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EDWARDS, STEWART FIELDED ENTRIES FOR NATIONAL “ROOKIES OF THE YEAR” DODSON & STENHOUSE; PENNINGTON, JOSETT, SWANSON, INTRAVAIA & ROBERTSON ALSO GARNER 2007 ROOKIE HONORS

DECEMBER 18, 2007 --- Cameron Dodson of Greenfield, Ind. and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of Olive Branch, Miss. have been named 2007 USAC National “Rookies of the Year” and will be honored January 19 at USAC’s “Night of Champions” National Awards Dinner at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis, Ind.

Dodson earned the K & N Silver Crown Series “rookie” accolades piloting a car entered by NASCAR star and USAC vet Carl Edwards and RE Technologies of Bartlett, Tenn. Stenhouse earned dual honors in USAC’s Lucas Oil National Sprint Car and National Midget Car Series, driving team cars fielded by two-time NASCAR Champion and former USAC Triple Crown Champion Tony Stewart.

Dodson finished sixth in the final K & N Silver Crown standings after winning the “Copper World Classic” finale at Phoenix International Raceway. He also won the pole position at New Hampshire International Speedway and recorded a pair of third-place finishes.

Stenhouse ranked sixth in the Lucas Oil National Sprint Car points, winning at Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, Pa. and adding two other “podium” finishes. He finished third in the final National Midget points on the strength of five feature victories, a second and three thirds. He won the Knoxville Midget Nationals in Iowa and the Four-Crown Nationals at Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Ohio and was leading the series standings as late as late-July.

Stenhouse becomes only the second driver in history to claim both the Sprint and Midget “Rookie” honors in a single season, duplicating Darren Hagen’s 2005 feat. Michael Lewis also won Sprint (2003) and Midget (1998) honors, while Ryan Newman remains the only driver ever to win all three USAC National “rookie” honors, Midget in 1995, Silver Crown in 1996 and Sprint in 1999.

“Rookies of the Year” have also been named in USAC’s 2007 Ford Focus racing series and include Jordan Pennington of Mishawaka, Ind. (Midwest), Robby Josett of Santa Clarita, Calif. (California), Tanner Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. (Carolina) and Steven Intravaia of Saylorsburg, Pa. (Northeast). James Robertson of Indianapolis, Ind. is USAC’s 2007 Regional Midget “Rookie of the Year.”

USAC’s Western “Rookies of the Year,” honored at the Western Awards Banquet Nov. 24 in Arcadia, Calif., included Ryan Kaplan of Chico, Calif. (Sprints), C.J. Sarna of Palm Desert, Calif. and Quintin Crye of Gridley, Calif. (Midget) and Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind. (USAC/CRA Sprint).

Tickets for the USAC “Night of Champions,” priced at $75 are available by contacting Brenda Stafford at the USAC Headquarters at 317-247-5151.

How could Sotty Weir win the "Rookie of the Year" with USAC/CRA when he ran a full schedule with USAC last year. What happened to Hanson and Brown - they were certainly deserving and in their rookie season with USAC/CRA,

"Ralphie, Senor, muchas gracias por una mas cerveza"  -
Scott Daloisio @ the PAS

I agree. Not to take anything away from Scotty Weir, but how could he be considered a "rookie" when he drove with the USAC National Series last year. Not to mention the fact that he jumped into USAC/CRA with a team that has the ability to run up front every night out; and he would not have gotten this ride if were not for his performance last year with the USAC National Series. I would hardly consider Weir a "rookie." These are just my opinions of course.

I suggest that all of the people on this website vote for the true "Rookie of the Year" in the USAC/CRA series.

My vote goes to Tyler Brown based on his incredible performance in Hanford during the summer. Mr. Brown gave Kruesman, one of the best, all he could handle. I suspect Kruesman would say the same thing.

RADROBINLB

Every organization and track and group have different criteria for a rookie just like they all have different rules for racing.

I'd regard Scotty as a rookie. He didn't run the full USAC schedule last year. No matter how you look at it these ROY deals often come out kind of funny. In Cory and JJ's rookie year, Cory won the SCRA ROY and JJ the National Hall of Fame sprint car ROY even though they ran all their races in the same series. The wierdest ROY was the reigning F1 champion (Nigel Mansel) who won ROY in CART. That ROY award was always considered a joke because F1 cars are not all that different than CART cars and F1 is considered to be a superior form of motorsport. Next year, the reigning IRL champion is going for ROY in NASCAR and I doubt that hardly anyone will question that he really is a rookie in those cars. The way that most of the ROY rules are written unless you ran more than X races in a previous year with that sanctioning body then you are eligible to run for ROY the following year.