Friday, December 26, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JEFF WOLF: Honoring this year's fastest, finest

Driver Ed Herbst, right, combined with brother Tim, not pictured, to win two of the six desert races in the SCORE Trophy-Truck class this year en route to their fourth season championship. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Ryan Newman celebrates after winning the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 race March 30 at Texas Motor Speedway, one of his eight NASCAR Cup Series victories this season. AP Photo

By now you've opened presents and read today's advertisements about great post-Christmas sales.

Don't you wish you'd have convinced your kids that it's more fun to open presents on the night after Christmas? You sure could have saved a lot.

We remain in a giving mood today and are prepared to dish out some special awards.

There's no wrapping paper or batteries to contend with here, so sit back and contemplate ... .

NATIONAL HONORS

• BEST DRIVER -- We don't reward conservatism or consistency. This is racing, and it should be about winning.

The contenders: Greg Anderson, winner of a record 12 Pro Stock titles and the season championship in the NHRA Drag Racing Series; Ryan Newman, winner of eight NASCAR Cup races and 11 poles; and Paul Tracy, winner of seven CART races and his first season championship.

Anderson had a stellar season for Las Vegas team owners Ken and Kenny Black. But it's still drag racing, so he finishes third.

Tracy, a Las Vegas resident, won the elusive championship, but CART struggled to have 18-car fields, further diluting the competition after many teams moved to the rival Indy Racing League before the season.

Winner: Newman. He drove hard and drove to win. An easy choice, though Cup season champ Matt Kenseth worked the existing points system to perfection despite winning only one race.

• BEST SERIES -- Based on attendance, television ratings and overall popularity, how can it not be the NASCAR Cup Series? Easy: A boring championship race and more lackluster events than exciting ones.

The Indy Racing League was the leading contender, with its championship race coming down to the final race. But Kenny Brack's horrific crash at Texas Motor Speedway and Tony Renna's death in a testing accident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway were enough to eliminate the IRL from this race.

Winner: NASCAR Truck Series. The championship came down to the final laps of the final race. It would have been sweeter if Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan had not been run into with a few laps left in the finale and had won the championship, but the truck season still was the most exciting.

LOCAL HONORS

• BEST DRIVER -- A very difficult category when you factor in the hundreds of racers at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring and dragstrip and dozens of proven competitors in the desert racing series.

Contenders: It comes down to desert-racing teammates and brothers Tim and Ed Herbst or Bullring Super Late Models driver Chuck Trickle.

Trickle, clearly a fan favorite, won this year's championship in the most hotly contested series at the Bullring oval.

Winners (tie): Tim and Ed Herbst and Chuck Trickle.

You can't compare the two vastly different forms of racing.

The Herbsts won two of the six races in the competitive SCORE Trophy-Truck class en route to their fourth season championship in the 10-year history of the category.

Trickle, 59, won three feature races this year, and the senior citizen deserves the added recognition.

• BEST EVENT -- The contenders: March's NASCAR Cup race, which attracted a record crowd; September's NASCAR Truck Series race (60,000 fans); each of the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; and the Supercross finale at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Winner: The Cup race. It's hard to beat a crowd of 145,275. Traffic flow continues to improve each year, and the Cup race drew the Cup series' second-biggest television audience of the year.

• BEST PROMOTER -- Hands down, this honor goes to Chris Blair, manager of Las Vegas Motor Speedway's dragstrip.

Las Vegas' fastest 'strip is more active than all other speedway tracks combined. The number of competitors at its regional and national races is among the most in the country, but its racing surface, thanks to Blair, has been nurtured into one that produces consistent traction and record runs.

What clearly puts Blair ahead of the pack is his creation of the Midnight Mayhem program, which offers an alternative to illegal street racing. Credit also goes to his assistant, John Bisci.

SPECIAL AWARDS

• DIRTIEST PROMOTER -- Sal Fish has spent 30 years in the desert, putting on SCORE International desert races. At each of those events, he usually looks like Pigpen, the Peanuts cartoon character enveloped in a dust cloud.

But Fish has managed to keep environmentalists, Bureau of Land Management officials and racers happy for three decades. That's an interesting trio to court.

• MOST RIGHT TURNS -- George W. Bush officially became President Bubba when he hosted a group of NASCAR's top drivers early this month and let them park their Cup cars on the South Lawn of the White House.

Mr. President, you have sealed your re-election. Most NASCAR fans already are right-wing Republicans, but turning your back yard into a stock-car show probably converted a few Democrats.

Had he, and his daddy, Mr. President No. 41, not frequently visited the major Cup races at Daytona International Speedway over the past decade, 'Dubya' might not have carried Florida in 2000.

Jeff Wolf's motorsports column is published Friday. He can be reached at 383-0247 or jwolf@reviewjournal.com.