RACING SCENE – (NMDOTY--2016) by Tim Kennedy
LOS ANGELES – The National Midget Driver of the Year originated in 1999. Midget auto racing publicist, announcer and columnist Bryan Gapinski, a Wisconsin resident, had the idea to recognize midget racing drivers from all parts of the country in a unique point series. It did not matter which sanctioning body was their primary sanctioning body. He devised an annual series of awards for all midget races in the country and included all sanctioning bodies and open-competition events.
Gapinski developed a sliding scale point system for main event victories and lower positions. His system used several key factors in awarding NMDOTY points. These factors are:
> Midget car count at the event.
> Total Midget Purse for each event.
> Prestige of the midget event. For example, the Tulsa (OK) Chili Bowl, Belleville (KS) Nationals, Hut Hundred in Indiana, and Turkey Night GP (CA) award the most points per position.
The first NMDOTY champion in 1999 was Jason Leffler. He ran 31 races, had 10 wins and scored 1,737 points. Total events that awarded points—551; total drivers who earned points-224. Tracks – 85 (11 dirt and 113 paved) in 25 states.
In 2000 NMDOTY champion Kasey Kahne, from Washington, ran 27 midget races, won nine features and scored 1,531 points. Total events that awarded points—527; total drivers with points 213. Tracks 63 (110 dirt and 103 paved) in 27 states.
From 2001 on the NMDOTY champions were Tracy Hines, Aaron Fike (2002-03), Bobby East, Brad Kuhn (2005-06), Jerry Coons, Jr, Tracy Hines again, and Bryan Clauson (2009-10). Coons, from Tucson, compiled the highest point total during that period. He also ran the most races (47) and won the most features (14). The total number of races always topped 500 with 588 during 2008 being the most races in a year. Total number of drivers earning points in this national system varied from 179 to 226. Tracks varied from 63 to 83 with dirt tracks outnumbering paved tracks by three or four to one.
In 2001 the NMDOTY started awarding points based on the chassis manufacturers and engines. The winners each year through 2010 were: Stealth, Beast, Stealth for three years in a row, and Spike for four consecutive years. Gaerte was the leading engine for the first four years through 2004. Then Esslinger won the next five seasons.
The NMDOTY Rookie of the Year Award started in 2002. Some rookies honored went on to racing glory as you will notice in the names of NMDOTY honorees. They were: Indy 500 veteran James Chesson, Sean Caisse, Brett Anderson, Brad Loyet, Chase Barber, Brad Sweet, Nic Faas, NASCAR Cup driver Alex Bowman, Dalton Armstrong, and Jake Blackhurst.
The 2014-16 NMDOTY point seasons have produced two USAC-based champions—Christopher Bell (2014) and Tanner Thorson (2015-16). John Godfrey's Spike chassis firm won the chassis manufacturer title each of the last three seasons and Esslinger engines did the same among engine builders. In 2014 Bell ran 16 races and won once while scoring 1,631 points. In 2015 Keith Kunz driver Thorson ran 30 times and won seven mains en-route to 1,232 NMDOTY points. Thorson's 2016 totals were 50 races, 16 wins and 1,434 points. The most recent rookies of the year have been: Rico Abreu, Spencer Bayston, Kyle Schuett, and fast-rising 20-year old Carson Macedo, from central California in 2016.
NMDOTY 2016 Season: It is interesting to review the most recent midget season that culminated with the running of the USAC National and Western Series Thanksgiving Night Midget Grand Prix at Jim Naylor's Ventura Raceway. There were 177 midget races in 2016 and 505 drivers scored NMDOTY points.
The top ten in 2016 NMDOTY points by driver, with points races and wins in following columns were:
Pos. Driver Points Races Wins
1 Tanner Thorson (Nev.) 1434 50 16
2 Carson Macedo (Calif.) 1173 45 3
3 Spencer Bayston (Ind.) 1132 50 3
4 Zach Daum (Ill.) 1058 37 4
5 Brady Bacon (Okla) 753 24 1
6 Bryan Clauson (Ind.) 744 21 5
7 Tyler Thomas (Okla) 685 28 0
8 Chad Boat (Ariz) 656 22 3
9 Justin Peck (Ind) 636 40 1
10 Ryan Robinson (Calif) 602 45 0
Other drivers of interest are:
11 Rico Abreu (Calif) 574 12 4
14 Holly Shelton (Calif) 558 47 0
17 Ronnie Gardner (Calif) 493 15 6
22 Kyle Larson (Calif) 376 5 2
23 Shane Golobic (Calif) 374 16 1
43 Courtney Crone (Calif) 221 17 0
47 Maria Cofer (Calif) 210 20 0
49 Robert Dalby (Calif) 202 17 1
The top ten car owners in 2016 NMDOTY points were:
1 No. 67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian 1441
2 No. 97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian 1323
3 No.71k Kunz/Curb-Agajanian 1222
4 No. 5 Dan Daum 1053
5 No. 63 Joe Dooling 694
6 No. 76 FMR Racing 648
7 No. 71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian 612
8 No. 91 Brian Thomas 591
9 No. 84 Boat/Tucker 555
10 No. 7 Austin Brown 441
The top five in the manufacturers championship were:
1 Spike 58 wins
2 Bullet 31 wins
3 Beast 17 wins
4 Boss 17 wins
5 Drinan 11 wins
The top five engine builders were:
1 Esslinger 65 wins
2 Toyota 44 wins
3 Gaerte 17 wins
4 Stanton 14 wins
5 Fontana 10 wins
NMDOTY Rookie of the Year
1 Carson Macedo 1173 points
2 Holly Shelton 558 points
3 Courtney Crone 221 points
4 Maria Cofer 210 points
5 Robert Sellers 84 points
NMDOTY 2016 WESTERN POINT STANDINGS
Driver Points Races Wins
1 Ronnie Gardner 467 14 6
2 Cory Elliott 394 20 1
3 Michael Faccinto 330 15 2
4 Keith Rauch 299 9 7
5 Frankie Guerinni 269 16 0
6 Alex Schutte 221 9 5
7 Courtney Crone 213 17 0
8 Maria Cofer 199 12 0
9 Robert Dalby 192 17 1
10 Tony Seidelman 170 8 7
WESTERN CAR OWNER STANDINGS
1 No. 68 Six8 Racing 364 points
2 No. 27 Petrauro Racing 299 points
3 No. 11 Cory Elliott 274 points
4 No. 35 Michael Faccinto 260 points
5 No. 28 Alex Schutte 173 points
The NMDOTY website is: www.NMDOTY.com.
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