"Speed named 'Driver of the Year' at SKI awards banquet"

LAS VEGAS, NV - It has certainly become the place to be in November if you're a shifterkart enthusiast. The Superkarts! USA SuperNationals has become the traditional closer to the North American racing season and during the most recent edition, the sportıs leading gearbox publication - Shifter Kart Illustrated (SKI) - used the magnitude of the event to schedule a little party of their own. For the first time in its three-year history, the SKI Excellence Awards were positioned as a stand-alone event and after great deal of planning and hard work, the night was a huge success.

Over 300 of the who's who in shifterkart racing packed the Palace Station Hotel & Casino Grand Ballroom on November 9 for this year's award presentations. The evening kicked off with a cocktail hour that saw the room fill up quickly as many of those in attendance were looking to gear down from a tough day at the track. The event's final practice and qualifying sessions was held during the day and with the night off, all the top stars and industry players came to support and honor the talented people who were nominated for the seven prestigious awards. A multi-media slide show entertained the guests, as did a special photo gallery that highlighted the amazing work of magazine contributors Jeff Deskins, Mark LaCour, Todd McCall and Bill Kistler. After a few drinks and a lot of bench racing, it was definitely a standing-room only venue as many needed to find room along the fringes as other filtered to their seats. Once SKI Editor and Publisher Rob Howden took to the stage to begin the official festivities, it was an exciting run through the awards as each and very deserving winner spent their time on stage, taking full advantage of the opportunity to thank all of their many supporters.

The final two awards of the evening brought down the house as Greg Bell's Leading Edge Motorsports squad was a popular choice as Team of the Year while Scott Speed was not surprisingly named as this season's Driver of the Year. The SKI staff is very excited by the rewards that they were able to present to the winners as along with the hardware, each winner received a custom embroidered SKI jacket and hat. Thanks to a couple of special sponsors, additional prizes were presented to both the Driver of the Year and Young Driver of the Year. Wade Van Hooser picked up the Young Driver Award and the accompanying helmet paint job that was graciously offered up by one of the sport's leading helmet artists - Mike Corby of Corby Concepts (www.corbyconcepts.com). As our premier award winner, Speed will receive much more than simply the prestige that now accompanies the Driver of the Year honor.

On behalf of the magazine and artist Jim Smith, Howden presented Speed with a custom airbrushed acrylic painting depicting the driver and his machine, an incredible piece of work that will be a constant reminder of the talented driver's time in this segment of the sport. Speed also received a full ten-race Formula Mazda program with Rotary Rockets (www.rotaryrockets.com), the Chicago-based arrive-and-drive series. In an effort to help advance the career of his new Driver of the Year, Howden hopes that this opportunity will play a small part in Speed's continuing development.

Next year will be bigger and better. With a new venue on the horizon and increased support from the industry, Howden is focused on continuing to spread the word of the program in hopes that their annual winners receive the level of acknowledgement they deserve, both in the karting community and the motorsport world as a whole.