Wed, 26 Nov 2003, 11:40 AM Fourth Quarter Driver of Year Vote

By Norm Froscher

One NHRA drag racer was a Super Sub and the other clinched a championship which earned them mention in the fourth quarter voting for Motorsports Driver of the Year Award.

Retired Kenny Bernstein, filling in for recuperating son Brandon in the Bud Top Fuel car, won four races during the quarter and finished second to NASCAR/Winston Cup's Ryan Newman in balloting by an 18-member media panel and Speed TV's voters.

Newman, driver of the ALLTEL Dodge and winner of three races, garnered nine first-place votes and 107 points to top the voting for the second straight quarter. Bernstein had two first place votes and 71 points for the runner-up spot. Brandon Bernstein has already been announced as NHRA's Rookie of the Year.

Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson, who won five races during the quarter had one first-place vote and finished in sixth spot in the balloting with 23 points.

Points are awarded on a 9-6-4-3-2-1 scale to competitors in all forms of American motorsports.

The 1993 Driver of the Year, who will follow open wheel's Cristiano da Matta for the honor, will be decided by a secret ballot and announced next month.

The 1993 Driver of the Year will then be officially crowned at the black-tie International Motorsports Hall of Fame banquet in Talladega in April and will be presented with a Maurice LaCroix watch.

Others in the top six in the fourth quarter vote were open wheel ace Steve Kinser, who was third (one first place vote and 57 points); NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson, fourth (two first place votes and 49 points) and IRL's Sam Hornish Jr., fifth with one first place vote and 41 points.

In all 18 drivers, one more than in the third quarter, received support from the panel.

The Driver of Year was first awarded in 1967 when Mario Andretti took the first trophy. Only drag racer to win the award has been legendary Funny Car champion John Force, who was named in 1996.

Since its inception, the Driver of the Year has been backed by a number of sponsors, including Olsonite Corp., which was heavily involved after Martini & Rossi dropped out, and Eljer.

Further information on the award, backed by Sarasota, FL businessman and sportsman Barry Schmoyer, is at (941) 953-6209.

NORM FROSCHER

Your Drag Race Central correspondent, as usual, compiled his own list before the ballot and here's how it read: 1-Newman, 2-Hornish, 3-Bernstein, 4-S. Kinser, 5-Anderson.

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