360 Sprint Car Poll Driver of the Year

Gary Wright Named North American 360 Sprint Car Poll "Driver of The Year" For 2004

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (December 9, 2004) - For the second year in a row, Gary Wright of Hooks, Texas, was voted the 2004 "Driver of the Year" by the North American 360 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers. The popular racer earned eleven (11) of the sixteen (16) first place ballots cast in the year-end poll. Gary Wright, the 2004 American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) point champion, also received the "Team of the Year" award.

Those drivers ranked second through fifth, respectively, are 2000 "Driver of the Year" Kenny Adams of Florida, United Sprint Car Series (USCS) point champion Terry Gray of Tennessee, Travis Rilat of Texas, and United Racing Club (URC) point champion Curt Michael of Delaware. Rounding out the 'top ten' for the season are Northern Sprint Tour (NST) champion Roger Crockett, California Civil War Series (CWS) titlist David Robinson, Jr., Sprints On Dirt (SOD) champion Dustin Daggett, Knoxville Raceway track champion Jake Peters, and 2001 "Driver of the Year" Zach Chappell, respectively.

In addition to Wright, others receiving first place votes were Adams, Gray, Michael, and Robinson, Jr. (two). Southern Ontario Sprints (SOS) point champion Cody Geldart of Ontario, Canada, earned the "Rookie of the Year" title. Bully Hill Vineyards Fall Sprint Nationals winner Trevor Lewis of URC won the "Wild Card Award" for his exciting sprint car performances. J.V. Brotherton of Brodix Cylinder Heads was again voted "Builder/Manufacturer of the Year", while Tracey Clay of the I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Arkansas, received the "Promoter of the Year" honors. Allan Holland of the popular www.hoseheads.com web-site earned the "Media Member of the Year" award. Hank Gentzler of Hank's Performance Products was posthumously honored with the 2004 "Outstanding Contribution to the Sport Award."

The North American 360 Sprint Car Poll is an annual awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Foundation, Inc., of Knoxville, Iowa.

<pre> FINAL 2004 NORTH AMERICAN 360 SPRINT CAR POLL

rank driver (first place votes) hometown, state         points
1.   Gary Wright (11)           Hooks, TX               1155
2.   Kenny Adams (1)            Malabar, FL             535
3.   Terry Gray (1)             Bartlett, TN            412
4.   Travis Rilat               Texas City, TX          350
5.   Curt Michael (1)           Ocean View, DE          274
6.   Roger Crockett             Rio Linda, CA           213
7.   David Robinson, Jr. (2)    Elk Grove, CA           172
8.   Dustin Daggett             Portland, MI            145
9.   Jake Peters                Sioux Falls, SD         138
10.  Zach Chappell              Talala, OK              99
11.  Tim Crawley                Benton, AR              79
12.  Loren Langerud             Harwood, ND             76
13.  Lance Yonge                Penn Yan, NY            69
14.  Kevin Welsh                Far Hills, NJ           66
15.  Danny Martin, Jr.          Sarasota, FL            60
16.  Shane Stewart              Bixby, OK               37
17.  Kevin Ramey                Ft. Worth, TX           31
18.  Mike Brecht                Deshler, OH             30
19.  Trevor Lewis               Upper Black Eddy, PA    28
20.  George Suprick, III        Clarks Summit, PA       22
21.  Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.       Olive Branch, MS        21
22.  Darren Stewart             Bixby, OK               18
23.  Cody Geldart               Mossley, ONT, CAN       16
tie  Dan Kaszubinski            Syracuse, NY            16
25.  Billy Alley                Lincoln, NE             12
tie  Rick Wilson                Joyceville, ONT, CAN    12

Also receiving multiple votes: Jerry Bell, Toby Brown, Dave Ely, Chuck Gurney, Jr., David Hesmer, Terry Hinck, John Kearney, Bobby Mincer, Blake Robertson, Brian Seidel, Andy Shouse, T.J. Stutts, Brad Sweet, Chad Trout.

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