Charlie Campbell Named NYSRRC Driver of the Year for 2007
Charlie Campbell was named 2007 Driver of the Year at the series banquet held on November 24th at the El Monte Inn Restaurant in Elmira, New York. Charlie, a MoHud member, competed in 8 of the 10 weekends, and 14 of 17 races. He had 3 wins on the way to the SM Class Championship. Charlie also had four 2nd's (including a 2nd of 25 at the Fun One), three 3rd's (again of 25 at the Fun One). He amassed 317 points (of which 39 were dropped) on the way to also finishing with the most points overall (278).
The Inter-Regional Award (which goes to the region whose drivers collected the most points) went to the New England Region (NER).
Michael Cohen was named the 2007 Best New Driver. Michael, from the Glen Region, competed in 4 weekends on the way to accumulating 122 points, and winning in GT1.
Jeff Harding was named the 2007 Most Improved Driver. Jeff, an NER member, competed in 7 weekends (and 11 races) on his way to 196 points, and first place in the very tightly contested ITS class. Jeff had 3 wins, and 3 seconds, and only one field was under 10 cars (that one had 8). Last season, Jeff had 5 weekends (6 races) and 80 points to finish 4th in ITS.
The John Chave ("never give up") award was given to Ken Fisher for 2007. Ken kept trying, through many mechanical problems, and a couple of crashes, and still managed to qualify and win the SPU class.
The Robert W. Stephens Award (awarded by the Glen Region to the person who exemplifies the NYSRRC founders "In the Spirit of the Sport") was presented to Charlie Campbell of Mo-Hud. Charlie, while winning SM and overall, was always around, helping other drivers, finding parts, and being the all-round nice guy that he is. This award was well-deserved.
The Scuderia DOM Award ("The Jim Burleigh Award") was presented to Mary Hartman. Mary has worked medical, timing and scoring, as well as driving her SSC Neon.
The 2007 Eddie Whitmore Award (chosen by the FV drivers) went to Jeff Filipkowski, of the Philadelphia region. Jeff's family (wife and son) made the trip to the banquet with him, and provided entertainment for the evening. (his son is adorable!) When Ed Z. introduced Bill Green to give a 'brief history of NYSRRC', Jeff's son (sorry, I don't remember his name) said 'make it long'!
The Top Ten point-getters were: Charlie Campbell (Mohud) 278 points, Darrell LaPoint (NER) 237, Kevin Treffeisen (SNYR) 226, Christopher Pluta (FLR) 215, Andrew Bettencourt (NER) 211, Jeff Harding (NER) 196, Robert Driscoll (NER) 194, Mike Feno (NNJR) also 194, Rik Benazic (NYR) 188, Michael Hausknecht (FLR) 183, and Jeff Filipkowski (PHIL) 178.
There were 17 class winners. They were: AS Joseph Balbi (NYR), CF Peter Klein (NYR), F500 Rusty Strate (WNY), FM Jim Esgrow (Glen), FV Jeff Filipkowski (PHIL), GT1 Michael Cohen (GLEN), GTL Darrell Anthony (NNJR), ITA Andrew Bettencourt (NER), ITB Enrik Benazic (NYR), ITC Meg Meyer (SJR), ITS Jeff Harding (NER), SM Charlie Campbell (MoHud), SPO Ben Phillips (NNJR), SPU Ken Fisher (WNY), SRF Kevin Treffeisen (SNYR), SSC Mary Hartman (FLR), and SSM Darrell LaPoint (NER).
Approximately 45 people attended the banquet. There were some nice NYSRRC patches at the tables. Several door prizes of 1/2 off future races were given out.
Emcee Ed Zebrowski introduced and presented the awards. It was a nice night, and everyone is looking forward to next season.