plus 3, Series Championship Banquet news ... - Motorsport.com

Series Championship Banquet news ... - Motorsport.com
Greatest Winternationals moments voting begins - Motorsport.com
2 charged with homicide by vehicle in Windsor crash that killed teen - Reading Eagle
Pro Racing announces structure, personnel changes - Motorsport.com

Series Championship Banquet news ... - Motorsport.com

Posted: 25 Nov 2009 04:25 PM PST

Tissot Watches will honor AMA Racing Athletes of the Year at the AMA Racing Championship Banquet, presented by KTM North America

PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is proud to announce that Tissot, an innovative Swiss-made watch brand, will present the AMA Racing Athlete of the Year and ATV Athlete of the Year with a Tissot Swiss watch at the 2009 AMA Racing Championship Banquet, presented by KTM North America, this Dec. 4 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas.

"Tissot watches are among the premier timepieces you can buy today," said AMA Director of Business Development Jim Moore. "The particular chronograph model that the company is offering our Athletes of the Year is intriguing. With its automatic, self-winding functions, clear caseback and day and date display, this watch is as eye-catching as it is functional."

Riders nominated for the AMA Racing Athlete of the Year include: Russell Bobbitt from Fayetteville, Ga., the 2009 champion of the AMA/Rekluse National Enduro Championship Series, presented by Moose Racing; Greg Hancock from Costa Mesa, Calif., the 2009 champion of the AMA/USA Speedway National Championship; and Russ Pearson from Henderson Nev., the 2009 champion of the AMA Racing Hare & Hound National Championship.

Riders nominated for the AMA Racing ATV Athlete of the Year include: Chris Borich from Sunbury, Pa., the 2009 champion of the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series; Paula Shank from Petersburg, Pa., the 2009 Women's class and Production B class champion in the AMA Racing ATV Extreme Dirt Track National Championship; and Brandon Sommers from Millersburg, Ohio, the 2009 champion in the AMA Racing National ATV Hare Scrambles Championship.

"The AMA Racing Athlete of the Year and ATV Athlete of the Year are two riders who have risen to the top of their respective disciplines as two of the fastest, most-talented motorsports stars on the track today," said Brand President, Tissot U.S., Sharon Buntain. "We're excited for the opportunity to be associated with these top talents, and proud to offer a Tissot Swiss watch that exemplifies the precision shown by these competitors: the Tissot PRS516 Automatic Chronograph, personalized for each racer."

In addition to the AMA Athletes of the Year, hundreds of champions and other special honorees will be recognized at the AMA Racing Championship Banquet, presented by KTM North America.

The celebratory weekend will also include the 2009 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, held the following evening on Dec. 5, also at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas.

Led by Master of Ceremonies Perry King, legendary actor of stage, screen and TV, the event will officially welcome the 2009 class to the Hall of Fame. This year's inductees are industry innovator Robert Bates, off-road racer Randy Hawkins, motorsports giants Bob and Geoff Fox, suspension pioneer Gilles Vaillancourt, off-highway rights activist Mona Ehnes, longtime motorcycle safety proponent David Hough, noted race team manager Gary Mathers and successful dirt-track racer and tuner Chuck Palmgren.

The weekend program will feature the 2009 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Concours d'Elegance, presented by FOX Racing Shox, on Saturday morning, and include some of the most beautiful motorcycles in existence. In addition, attendees will be able to meet the 2009 Hall of Fame inductees and other Hall of Famers at an autograph session held earlier in the day.

Advance ticket purchase is required for both the AMA Racing Championship Banquet, presented by KTM North America, and the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Tickets, which include dinner, cost $49 per person per single event, or $89 per person for both events. To purchase tickets, visit AmericanMotorcyclist.com/LetsRock. Tickets will remain on sale through Nov. 29. Admission to the Hall of Fame autograph session and the Concours d'Elegance, presented by FOX Racing Shox, bike show is free.

-credit: ama

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Greatest Winternationals moments voting begins - Motorsport.com

Posted: 25 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST

50TH ANNUAL KRAGEN O'REILLY NHRA WINTERNATIONALS TO RECOGNIZE 'GREATEST MOMENT' IN EVENT'S HISTORY

GLENDORA, Calif. (Nov. 25, 2009) -- Since 1961, the legendary NHRA Winternationals has been thrilling NHRA race fans with the unveiling of innovative race cars, incredible rookie debuts, unprecedented firsts, and dramatic finishes that have provided a supercharged launch to NHRA seasons for five decades.

To help salute the milestone 50th anniversary Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals, coming to Auto Club Raceway at Pomona Feb. 11-14, NHRA fans will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite Winternationals moment of the past 49 years in a special month-long poll on NHRA.com.

Voting begins today at 5:30 p.m. ET on NHRA.com and will continue through to midnight, Dec. 31.

A panel of experts selected the top 25 moments in Winternationals history from which to choose. From the first NHRA victories of quarter-mile icons Don Garlits, Don Prudhomme, and Bill Jenkins or Shirley Shahan's breakthrough as the first woman to win a major NHRA event to the debut of "Big Daddy's" revolutionary rear-engined Top Fueler, the flying Hawaiian Funny Car, the Freight Train, Eddie Hill's Top Fuel blowover and more, they're all here.

Moments 6 through 25 will be revealed in reverse order on NHRA.com in the weeks before the 2010 event, and the top five will be announced during race week, culminating with the unveiling of the top moment during Sunday's pre-race festivities at the 50th annual event.

Below, in chronological order, are the top 25 moments:

1963, Garlits Goes Big

Don Garlits already was a drag racing legend, but his first NHRA win, with a revolutionary and controversial winged Top Fuel dragster, really puts him on the map

1963, The Mystery Train

Bob Muravez, forbidden by his parents to drag race, wins Top Gas in the fabled Freight Train twin-engine dragster using the pseudonym Floyd Lippencott

1965-66, Hawaiian Domination

Car owner Roland Leong wins Top Fuel back to back, giving Don Prudhomme his first win in 1965 and Mike Snively his a year later

1966, Ladies Day

Shirley Shahan becomes the first woman to win a major drag racing national event eliminator title with her stunning victory in the popular Top Stock class

1968, Galloping Ponies

Ford crashes Mopar's Stocker monopoly with a fleet of 10 Cobra Jet Mustangs, and Al Joniec, at the wheel of the Rice-Holman entry, collects the victory

1969, The Flyin' Hawaiian

Roland's Leong's first Hawaiian Funny Car, an ill-handling, full-size Dodge Charger driven by Larry Reyes, takes flight and sails backward through the finish-line lights. The duo wins the race the following year

1970, 'Grumpy' Rules First Pro Stock Go

Crowd favorite Bill Jenkins wins NHRA's first Pro Stock title, besting the previously unbeatable Sox & Martin team in the final with low e.t. of the meet

1971, Garlits Kicks 'em in the Rear

A year after a near-career-ending accident, Don Garlits wins Top Fuel with a revolutionary rear-engine dragster in its NHRA national event debut

1974, Roll Over, Ivo

Tommy Ivo barrel-rolls his beautiful Top Fuel dragster in the finish-line lights during qualifying in a fiery and car-destroying crash

1975, Garlits' Gift

Don Garlits smokes the tires against Don Ewald in round one of Top Fuel, but Ewald is disqualified for crossing the centerline. Garlits wins the event and season title and admits that had he not won the Winternationals, he likely would not have pursued the championship

1975, In Hindsight ...

Dennis Geisler calls his rare rear-engine Funny Car Hindsight; after he backflips the flopper in a huge starting-line wheelstand, he might have had second thoughts on its design

1978, The Real Winter-nationals

Southern California is supposed to be home to sunshine and blue skies, but the 1978 event is besieged by foul weather, including a rare dusting of snow

1981, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The roof of Raymond Beadle's famed Blue Max Funny Car blows off at the finish line on a winning semifinal run, but fellow Texan Kenny Bernstein allows Beadle to saw the roof off of his car and graft it to the Max. Beadle loses the final but not for lack of effort

1982, Seven Seconds to Glory

After years of using a complicated weight-break rule, NHRA switches Pro Stock to a straight-up 500-cubic-inch limit. The big horsepower gains lead to the class' first seven-second pass, by the late Lee Shepherd

1984-85, Thar She Blows (again)!

Al Segrini wins dramatic back-to-back Funny Car titles. In 1984, he rides out a huge top-end blower explosion; the following year, he crosses the finish line with a cockpit full of sparks from a disintegrating clutch

1986, Too Slick for Its Own Good

Gary Ormsby unveils a super-swoopy streamliner, and the car's debut is a bang ... in the worst way. An ignition short caused by the engine-cloaking body leads to a huge blower explosion in the water box on its first pass

1987, The America's Cup, Quarter-Mile Style

While U.S. sailors battle the Australians in the America's Cup, American Kenny Bernstein and Aussie Graeme Cowin wage their own war in Funny Car, complete with flags on their tow vehicles

1989, Up, Up, and Away

Eddie "the Thrill" Hill lives up to his nickname after a front-spoiler malfunction sends his yellow Top Fuel dragster soaring across the finish line

1990, Upset of the Decade

With the ink practically still wet on his nitro license, K.C. Spurlock wins Funny Car in his Pro debut, knocking off John Force, Bruce Larson, and, in the final, Ed "the Ace" McCulloch

1993, 'The King' Gets Crowned

Kenny Bernstein loses more than the Top Fuel final to Joe Amato. The former world champ loses, in succession, an engine, a tire, control of his race car, and the race car itself in a violent top-end tumble that leaves "the Bud King" dazed but unhurt

1997, Scelzi Sez ... Winner

Gary Scelzi wins at his first event since taking the wheel of Alan Johnson's dragster five months after the death of Alan's brother, Blaine. He becomes the first driver since K.C. Spurlock in 1990 to win in his Pro debut

1998, 'The Snake's' Double Strike

The two fuel cars owned by Don "the Snake" Prudhomme double up with wins by Larry Dixon and Ron Capps. Prudhomme hasn't won as a driver or owner in Pomona since 1978

2001, Rookies Rule

Former Top Alcohol Dragster racer Darrell Russell joins Gary Scelzi and K.C. Spurlock as the only drivers to score in their Professional debuts by winning aboard Joe Amato's Top Fuel dragster with rookie crew chief Jimmy Walsh

2006, That's Really Showing 'em

Robert Hight's Funny Car engine blows in round two, destroying the body. The team pulls the body off its show car and wins

2008, The Kid is All Right

Former Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Antron Brown shows that he is as adept on four wheels as on two when he qualifies No. 1 in his Top Fuel debu t

-credit: nhra

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2 charged with homicide by vehicle in Windsor crash that killed teen - Reading Eagle

Posted: 25 Nov 2009 09:04 PM PST

State police have charged two men with homicide by vehicle, saying they were racing and weaving in and out of traffic on Route 61 in Windsor Township on July 26 before a crash that killed the brother of one of the drivers.

Scott M. Donofrio, 25, of the 1000 block of East Fourth Street, Birdsboro, and Codie A. Berk, 20, of the 500 block of Dreibelbis Mill Road, Perry Township, were arraigned Tuesday before District Judge Gloria W. Stitzel.

Berk and Donofrio turned themselves in after Stitzel signed arrest warrants requested by Trooper Derek Beck of the Hamburg station.

Berk and Donofrio remained free to await further court action on charges of homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person and traffic offenses.

Berk's brother, Austin L. Berk, 15, of Perry Township was pronounced dead at the scene.

Berks County Coroner Dennis J. Hess said he died of multiple injuries and the death was ruled a homicide.

Beck gave this account:

Witnesses reported the cars driven by Donofrio and Berk and a motorcycle driven by Cory Hoffert, age unavailable, of Hamburg appeared to be racing and passing several vehicles on the shoulder before the crash near Schappell Road about 3:15 p.m.

One witness said he was driving in the right lane about 65 mph when the two cars passed him and several other motorists on the shoulder. The witness remembered that a motorcycle was weaving in and out of traffic to keep up with the two cars.

Hoffert told investigators that he had been at the Berkshire Mall with the Berks, whom he knew.

He said they left the mall and were northbound on Route 61 through Shoemakersville on their way home when they saw Donofrio's car.

Hoffert said Donofrio and Codie Berk were speeding and driving recklessly and saw Donofrio pass a car on the right shoulder. He estimated the cars were going 80 mph to 90 mph.

Hoffert, who has not been charged, said he was two car lengths behind Donofrio's car when he saw Donofrio, who was in the left lane, swerve at Berk's car in the right lane.

Berk swerved back at Donofrio, who steered sharply into the right lane, cutting off Berk. The rear bumper of Donofrio's car struck the front bumper of Berk's car and Berk lost control.

The car swerved several times before it hit an embankment on the right side of the road and went airborne.

Investigators said the car soared about 90 feet, hit the ground, went airborne a second time and slammed into the overhang of a stone barn.

Donofrio stopped along the shoulder. He was not hurt.

Emergency responders found Austin Berk dead in the car. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Codie Berk was flown to St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, where he was admitted with multiple injuries.

Contact Steven Henshaw: 610-371-5028 or shenshaw@readingeagle.com.

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Pro Racing announces structure, personnel changes - Motorsport.com

Posted: 25 Nov 2009 07:46 PM PST

AMA Pro Racing Announces Structure and Personnel Changes

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (November 25, 2009) - AMA Pro Racing announces today the restructuring of its corporate infrastructure and other changes in personnel.

AMA Pro Racing Managing Member, David Atlas has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. Atlas will now have day to day operational control of AMA Pro Racing with Managing Member and President Roger Edmondson moving to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer position. This will enable Edmondson to focus on the overall direction of AMA Pro Racing and its vision for the future.

Atlas brings thirty years of motor racing experience to his new role, having been actively engaged with various sanctioning groups, racing teams and in driver management. Atlas was one of the original AMA Pro Racing managing members and will now focus on the day-to-day operational aspects of the AMA Pro Racing operation.

As the new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Edmondson will continue to provide the vision and direction for AMA Pro Racing. Roger's extensive history in motorcycle racing gives him a unique perspective on class creation and where the sport will grow and develop with his very unique understanding of the latest trends in the business.

AMA Pro Racing confirms the departure of Roy Janson from the company. Janson, who has been in the sport for forty years, will be relocating back to his home in Ohio for non-threatening health reasons. Janson will continue to be available to AMA Pro Racing as an independent contractor/consultant.

Joining the AMA Pro Racing operation will be racing and communications veteran John Szymanski as the Director of Public Relations and overall communications.

Szymanski brings over thirty years of racing experience having worked with teams, drivers, tracks and major manufacturers in a variety of roles within the sport. He will provide a consistent and thorough face to the PR role with AMA Pro Racing.

-credit: ama

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