and every track. We travelled all over to Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio – there weren’t many weekends that we sat at home. I raced the #57, (my favorite number for Tony Saylor). I also had a thing that if I bought a car from someone, I did not want to change the number unless it was taken. My most favorite memory was driving a Jim Anderson race car for a year. The car was #35 but I turned the five into a six and became #36 for Jim who took a year off from racing. In that car at Joliet Stadium during a heat race, was my first time on my head landing upside down at the start finish line, and no I did not win the heat race. I continued to race till about 1994 and then took a hiatus from racing and became a push truck driver for WOOMS and UARA. 1999 mid – season, I was back racing again. 2003 I turned over my driving skills to my son Patrick - car #57 and became the crew chief. My son wanted #32 for Michael Jordan, but since that # was taken, he took the #33. Patrick was named “Rookie of the year” for UMARA, using all his skills he learned from me. With Pat Wilda Cont. Patrick in the driver’s seat, we won the 2005 “Car Owner Championship” for UMARA. 2015 to current I became a pit Steward for IRS, STARS and Powri. I continue to feed my addiction to racing by supporting the ‘Corsons’ and my God son RJ- helping to fulfill his dream of racing. Throughout the years and to this day, you gain so many friends that no other sport seems to measure up to this feeling. There are so many people to thank, but first and most important, my wife Kathy, who still stays married to me, knowing that racing will always be in my life, and for that I cannot thank her enough for all her support. Thank you to my dad Ray, who took a young little boy and introduced him to midget car racing, and to Bob Magee for my first ride.