2001 Awards Ceremony

On Friday August 17th, 2001, before a WSRL non-points event at Daytona, MountainWest Motorsports held its first Awards Banquet.  Six awards were presented at the completion of the banquet with each of the winners receiving 18" trophies.

Awards:

• Team Mate of the Year: Rob Gall
• Rookie of the Year: Ted Skinner
• Champion Award: Doug Cox
• MWM's Hard Charger: Paul Eigsti
• Most Improved Driver: Scott Brown

Bob's speech (August 2001):

I never really thought of myself as the MWM team leader and still don't. I think I'm just one of many on-line racers who believes that he's better off surrounded by friends to practice with. At most, I have coordinated the activities of our humble band of merry men. I consider it a pleasure and an honor to race with you guys.

For this occasion, however, I am breaking from my passive role and calling forth the MountainWest membership to attend a special virtual event. We have been a team for quite a while now (officially, for a year-and-a-half. But unofficially, we're coming up on four years this Thanksgiving). To me, that is a cause for celebration, and more. As a result, I have organized the first MountainWest Motorsports Awards Banquet to both celebrate our Team success and at the same time recognize each of you for what you have achieved on the track and/or contributed as a member of MountainWest Motorsports.

Six awards will be presented during tonight's banquet: "Rookie of the Year", two "Champion Awards", the "MWM Hard Charger" award, "Most Improved Driver" and our coveted "Team Mate of the Year" award. Please note that while a couple of the awards have annual ("...of the year") titles, these are cumulative awards, meaning that they reflect our entire history as a team together. The best part? Real trophies (enroute via UPS)!!! Yep, now you'll have something tangible to represent all the hours of practice and sweat and effort that you have each put into this sport. So, without further ado, we're off to the Awards Banquet:

I chose to start tonight's awards ceremony with what, perhaps, should be last award of the night: the award for our Champions. A top-5 points battle is a tough thing to fight through for the entire length of an on-line league's season. But to finish that season on top is THE achievement that we ultimately race for: To finish best among our peers. It takes a ton of time, sweat, practice, desire, patience, aggression, perseverance and this list could go on and on. The "Champion Award" is for drivers who have taken top honors in On-line League Competition:

First, for Doug Cox, awarded for winning the Championship in the WSRL Spring/Summer 2001 Friday Series. Doug has been a hard charger from the moment he came on board with the team. Always there with setups and suggestions, his hard work, both on the track and in the garage, has paid off with a WSRL Championship. Doug, you've been a big benefit to the team and it's great to race with you every week.

The next award, "Rookie of the Year" is really mis-named, because this team has no rookies. While Paul was a relatively recent addition, and Ted has returned to the team in the last year-or-so, we have all been racing sims for a long time, so no one really qualifies as a "rookie". However, because he has had an amazing season in the WSRL (his first league experience), winning a pulse-pounder at Daytona to take his first league victory from his battling teammates who finished in second and third, and by winning the Rookie of the Year Honors in the WSRL, our MWM "Rookie of the Year" award goes to Ted Skinner.

Our fourth award tonight is for our "Most Improved Driver". What can I say about the hippie that you guys don't already know? Scott is one of the three remaining founding members of the team. He has had that same piece-of-sh** dial-up connection from day one... I have tried to convince him to give up all that beauty and nature stuff and sell his big piece of country property far from the hustle-and-bustle of life and move his butt to the big city where he can get a BROADBAND connection... but he's got Robyn to look out for him and make good decisions for him (dammit). So he's stuck with that piece-of-sh** connection I was talking about earlier. Anyway, during the past season, when that connection was behaving (and that was rare, as we all know) he scored some great finishes, including four top 5's and 16 top 10's. I keep telling him to "Hold on" because technology will find a way to get a speedy connection out to him... I think he's ready to strangle me at this point... lol. Anyways, when the connection was stable, Scott was a force to be reckoned with. After a great season, the "Most Improved Driver" Award goes to Scott Brown. Good job, hippie. Maybe I'll take up tofu...

...then again, maybe not. :)

Our fifth award, the MWM Hard Charger, is more than it's Winston Cup counterpart. For this team award, the recipient has to have a certain drive and attitude. Desire. This teammate showed the most of that single attribute that brought this team together in the first place: The desire to be more competitive and the drive to win in this highly competitive on-line environment. This teammate was indeed competitive this year, bringing home 10 top 5's and his first League victory enroute to a third place finish in the WSRL Spring/Summer 2001 Friday Series. Furthermore, his dedication to and contributions towards the sport of on-line racing have provided much needed support for the sport. We all know Paul administers the WSRL. We all know that he administers the race server and takes on all of its accompanying headaches. It is a tremendous responsibility. Not only has he accepted the challenge, but in fact, as the league grows and competition becomes more competitive, it is self-evident that he has excelled at the helm. Indeed a worthy Captain, we reap the benefits of his efforts. This is our opportunity to thank him. For these efforts, and the competitive spirit that brought him home to 3rd place in the standings, the winner of the "MWM Hard Charger" award is Paul Eigsti.

So we come to our most-prized trophy: MountainWest's "Teammate of the Year" award. This was not an easy decision. You are a great bunch of guys. I had trouble trying to come to a firm decision. But after I asked myself, who was, overall, the best "Ambassador" for MWM on the team; the racer who was the most competitive on the track week-in and week-out; the man who had the best attitude and demeanor when dealing with friend and "foe" alike... The driver who wins the "Teammate of the Year" award is the guy who has the "Whole Package." When I put it to myself that way, the choice became clear: Rob Gall is all over it.

When Dingbat said to me (on TEN in early '98), "Hey my uncle might be interested in racing with us. He can run pretty good at Michigan." I had no idea what was coming. I recall running 180's and 181's at Michigan at the time. I can't remember what CG and Shysty were runnin', but I think we were all in the same ballpark. So along comes Rob, running 183's. His smooth, steady and consistent driving style serves him well in a stock car and it shows in his finishes. In 21 WSRL starts this last season, he finished in the top five 16 times: A 76% top 5 ratio! 11 of the 16 were podiums: a whopping 52% ratio. Did I mention that the 31 car had no DNF's? The list just keeps going. Holy cow, Rob! Oh, yea! He is also deserving of a "Champion Award", because he won the season points Championship in the Fall/Winter 2000 WSRL IROC series. (Sorry, Rob, limit one trophy per teammate!!) What's more, I think we all agree Rob's personality would surely earn him the "Most Popular Driver" award if it existed in MWM or the WSRL.

Whew! I'm getting carpal tunnel here! I'm a hunt-and-peck typist and can't take much more. So, I'm going to leave it at that. Join me in congratulating our "Teammate of the Year": Rob Gall.

So that's it, guys. That brings our first-ever Awards Banquet to a close. Perhaps when we get together at California Speedway we can have a big Bar-B-Q and celebrate. I hope you enjoyed the ceremony. The trophies are actually a lot bigger than I intended (lol). I hope you don't mind!

A final note: It has been and continues to be a pleasure to race with all of you.

Drive safely! ;)