2018 Rockett Brand Racing Fuel E.T. Bracket Series Banquet

This past Saturday's 2018 year banquet, as in the past, was led off with the social hour. This gave the racers, guests and families time to gather and talk. It was good to catch up, reminisce and talk about the upcoming season.

Sam Martin, Manager of Route 66 Raceway Operations, officially opened the banquet.

Sam introduced Track President Scott Paddock, for a few remarks, thanking all the racers and families for their support. He also announced a little tease of some new upcoming events which should be exciting.

This was followed by Track Chaplain Bill Beagle giving the dinner invocation. Bill has been the long time Route 66 Raceway Chaplain.

On to Dinner!

Near the conclusion of dinner, Greg Nickleski, Rt. 66 Track Announcer was brought to the podium to begin the presentation of awards.

The first class announced was the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League Junior Sportsman. This year's champion was Cooper Hamelen with two wins and one runner-up.

Standings:
1. Cooper Hamelen
2. Holden Grimes
3. Hayley Becker (tie)
3. Cole Campbell (tie)
5. Ava Valencia

Cooper Hamelen

L-R Sam Martin, Ava Valencia, Hayley Becker, Holden Grimes, Cooper Hamelen

Next up was the Junior Modifieds Division of the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League. This year's Champion was Ryan Elberts with one win and one Semi.

​Standings:

1. Ryan Elberts
2. Allison Furman
3. Sydney Senko
4. Nate Kelley
​5. Tori Trench

Ryan Elberts

L-R Sam Martin, Tori Trench, Nate Kelley, Sydney Senko, Allison Furman, Ryan Elberts

Also announced, were the 2018 NHRA Junior Drag Racing Challenge Winners: Kyle Mackie, Junior Modified and Cole Campbell, Junior Sportsman.

The next awards to be announced was High School. The High School Champion was Connor Lawson with four wins and 2 runner up finishes.

Standings:

1. Connor Lawson
2.Tori Trench
3. Samantha Senko (tie)
3. Russell Gomien (tie)
5. Jonathon David

Connor Lawson

L-R Sam Martin, Jonathan David, Samantha Senko, Tori Trench, Connor Lawson

Bill Larson, the Rockett Brand Racing Fuel E.T. Bracket Series Announcer, was brought to the podium to announce the Series Awards. The first Award was the 2018 Route 66 Raceway Spirit Award. This year, three members of the racing family were selected to receive the award. The three gave an overwhelming effort that resulted in Route 66 winning the Division 3 Team Spirit Award at the Indy Finals. In addition, the three have been extremely supportive of their Husbands, Sons and Daughters in their racing efforts for many years. The recipients of the award are:

Renee Bogner, Sandy Trench and Denise Hooten!

L-R Sam Martin, Renee Bogner, Sandy Trench, Denise Hooten, Bill Larson

Continuing with the racers, the next class to be announced was Sportsman. This year the Sportsman Class was dominated by Paul O'keefe with two wins, three Runners up and one semi-final.

Standings:

1. Paul O'Keefe
2. Tony Lyons
3. Raymond St. Pierre
4. Steve Flounders Jr.
5. Andy Brodzinski Jr.
6. Jack Larsen
7. Meghan Hurley
8. Stephan Mroz
9. Joe Cesario
10. Roman Sakas (tie)
​10. Bill Larson (tie)

Paul O'Keefe

L-R Bill Larson, Roman Sakas, Joe Cesario, Stephen Mroz, Meghan Hurley, Andy Brodzinski Jr., Tony Lyons, Paul O'Keefe, Sam Martin

The next class to be announced was Pro Bike. The 2018 Champion was Bruce Damewood with three wins, one runner up and two semis.

Standings:

1. Bruce Damewood
2. Thomas Ewig
3. Frank Linders
4. Bob Foster Jr.
5. Mike Krueger

Bruce Damewood

L-R Mike Krueger, Bruce Damewood, Sam Martin

The next award was for the 3rd Annual Run Tuff Eliminator. This was run at the Route 66 Classic in August and the winner was Mark Marusak. Mark defeated his good friend Troy Bogner in the race.

The next class was the Pro E.T. Class. This class was very competitive all year and came down to the last race and almost the last pass to crown Herman Zehnder the champion. Herman is the first five time Champion in the history of Route 66 Raceway!

Standings:

1. Herman Zehnder
2. Tony Lyons
3. Bill Macke
4. John Coyle
5. Cory Dunkin
6. Mike Heden
7. Troy Bogner
8. Don Swanson
9. Frank Valencia
10. Ricky Pena

Herman Zehnder

L-R Sam Martin. Frank Valencia, Don Swanson, Troy Bogner, Mike Heden, John Coyle, Bill Macke, Tony Lyons, Herman Zehnder

Before the last class was announced, Eddie Banderowicz Jr. was awarded Rookie of the year. Eddie finished 14th in points and actually took out his Dad in the semi-finals of the King of the Track event.

The last Class Championship to be awarded was Super Pro. The Championship was taken by Dave Ancel with two semi-finals and one runner up. Dave has been a long time racer at Route 66.

Standings: 

1. Dave Ancel
2. Bill Chase
3. Dominic Bowden
4. Jim Fredericks
5.Justin Ford
6. Vince Mistrata
7. Nick Mistrata
8. Brandon Toma
9. John Woolwine
​10. Al Kuefler

Dave Ancel

L-R Sam Martin, Al Kuefler, John Woolwine, Brandon Toma, Nick Mistrata, Vince Mistrata, Justin Ford, Jim Fredericks, Dominic Bowden, Bill Chase, Dave Ancel

One of the more prestigious Awards, is the Family of the Year. This year's winner was a family that started in the Junior ranks and has continued on to aggressively compete in the Super Pro Category. The father is the busy leader of his two car team. They had two top ten cars this year, including an event win and two semi-final round finishes. They have represented Route 66 well at Indy over the years.

The Mistrata Family is the Route 66 Raceway Family of the Year!

Before the last award of the night, Route 66 Race acknowledged the NHRA All Access Challenge Winners.

High School - Connor Lawson
Pro Bike - Greg Darm
Sportsman - Stephen Mroz
Pro E.T. - Cory Dunkin
Super Pro - Jim Fredericks

Route 66 also acknowledged the King of the Track winners

Winner: Super Pro - Bill Chase
Sportsman - Meghan Hurley
Pro Bike - Bruce Damewood
​Pro E.T. - Terry Heller

The last award of the night was for Driver of the year. This award was presented by Jack Day of Rockett Brand Racing Fuel.

This racer makes a six hour 300 mile round trip with his family to race at Route 66 Raceway. This season he had three event wins, a runner up and two semi-final finishes. He was also runner up at the King of the Track event. At Indy, he won the Race of Champions and went to Pomona for the second time representing Route 66 Raceway. His third trip to the ET Finals overall.

The Driver/Rider of the Year was Pro Bike Racer Bruce Damewood.

At the conclusion of the event, Scott Paddock made a special presentation of the Rockett Brand Racing Fuel ET Bracket Series canvas print that was on display during the banquet. Every winner from the Series was represented on the collage.

I want to personally congratulate all the Champions, winners, racers and their families for another successful season of Route 66 Raceway racing. On to the 2019 season!

To see all photos from the banquet, please click here.

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