Check out TheMonsterBlog.com's 2007 MTRA Awards Ballot!!

Article By Ross Z. Bonar - December 8th, 2007

With the annual Monster Truck Racing Association Awards Banquet only a week away, what better time to take a look at this year’s award nominees and see who should bring home the hardware! We’ll begin by taking a look at the list of nominees:

New voting procedures were instituted this year, requiring the MTRA membership to nominate their picks through email and over the phone so that a ballot could be sent out with this year’s invitations. Ballots were due back in to the MTRA Secretary by November 30th, giving the organization plenty of time to have the awards made and increasing the suspense of the yearly awards.

TheMonsterBlog.com ballot was one of those turned in, and we will now share with you our picks for each award and the rationale behind our choices. Enjoy!
 

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR

Traveling around the country covering events this year, we had the opportunity to observe a lot of the behind-the-scenes goings-on. Time and time again, we were impressed by the attitude of Dan Runte. It seemed like every time we spotted Dan in 2007, he was smiling from ear to ear. Win or lose, Dan always had nothing but the best to say about his fellow competitors and that is what being a good sport is all about. Our vote for Sportsman of the Year goes to Dan Runte.

MECHANIC OF THE YEAR

All of the Mechanic of the Year Award nominees are deserving of this award, but obviously only one can win. As such, the top contenders have got to be Tim Hall with Hall Brothers Racing, Tim Bush with Sudden Impact Racing, and Brian Bertoletti with Bigfoot 4x4. While both Hall and Bertoletti could be given the nod for keeping this year’s championship winning trucks running strong, we are going to give the nod to Tim Bush. Tim does an outstanding job managing the SIR fleet and keeping the team performing at the highest level. The new T-Maxx machine Bush built during the off-season is an amazing piece. While I wouldn’t argue with a voter choosing a mechanic from a team that works on MTRA certified trucks for the award, all Race Team Affiliate members are eligible for this award and we feel Tim deserves this honor for all of his hard work.

SPONSOR OF THE YEAR

The top contenders for Sponsor of the Year will likely come down to those whose representatives are most involved with the MTRA. Spike Clapper with MSD Ignition sits on the Board of Directors, and Destiney Conley with Vinyl Images puts a lot of work into the MTRA as well. From our standpoint, Vinyl Images is the sponsor doing the most for the organization, so that is who we will be supporting for the Sponsor of the Year.
 

PROMOTER OF THE YEAR

Image Promotions, promoter of the Monster Nationals, and Special Events, promoter of the Monster Truck Thunder Drags, were the MTRA’s only Promoter Members in 2007. George Eisenhart of Image Promotions has required all five regulars on the Monster Nationals tour to be MTRA Driver Members with certified trucks and for that, we will be voting for Image Promotions as Promoter of the Year once again in 2007.

MOST IMPROVED TEAM OF THE YEAR

2006 was the first full year on tour for Devin Jones and the Kaboom Motorsports team campaigning an older, leaf-spring truck under the Road Rage and Barbarian names. Despite driving a truck with a severe competitive disadvantage, Jones proved himself to be a strong freestyle driver, and even managed to pull off a couple of wins in racing.

Debuting a brand new truck at the beginning of 2007, Devin Jones quickly established himself as one of the top freestyle performers in the Midwest. Over the course of the year the Barbarian team proved to be a strong contender in racing as well, making the finals nearly half the time and bringing home 5 wins. Devin currently sits 40th in the WMTRL Standings, ahead of several other MTRA member drivers. 2007 was only Devin’s second year on tour, and the Kaboom Motorsports team made huge strides this season against tougher competition.

Joe Sylvester and his Bad Habit team also warrant consideration for this award. In what was really his first full year on tour, Joe has established himself as a consistently solid performer. The highlight of 2007 came when Bad Habit took home a huge win in the Mansfield, OH Monster Nationals event against a lineup that included Raminator, Tail Gator, T-Maxx, and Samson. For the season, Bad Habit ran 22 races making the final round twice, with his lone win coming in Mansfield. Joe currently is ranked 93rd in the WMTRL Standings.

One cannot overlook the Big Dawg 4x4 team for the Most Improved Team award when considering the addition that was made this summer. The team expanded to two trucks in 2007, with Doug Noelke debuting an impressive new Patrick chassis and Dale Gerding sliding behind the wheel of the previous chassis full time. The new truck immediately proved to be a strong race competitor, with Doug driving Tail Gator to a big victory over Linsey Weenk in Iron Outlaw in its debut. Dale Gerding seems to be acclimating very well to the older chassis, even managing to defeat the boss on his way to a final round in Hillsboro, MO this summer. Between the two of them, notice has been served to the competition to beware of Big Dawg 4x4.

After taking a close look at each of the teams nominated for Most Improved Team of the Year, we are giving the nod to Devin Jones and the Barbarian team. We have had the opportunity to see the team in action on several occasions this year, and there is no doubt in our mind that they are the MTRA’s Most Improved Team of the Year.
 

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

The MTRA was proud to welcome two new drivers this year, as Mitch Tulachka spent his first full year on tour behind the wheel of Geter Done and Lionel Easler did the same with the Instigator. Mitch quickly established himself as a hard charger in every aspect of competition, and found some success with the impressive new Geter Done truck in his rookie year. Mitch participated in 34 races, making the final round 9 times and bringing home 6 victories. Lionel Easler’s first year was not as successful from a performance stand point. Running in 37 total races, Instigator made the final round 3 times with only 1 victory. Our vote for the 2007 MTRA Rookie of the Year will go to Mitch Tulachka and Geter Done in recognition of their great first season. Expect big things from both of these guys going forward.

TRUCK OF THE YEAR

Am I the only person who feels like this is a redundant award? “Team of the Year” would make more sense because you could consider all the accomplishments of Bigfoot 4x4 versus those of Big Dawg 4x4 or Hall Brothers Racing. But “Truck of the Year” is given to the most outstanding certified truck in a given year. What are the chances of that truck being a different one than is piloted by the “Driver of the Year”?

Anyway, the only real difference between the two awards is that Bigfoot #15 started the year with Dan Runte as the driver, and finished with Rick Long after Runte moved up to the new Bigfoot #16. This effectively splits Bigfoot 4x4’s two titles among the two trucks, as Runte won CFP in #15 and MLMT in #16. So while both Bigfoot trucks had very successful years, when stacked against Raminator’s two championships, both in the same truck, there really is no question as to who the rightful winner of this award is. The fact that Raminator won both MTRA Promoter Members’ championships only serves to seal the deal.

Raminator is the 2007 MTRA Truck of the Year.
 

DRIVER OF THE YEAR

The MTRA Driver of the Year award is easily the organization’s most prestigious honor. Last year Mark Hall took home the award, beating out teammate Geremie Dishman who mounted a strong challenge after winning the Special Events title. This year’s award choice also comes down to only two drivers and is a very difficult choice. The choice is between two of the most successful drivers the sport has even seen. Those two drivers are Mark Hall and Dan Runte.

Both drivers managed to bring home not one, but two series championships in 2007. For Hall it was business as usual, as he continued his incredible streak of dominance that has spanned the last several years. But for Runte it was a welcome return to the top of the sport after winning his last championship back in 2003.

Mark Hall drove Raminator to the series titles for both the Monster Nationals and the Monster Truck Thunder Drags, while Runte picked up the Monster Truck Winter Nationals title and the inaugural Major League of Monster Trucks championship. Choosing between the two drivers for this award is very difficult due to their impressive accomplishments in 2007, but that is what every MTRA voter had to do. So, let’s compare each driver’s accomplishments this year head-to-head:

As you can see, both drivers had an incredible year, but only one can win. After comparing the two drivers’ accomplishments this year head-to-head, it is clear that Mark Hall is once again the MTRA’s Driver of the Year.
 

That wraps up our picks for the 2007 MTRA Awards! Come on out to this year’s Annual MTRA Meeting & Banquet to see who ends up taking home the trophies next Saturday. The event is being held at the Westport Sheraton in St. Louis, MO. If you are planning to attend the Banquet, be sure to contact MTRA Secretary Brenda Noelke by email at contact@mtra.us. The cost for non-members is $35 which includes the sit-down dinner. For more information on the Monster Truck Racing Association, visit www.MTRA.us. We’ll see you there!

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