MacLeod wins Kara Hendrick award

ALISON MacLEOD RECEIVES KARA HENDRICK AWARD

Alison MacLeod of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada is the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Kara Hendrick Award. The award was presented today at Lyn St. James' "Women in the Winners Circle" gala at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The 19-year-old MacLeod, who finished second in the 2007 USAC National Ford Focus Championship became USAC's winningest female driver ever Wednesday night, surpassing Stephanie Mockler and Audra Sasselli, who own five feature victories in USAC competition. MacLeod led all 30 laps to win the USAC Regional Midget feature Wednesday at Anderson, Ind. to post her sixth career USAC triumph. She accepted her distinctive award from USAC President/CEO Kevin Miller.

MacLeod was part of the unprecedented female "podium sweep" in USAC's August 3 Indianapolis Speedrome Ford Focus feature, finishing second to Mockler and ahead of Erica Santos at the checkered flag! She is a member of the potent Bob and Janice East racing team of Brownsburg, Ind. and has accounted for four of the last five USAC female feature victories. Previous 2008 USAC wins came in June and July at Morris, Ill. and Anderson, Ind. Her first USAC win came in 2005, just three weeks after her 16th birthday!

MacLeod, a member of the Ford Racing Driver Development Program and a product of the USAC ladder system, including Kenyon Midgets, led a star-studded field of female drivers from various forms of motorsports who were saluted at today's luncheon. Her award honors the memory of one of USAC's most accomplished female drivers, Kara Hendrick, who posted a pair of USAC TQ Midget feature wins before tragically losing her life during a USAC Western Midget event at El Cajon, Calif. in 1991.

Previous winners of the Kara Hendrick Award are Mockler (2007), Melanie Troxel (2006), Sondi Eden (2005), Erin Crocker (2004) and Sarah McCune (2003).

-credit: --USAC--