DONNY SCHATZ NAMED NORTH AMERICAN 410 SPRINT CAR POLL
“DRIVER OF THE YEAR” FOR 2014… FOR SEVENTH TIME IN CAREER
KNOXVILLE, IOWA (January 14, 2015) – For the seventh time in his career, Donny Schatz of Fargo, North Dakota, was voted the “Driver of the Year” by the North American 410 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers. The 2014 Knoxville Nationals winner and World of Outlaws (WoO) champion, earned twenty-three (23) of the twenty-four (24) first-place ballots cast in the year-end poll.
Tony Stewart, owner of the Donny Schatz sprint car, earned his seventh “Team of the Year” honors, though three of those have come from the North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll.
Those drivers ranked second through fifth, respectively, are WoO regular Daryn Pittman of Oklahoma, All Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC) champion Dale Blaney, 2014 Kings Royal winner Kerry Madsen and WoO regular Paul McMahan of California. Rounding out the ‘top ten’ for the season are Joey Saldana, 2014 Central Pennsylvania Sprint Cars and Williams Grove Speedway champion Greg Hodnett, Brian Brown, Brad Sweet and David Gravel. Dale Blaney earned one (1) first-place vote.
Rico Abreu of California will receive the “Wild Card Award” for his exciting ‘410’ sprint car performances in 2014.
Austin Hogue of Pennsylvania, the top rookie at the Lincoln and Williams Grove tracks this past season, has earned the “Rookie of the Year” award in the ‘410’ division of the North American Sprint Car Poll. Brian Stickel of Knoxville Raceway has captured the “Promoter of the Year” honors for the second consecutive year.
Jack & Bonnie Elam of J&J Auto Racing will earn the “Builder/Manufacturer of the Year” honors for the ‘410’ poll. For the first time, the “Media Member of the Year” award will go to Ralph Shaheen of SPEED SPORT magazine.
The North American 410 Sprint Car Poll is an annual awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum. All awards will be distributed in 2015 at tracks throughout North America. The awards were announced on the second day of the 2015 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Final 2014 North American 410 Sprint Car Poll
rank, driver (first place votes), hometown, state/province, points
1., Donny Schatz (23), Fargo, ND, 2260
2., Daryn Pittman, Owasso, OK, 1125
3., Dale Blaney (1), Fowler, OH, 644
4., Kerry Madsen, St. Marys, NSW, AUS, 521
5., Paul McMahan, Elk Grove, CA, 494
6., Joey Saldana, Brownsburg, IN, 483
7., Greg Hodnett, Memphis, TN, 304
8., Brian Brown, Grain Valley, MO, 295
9., Brad Sweet, Grass Valley, CA, 233
10., David Gravel, Watertown, CT, 216
11., Rico Abreu, St. Helena, CA, 161
12., Ian Madsen, St. Marys, NSW, AUS, 120
13., Stevie Smith, New Oxford, PA, 101
14., Steve Kinser, Bloomington, IN, 80
15., Kyle Hirst, Sacramento, CA, 59
16., Shane Stewart, Bixby, OK, 54
17., Danny Dietrich, Aspers, PA, 50
18., Billy Balog, Fairbanks, AK, 41
tie, Sammy Swindell, Memphis, TN, 41
20., Terry McCarl, Altoona, IA, 35
21., Lance Dewease, Fayetteville, PA, 31
22., Cody Darrah, Red Lion, PA, 27
tie, Danny Holtgraver, Pittsburgh, PA, 27
24., Tim Shaffer, Aliquippa, PA, 26
25., Jac Haudenschild, Wooster, OH, 23
Also receiving multiple votes: Christopher Bell, Mark Dobmeier, Craig Dollansky, Lee Jacobs, Kraig Kinser, Don Kreitz (Jr.), Danny Lasoski, Byron Reed.