A Banquet That Turned Into a Party

​Saturday night was the Route 66 Raceway Rockett Brand Racing Fuel ET Bracket Awards Banquet. I have to say, of the banquets I have attended, this one, by far, exceeded all expectations! It turned into a party that few wanted to leave. It first started with Track President Scott Paddock addressing the crowd. He reiterated to all in attendance, ​his commitment to the

​ET Bracket​ Series and addressing ​the issues that were brought forth in a recent survey.

This was followed by presenting the awards to all the top finishers in attendance in points in the seven classes.

Jr. Sportsman Braden Bowden, Molly Lane, Brooke Becker, Cooper Hamelen

Jr. Modified Katie Rusiniak, Tori Trench, Bobby Churchill, Zach Manaseri, and Champion-Allison Furman

High School Nate Kelley, Joe Kasch and Champion-Tyler Lawson

Pro Motorcycle Jonathan Vickers, Greg Darm, Bill Homuth, and Champion-Dan McCarten

Sportsman Chris Runowski, Tony Lyons, Andy Brodzinski Jr., Champion-Paul O'Keefe, Matthew Maciejewski, Steve Quickel, Stephen Mroz, Fred Trombley, Not pictured Bill Larson(announcing)

Pro ET (S)Bill Ingraham, Bill Chase, John Singleton, Matt O'Connell, Troy Bogner, (K) John Singlenton Jr., Herman Zehnder, Ryan Alley, Champion-Don Dumdie, and John Haut

Super Pro (S) Michael Franklin, Dana Kleinhoffer, Justin Ford, Jim Oliver, Paul Pisanko, Champion-Mike Rozin, (K) Nichole Medeisis, Dominic Bowden and Mike Murray (KOT)

This years Spirit Award winner was Mike Lawson. Mike has been a long time drag racer who climbed out of his car and became crew chief for his four children; Miranda, Autumn, Connor and Tyler. To say that his weekends were very busy was an understatement!

After the Spirit Award it was time to award the Family of the Year. This year it was the Bowden Family, commonly known as Team Bowden. Dad- Dominic drives a Super Pro dragster and finished second in the points. Son, Braden, won the Junior Sportsman Class. The Bowden family is always there to help anyone in need. Congratulations.

Daughter, Quinn, was not available for the above family picture.

​Another award recognized tonight was the winner of the Run Tuff Eliminator race which was run at the Route 66 Classic. Jerry Hayes won the race that night. Jerry has been racing at Route 66 since the very first year of 1998.

There was a Special Recognition Award given out Saturday night. For his outstanding efforts in promoting all the events and activities throughout the past year using social media. Brandon Brown was the surprised recipient of this award. It's not often that Brandon is speechless! If you have followed the Route 66 Raceway/Chicagoland Speedway through any form of social media, internet website, Twitter, Instagram, etc., then you have seen Brandon's work. He has done a fantastic job, Well Deserved!

The Rookie of the Year Award went to a special young lady, Nichole Medeisis.  This past season Nichole graduated from the Junior Modified Class to the Super Pro Class. Not only did she finish 9th in the Class, but took a win! Congratulations to Nichole!!

The last award of the evening was for Driver of the year. Driving in the Sportsman Class with three wins, was Paul O'Keefe. Paul gathered more points than any driver in any class by a wide margin. Congratulations to Paul!

After all the awards, you thought that would have been the end of the excitement for the evening, WRONG! There was a major announcement when Super Pro Driver, Ryan Alley proposed to his long time girlfriend, Super Pro Driver Miranda Lawson!  Everyone was happy and excited for Ryan and Miranda

This night was full of surprises, friendship, racing and just having a great time. Congratulations to all the racers and their families!

​Here are just a few more images from the evening.

And finally!