Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260081
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M. J. DOUGHERTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Sure, there was some smoke and psychedelic lights from the disc jockey on the dance floor during the post-awards celebration.
And, most importantly to the drivers, crews and fans who assembled at the Salem Civic Center, a lot of awards.
More than 50 drivers received some sort of honor, along with more than a dozen mechanics, crews and car owners.
The biggest honor went to Ray Young of Bassett. He was the first recipient of the Curtis Turner Memorial Hard-Charger Award. It caught Young completely off-guard.
``I had no idea,'' Young said after the awards ceremony, still somewhat in shock over being selected for the honor. ``I wasn't expecting it. This is a big award.''
Bunny Turner, widow of the racing legend, and R.B. Duncan, sponsor of the award, presented Young with a trophy featuring a rare replica of Turner's orange-and-white No. 26 race car and a check for $1,000.
Young was selected from among the 20 weekly winners of the award by a five-person panel that consisted of Turner, Duncan, track promoter Ronnie Snoddy, track co-owner John Frazier and track publicist Morris Stephenson. Young twice received the weekly honor in the last half of the season, including the week after his first career NASCAR Late Model victory.
``One of the reasons I am pleased Ray won the award is that he started in go-carts,'' Bunny Turner said. ``He doesn't have a lot of experience in Late Models. But he is developing into a tough driver.''
Probably the biggest winners besides Young were Late Model Champion Jeff Agnew of Floyd and Mini Stock Champ Gene Duncan of Radford.
Agnew took home about one-fourth of the nearly $40,000 post-season prize fund awarded by NRVS and NASCAR, including his contingency money for next year. In addition to the championship gold ring, track jacket, photo collage, portrait and silver platter given to the winners of all five racing divisions, Agnew received a racing helmet from the Winston Racing Series and a jacket from division sponsor X1-R.
Duncan won everything in his division except best-appearing crew. He won the championship and had the most poles (17) and tied for the most wins (12, along with Pure Stock's Tommy Allie) of any driver at the track. As a car owner, his Nissan received the award for the best-appearing car in Mini Stock. And the fans voted him the most popular driver in the division.
``We kind of lucked out,'' Duncan said as he carried his haul of awards from the civic center to his car.
FAN AWARDS:Fans got a chance to vote on three awards - best-appearing car, best-appearing crew and most popular driver. The awards were spread around, with only Mini Stock kingpin Duncan winning two of them. Robert Cox had the best-appearing crew in that division.
In Late Model, Kennis Prillaman, owner of the Oldsmobile driven by his son, Kenny, had the best-looking car; Chad Harris had the best-looking crew; and Stacy Compton was the most popular driver.
In Limited, the Chevrolet of driver-car owner Bruce Brown was the best-appearing car; Charlie Miles' team was the best-appearing crew; and Rock Harris was the most popular driver.
In Modified Mini, car owner John Kytchen had the best-looking car for the mini Ford Thunderbird driven by Jimmy Hinkley and K.J. Bishop; Charlie Smith had the best-appearing team; and Tony Howell was the most popular driver.
And in Pure Stock, Don ``Doodles'' Dirico and 02 Racing received the best-appearing car honors for the 1967 Chevy Chevelle driven by Grump Wills. Ronnie Vaught was honored for having the best-looking crew; and Davis ``Ducky'' Phillips was the most popular driver.
UNOFFICIAL AWARDS: A couple of drivers used their turns at the microphone to present awards of their own.
Pure Stock champ Phillips brought Jeff Hill to the stage and gave him a plaque for being the best engine builder.
Agnew, after accepting the Late Model honors for the third time in four years, presented loving cups to Lew Shelor and Robert Cloud.
Then there were the less serious - and highly unofficial - awards at the end of the program.
Just Ask Racing presented its driver, Tony Rogers of Cloverdale, with a plaque of their own for his performance this year. Rogers finished eighth in the division in points.
Track announcer Art Boothe brought up former track regular and now part-time announcing assistant Orvil Reedy. Boothe gave Reedy a light from his airstrip as a ``Good Friend'' award. Besides sometimes backing up Boothe in the announcers' booth, Reedy helped Boothe, an avid pilot, get a lighting system for the home runway.
Stephenson had a Matchbox-sized Goodyear Blimp for track promoter Snoddy. With all of the coverage NRVS has received from television, radio and newspapers, Stephenson figured all that was missing was the blimp.
Finally, Giles County-based 02 Racing presented fellow Giles resident Aaron Deplazes with an award for the most black flags. Deplazes, whose black No. 3 Chevrolet resembled the car of Winston Cup champ Dale Earnhardt and whose aggressive driving style got him in as much trouble as Earnhardt found himself in early in his career, thanked Dirico and Lynn Carroll - the track's chief steward and the man who issues the black flags - for the award.
UPCOMING EVENTS: Believe it or not, racing season is almost here. It opens at NRVS April 8.
The Late Models have open practices for the $25,000-to-win race at Martinsville Feb. 25 and March 8.
But there are race-related activities as soon as Saturday. That's NASCAR Night at the Roanoke Express hockey game at the Roanoke Civic Center. The game against Wheeling starts at 7:30 p.m. and there will be displays, autographs and giveaways featuring stock car drivers, including NRVS regulars, beforehand. Tickets cost $6 to $8.50, with discounts for senior citizens, students and children.
The New River Valley Mall gets into the act with its second annual New River Valley Speedway car show March 25.
Finally, for those who want to go racing but don't know where to get the stuff to do so, there is the Racer's Auction & Parts Sale March 4 at the Radford Auto Auction. Admission is $5.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB