Kenny Wallace Makes Memories at the 40th Annual Banquet of Champions
By Eileen Waters

ST. LOUIS, MO (Jan. 27, 2007) - Forty-five minutes of "Kenny Wallace Uncut" at the St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club's 40th Annual Banquet of Champions on January 20, 2007 provided Montgomery County Speedway B-Modified champion Craig Roden (and the rest of the room) "memories that will last a lifetime!"

Thanking Wallace for coming to the banquet on the stlracing.com website, Roden wrote "He was awesome! I was very star struck and overwhelmed to be in the same room, let alone get to talk to him. He just acted like another fella with a racecar. He just wanted to shake your hand, have a beer and bench race! He even signed my plaque." Roden's sentiments spoke volumes about how much everyone enjoyed "Hanging With Herman". (Herman is Kenny's affectionate nickname.)

Wallace himself was a bit star stuck and couldn't believe he was "hanging" with two legendary St. Louis racers: Kenny Shrum and "Dandy" Don Klein, who just completed his 50th year of racing with no signs of stopping. Wallace requested a photo with the duo and promptly called his dad Russ, a contemporary of Shrum and Klein, to share his excitement.

Sharing hilarious stories about fellow St. Louis and NASCAR star Ken Schrader, the wisdom of the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr., and why he turned down a $600,000 TV contract to go racing Wallace kept everyone laughing. He also announced that he has, along with Tony Stewart, Ken Schrader, and Bob Sargent bought Macon Speedway to keep yet another dirt short-track from biting the dust.

The 2006 St. Louis area racing champions were honored and for the first year ever, a record five ladies won titles. They were Susan Anderson, the SCCA National Solo II D Modified Ladies champ; Gladys Edwards, the 60 year-old grandmother who won her third Big River Sand Drags overall track title; Shannon Beimfohr, Gateway International Raceway's Jr. Dragster 13 and Up champ; Jessica Schaeffer, Gateway's Jr. Dragster 8 – 9 champ (and the youngest champ at the banquet at age 9); and Nancy Petty-Smith who earned the Tri-City Speedway Factory Stock crown. The St. Louis Region, SCCA, who were also holding their awards ceremonies the same evening, sent over their Novice RoadRally Champion and RoadRally Rookie-of-the-Year awards to 14 year-old Grace vonHatten (their youngest Rookie ever).

Adding to the festivities were new Gateway International Raceway General Manager Lenny Batycki and Grand Prix Speedway CEO Karl Krummenacher. Batycki said he's looking forward to going out to all the area racing venues, sitting in the stands, and enjoying what St. Louis has to offer for competition. The club's Founder's Award was presented to Krummenacher for creating and developing the largest indoor electric kart racing facility in the United States. After an investment of $17 million he announced that they have already hosted 39,000 races in their first five months of operation.

Receiving the club's annual awards were: for Outstanding Media coverage, KMOX's Mike Grimm, the Bob Mueller Memorial Award (for work behind the scenes) to the Driver's Seat Publisher Jeff Mills, and the Mechanical Achievement award to the 2006 "America's Best Mechanic" Greg Damon. The Curt Lehmann Memorial Award was bestowed upon Tri-City Speedway co-promoter Kevin Gundaker and the Dale Mueller Memorial award named for the club's founder (for long term dedication to the sport via the media) to Joe Jennings. The two competition based awards the Arnie Knepper Memorial Award (for the best average finishes in the USAC Silver Crown races at the Springfield and DuQuoin miles) went to Tracy Hines and the Bill Oldani Memorial Award (for the best average finishes in the ARCA stock car races at the Springfield and DuQuoin miles) went to Joe Cooksey and Bob Strait. The Ambassador Award was presented to Kenny Wallace.

Among the guests were Fan Club co-founder Grace Mueller Sullivan and Tom and Marilyn Skaggs, two of the first members of the club 52 years ago. Tom is quite proud that he has attended 54 Indy 500s.

"America's Best Short-Track Announcer", Mike Meurer, emceed the evening. Erika Camden, Barbara Easter, Casey Schaefer, and Todd Nieman presented the trophies.

Select pictures from the evening can be viewed at www.stlfanclub.com . Click on the Photo Album and then the Banquet of Champions to see them.

Here's a list of all the area champions honored.

National Champions:

Kim DeMotte and Matthew Johnson – Rally America's Production GT Co-Driver and Driver

Susan Anderson – SCCA Solo II D Modified Ladies

Chuck Mathis – SCCA G Production


Local Champions:

Belle-Clair Speedway

Ed Dixon – UMP Late Models

Bobby Bittle – UMP Modifieds

Paul Bauman – AARA/UMP Sportsman

Danny Ems – AARA Pure Stocks

Big River Sand Drags

Gladys Edwards – MSRA Overall Track champ

Jimmy Ferris – ATV Pro Class

Jason Waller – ATV Overall Track champ and ATV Super Pro champ

Gateway International Raceway

Corey Landolt – SX Performance Super Pro

Ron Hendrixson – Pro E.T.

Jim Bouckaert – Street E.T.

Bob Lohr – Pro Bike

Denny Slusser – Street Bike

Aaron Hagan – High School

Shannon Beimfohr – Jr. Dragster 13 & Up

Chris Kesel – Jr. Dragster 10 – 12

Jessica Schaeffer – Jr. Dragster 8 – 9

Tony Buhl – SX Performance Street Car Shootout

I-55 Raceway

Bryan Collins – UMP Late Models

Bobby Bittle – UMP Modifieds

Troy Naeger – AARA/UMP Sportsman

Trey Harris – AARA Pro 4 Stocks

Montgomery County Speedway

Brian Diveley – Budweiser Late Models

Leroy Haney – Miller A-Modifieds

Craig Roden – B- Modifieds

Chris Spalding – Pepsi Super Street Stocks

Josh Carroll – Fastrack Late Models

Dave Thompson – RAMS Mini-Stocks

Poplar Bluff Speedway

Mark Todd – Pure Street

RAMS Mini-Stocks

Dave Thompson – Overall champ

St. Francois County Raceway

Brent Thompson – Modifieds

Michael Abney, Jr. – Pure Street

Tri-City Speedway

Bryan Collins – UMP Late Models

John Stanton – UMP Modifieds

Brandon Hogenson – Sportsman

Ricky Huebner – Street Stock

Nancy Petty-Smith – Factory Stocks