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2007 "22's" Special Awards for the Late Model Stock Car World!
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Driver of the Year Award Winner is ...
Wytheville, VA ~ The Driver of the Year award is the most prestigous award given in the "22's", awards for Late Model Stock Car racing and this season RACE22.com viewers added another up and coming big name to the list of winners when they selected, Ross Furr of Concord, NC.
Furr won the 2007 UARA-STARS championship after missing the first race of the season at Hickory Motor Speedway and then survived a wild season finale at Caraway Speedway, where he came in second in points and won the championship in turn three on the final lap when he missed a wreck right in front of him and then point leader, Mark Setzer got caught up ending the battle for the championship. Furr won only one race this season, but the RACE22.com & Star City Racing News staff along with a RACE22.com Online Poll determined Furr as the winner of the award.
"I wasn't surprised when Ross(Furr) won the Online Poll, I mean he has a lot of followers and there's a lot more different people who got to see the UARA guys race than anyone at an individual track, simply because the series goes so many places," said RACE22.com webmaster, Langley Austin.
Furr garnered nearly 40,000 votes and won by over 10,000 votes over Wayne Hale, the Lonesome Pine Raceway champion, who held his own with Furr in the first week or so of the Online Poll. With nearly 80,000 votes cast on five different drivers, the RACE22.com Online Poll was a huge success and will be used again next year to determine the Driver of the Year award winner.
"I was blown away by the number of votes and yes, I know that a lot of them were cast by the same people, but take a look at the numbers ... there's no way one or two or even ten people cast them all. A lot of people got involved, Ross'(Furr) sister had her friends at High Point Univeristy voting and a couple of local messageboards really picked up the votes for Wayne Hale as well. All in all I'm very proud of both those drivers and I wish we could give both of them the award, but that's not the way this works," Austin continued.
Furr was also very excited to find out that he had won the award once the staff vote had concluded and confirmed it.
"It's a real honor to receive this award, I looked at the list of previous winners and to be in a class with Denny Hamlin and Frank Deiny is pretty awesome. I really appreciate what Langley(Austin) and the rest of the people with RACE22.com have done for our racing and the UARA Series," stated Furr.
The previous winners list does include some big names from the first year in 1999 when Robert Powell of Conway, SC received the award to USAR Hooters Pro-Cup Series driver, Frank Deiny, Jr. and even NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner, Denny Hamlin, who won the award in 2003.
Furr is also primed and ready to go for the award for a second straight year and to become the first repeat winner of the RACE22.com Driver of the Year award.
Previous Driver of the Year Award Winners:
1999 - Robert Powell/Myrtle Beach Speedway(SC)
2000 - Steve "Rocketman" Dalton/Franklin County Speedway(VA)
2001 - Brandon Butler/South Boston Speedway(VA)
2002 - Frank Deiny, Jr./South Boston Speedway(VA)
2003 - Denny Hamlin/Southern National Raceway Park(NC)
2004 - Matt McCall/Hickory Motor Speedway(NC)
2005 - Peyton Sellers/South Boston Speedway(VA)
2006 - Drew Herring/South Boston Speedway(VA)
2007 - Ross Furr/UARA-STARS Series
ROSS FURR #25