News

Hodges Motorsports has been waiting all winter for race season to come and it is close. In the off-season we purchased two new Maxim race cars and our plan is to run one of them as our primary car, and the other as a spare at home while the car we ran last year will be in our trailer to serve as a back-up during our travel. The new car is almost ready as we are waiting on just a couple more things to put the engine in so we will be ready for Devil's Bowl on March 19th for the 37th Annual Spring Nationals as we look to run as much of the ASCS National Tour as we can in 2010. Fianally, we would like to thank our sponsors, fans, and supporters all you guys do and God Bless.

Yesterday, I was privileged enough to be named National Winged 360 Rookie of the Year by the North American 360 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers. I am humbled and honored to be mentioned with so many of the great drivers who received this award over the years. This will definitely stay with me the rest of my life and I will cherish it always. I would like to thank the election committee because I would never have received this award without them. I also would like to thank all the fans, competitors, promoters, and sanctioning officials for making the sport of sprint car racing what it is today. Finally, I would like to thank God, my family, and my supporters for making me who I am.

For the first time in his career, Shane Stewart of Bixby, Oklahoma, was voted the 2009 “Driver of the Year” by the North American 360 Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers. Stewart, the ‘09 American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) national tour champion, earned fifteen (15) of the twenty-one (21) first-place ballots cast in the year-end poll. Shane Stewart’s car owner, Paul Silva of Sacramento, California, will receive the 2009 “Team of the Year” award for his first time as well.

Those drivers ranked second through fourth, respectively, are all former ‘360’ “Drivers of the Year”: Jason Johnson of Louisiana (2006, ’08), Gary Wright of Texas (2003, ’04, ’05, ’07), and Tim Crawley of Arkansas (2002). Rounding out the ‘top ten’ for the season are ASCS Northwest regional champion Roger Crockett, Travis Rilat, Jesse Hockett, United Racing Company (URC) champion J.J. Grasso, Tony Bruce (Jr.), and United Sprint Car Series (USCS) champion Terry Gray. In addition to Shane Stewart, others having received first-place votes were Jason Johnson (one), Jesse Hockett (one), J.J. Grasso (one), Terry Gray (one), and California Civil War Series champion Sean Becker (two).

ASCS Southwest regional racer Joshua Hodges of New Mexico earned the “Rookie of the Year” title in his first full season of winged 360-cubic-inch sprint car competition. Due to a tie in the voting, Bo Rawdon of the Cowtown Speedway in Texas and three-time recipient Glenn Styres of the Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario, Canada, will share the “Promoter of the Year” honors for 2009. Jim & Tammy Haines of Diversified Machine, Inc. (DMI) in Pennsylvania will receive the 2009 “Builder/Manufacturer of the Year” plaque for their first-time ever.

In another tie amongst the ‘360’ voters, Kirk Elliott & Scott Traylor of www.RacinBoys.com and two-time recipient Lonnie Wheatley of the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) will share the “Media Member of the Year” award honors for 2009. Jesse Hockett of Missouri will receive the “Wild Card Award” for his exciting ‘360’ sprint car performances in 2009.

The North American 360 Sprint Car Poll is an annual awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Foundation, Inc., of Knoxville, Iowa. All awards will be distributed in the spring of 2010 at tracks throughout North America. The awards were announced on the second day of the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Final 2009 North American 360 Sprint Car Poll

rank, driver (first place votes), hometown, state/province, points

1., Shane Stewart (15), Bixby, OK, 1570

2., Jason Johnson (1), Eunice, LA, 720

3., Gary Wright, Hooks, TX, 428

4., Tim Crawley, Little Rock, AR, 419

5., Roger Crockett, Rio Linda, CA, 235

tie, Travis Rilat, Forney, TX, 235

7., Jesse Hockett (1), Warsaw, MO, 211

8., J.J. Grasso (1), Pedricktown, NJ, 190

9., Tony Bruce, Jr., Liberal, KS, 188

10., Terry Gray (1), Bartlett, TN, 175

11., Sean Becker (2), Antelope, CA, 169

12., Justin Barger, Montrose, NY, 90

13., Paul McMahan, Oroville, CA, 85

14., Trevor Lewis, Upper Black Eddy, PA, 75

15., Jack Dover, Springfield, NE, 69

16., Wayne Johnson, Mustang, OK, 60

17., Bryan Howland, Auburn, NY, 45

18., Clint Garner, Sioux Falls, SD, 37

19., Dustin Daggett, Portland, MI, 26

20., J.R. Stewart, Bellefontaine, OH, 25

21., Danny Wood, Norman, OK, 23

22., Josh Fisher, Smithton, MO, 20

tie, Tom Huppunen, Fenwick, ONT, CAN, 20

tie, Danny Martin, Jr., Sarasota, FL, 20

25., Andy Forsberg, Auburn, CA, 18

Also receiving multiple votes: Brady Bacon, Pat Cannon, Jonathon Cornell, Chris Coyle, Chuck Hebing, Brett Mann, Curt Michael, Kevin Ramey, Davey Sammons, Colby Wiesz.

The Roger McCluskey Classic is over here at USA Raceway in Tucson, AZ and we came out of it with a solid 7th place finish. After finishing 6th the first night we were locked into the A-main starting 6th tonight. After several initial starts, we finally got going and I made a couple of mistakes to begin with that put me back to around 9th or 10th. During a long green flag run, I made it back to 7th running the top and bottom through lap traffic. With about 5 to go a red came out and after that I couln't get back going again and stayed where I was at, finishing 7th. All in all it was a very good weekend especially with the great quality of car that were here and I am definitely looking forward to the rest of this 2010 season.

The first night of racing action is over here at the Roger McCluskey Classic in Tucson, AZ. It was run under the Sprint Bandit format consisting of a heat race, qualifiers, and the mains. I pulled the 36 pill and that put me in the 6th starting position for the third heat. I ran up to 3rd and finished there which placed me in the 4th starting position. In that, I ran up to 2nd and made some mistakes in which dropped me back to 5th. After points were tallied I got the 13th starting spot for the A-Main and after some early cautions I fell in around 9th or so. Finally things got going and I moved up to 4th and was racing hard for 3rd when a late yellow came out. After the yellow I tried to get to 3rd but made a couple mistakes and fell back to 6th. We are locked in for tomorrow night starting 6th in the A so it was definately a good night all in all. Check in for an update tomorrow.

Tonight was practice night for the Roger McCluskey Classic this weekend here in Tucson, AZ and we made some laps. It has been awhile since I last raced and we tried a few new things for non-wing. We only ran two sets of hot laps but we learned what we needed to and the car is in one piece. In both sessions we were also one of or the fastest car so that is good news for tomorrow and sunday. Happy New Year to everybody and keep checking in for updates over the weekend.

It's the last day of 2009 and we are heading to Tucson, Arizona for practice tomorrow at USA Raceway and the two day Roger McCluskey Classic on saturday and sunday. It will be the my first time back in the car since Western World and I am looking forward to getting back in the seat running non-wing. I want to say good luck to Mark, Derrik, and Mike and Kenny Brewer who are in Tulsa, OK running the Tulsa Shootout this weekend. Everybody have a safe and Happy New Year and 2010. Check back for updates throughout the weekend.

Hodges Motorports would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks to all who supported us this past year and we are looking forward to seeing you guys again in 2010. A couple weeks ago we went to the PRI Tradeshow in Orlando, Florida and got to visit with a lot of our product supporters. We are also gearing up for the Roger McCluskey Classic in Tucson, Arizona on New Year's weekend. Again everybody have a Happy Holidays and God Bless.