*With over 300 distinguished guests attending the beautiful Stockyards venue this past Saturday night amazing drivers, crews, families, and friends alike all were treated to amazing spread of food from HotRod Chicken! Man did it taste great! We encourage anyone that couldn’t attend this year to make a note now not to miss next year!! Tables were decorated in each teams’ colors with balloons, confetti, props and photos. This year, just like on the track, Clint Smith could not be beat with his table winning “Best Decorated” taking with him a $50 gift card for his team’s efforts.
*Then the night turned to the awards portion. Each Champion was given a Championship Ring provided by Central Spray Foam and Cement Lifting owners Ethyn Hafner and Shelby Stucky. Along with an envelope of $$ each champ was handed the Eagle trophy every driver covets. All but one champ anyway…… Dylan Doty walked on stage and was given a ring-pop and a stuffed Do-Do bird for his mini-stock championship, but after a few tears and protest his real ring and Eagle emerged from the back room!!! All kidding aside, we want to congratulate all of the teams that were recognized as we know how hard it is and how much time, money, and effort you all pour into this sport.
*This year the speedway lost a huge part of who we are, and we could not think of a better way to honor him than naming and presenting the Jack Lamb Friend of 81 Speedway Award. This year the award was first given to Wendell Allen. Wendell spends countless hours fixing or improving our equipment around the racetrack. He and Jack worked together on many projects. Wendell is a behind the scenes reason why we are successful. The second recipients were Chris and Brandy Holle. These two showed up when we were faced with week after week rain-threatening cancellation. Usually found running piece of equipment, they demonstrated the will power to make sure we could race! They would work 6-7 hours alongside us all until Chris was forced to get in his race car and make the show himself. They are always so selfless. They may have a hard shell on the outside, but would help anyone at the drop of a hat. We are excited to see how HRT Motorsports grows this year…everyone should look forward to what they can offer this season.
The night was winding down when a speedway staple, Broadway Truck and Auto, spoke up and offered a “Golden Ticket” pit pass as the last door prize. Kevin Newell’s ticket was drawn and will be given a free pit pass to every weekly show this season!
*We want to thank all of the employees and volunteers that we now consider our speedway Family. I could say it 10,000 times but it would never be enough.
81 speedway looks forward to The Godfather Enduro brought to you by Diana and Rodney Chaffin from Broadway Truck and Auto!
See ya in a few weeks!