Jon Stanbrough Takes North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll “Driver of the Year” For 2007

Knoxville, Iowa
Dec 11, 2007

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Jon Stanbrough of Jamestown, Indiana, was voted the 2007 “Driver of the Year” by the North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll voting panel of media members, promoters, sanctioning officials and manufacturers for the second consecutive year. The King of Indiana Sprint Series (KISS) champion won thirty features in 2007, and was the United States Auto Club (USAC) Indiana SprintWeek runner-up. He earned ten (10) of the thirteen (13) first place ballots cast in the year-end poll. His car owners, Brad and Steve Fox, also received the 2007 “Team of the Year” award for the second time.

Those drivers ranked second through fifth, respectively, are USAC Sprint Car Series national titlist Levi Jones of Illinois, USAC-California Racing Association (CRA) point champion Tony Jones of California, Dave Darland of Indiana, and Mike Spencer of California. Rounding out the ‘top ten’ are Darren Hagen, Robert Ballou, Jerry Coons, Jr., Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Jesse Hockett, respectively. Levi Jones, Tony Jones (unrelated), and Jerry Coons, Jr., each captured a lone first place vote.

According to poll founder Tom Schmeh, “It really is interesting that ‘independent’ Jon Stanbrough and the ‘grass-roots’ Fox Brothers continue to do so well in comparison to the more well-funded teams in the bigger series. Clearly talent, hard work and desire still have a place in non-winged sprint car racing in America! ”

Doug Auld, editor and publisher of Sprint Car & Midget magazine, received the North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll’s “Media Member of the Year” award for the first time, although he has claimed the ‘360’ and ‘410’ awards numerous times. Tom Helfrich, promoter of the Midwest Sprint Car Series (MSCS) and the Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana, received the “Promoter of the Year” honors for the first time.

Bloomington Speedway champion Jeff Bland, Jr., of Indiana received the “Rookie of the Year” title for 2007 from the North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll voting panel. And for his exciting sprint car performances for the second straight season, Daron Clayton of Missouri, the self-proclaimed ‘Modern Day Cowboy’, received the “Wild Card Award”. Joe Devin of DRC Chassis received the “Builder/Manufacturer of the Year” honors for his second time, too.

The North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll is an annual awards program of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Foundation, Inc., of Knoxville, Iowa. All awards will be distributed in the spring of 2008 at tracks throughout North America.

Final 2007 North American Non-Winged Sprint Car Poll

rank, driver (first place votes), hometown, state, points

1., Jon Stanbrough (10), Jamestown, IN, 1060

2., Levi Jones (1), Olney, IL, 580

3., Tony Jones (1), Garden Grove, CA, 472

4., Dave Darland, Walton, IN, 271

5., Mike Spencer, Temecula, CA, 220

6., Darren Hagen, Riverside, CA, 210

7., Robert Ballou, Rocklin, CA, 170

8., Jerry Coons, Jr. (1), Tucson, AZ, 162

9., Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Olive Branch, MS, 128

10., Jesse Hockett, Warsaw, MO, 67

11., Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria, CA, 62

12., Cory Kruseman, Ventura, CA, 56

13., Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK, 52

14., Daron Clayton, Sikeston, MO, 32

15., Billy Puterbaugh, Jr., Brownsburg, IN, 31

16., Shane Cottle, Kokomo, IN, 19

17., Ryan Kaplan, Chico, CA, 13

tie, Scotty Weir, Marion, IN, 13

19., Jeff Bland, Jr., Bloomington, IN, 12

20., Damion Gardner, Concord, CA, 11

21., Brady Short, Bedford, IN, 7

tie, Greg Taylor, Ojai, CA, 7

23., Brandon “Bud” Kaeding, Campbell, CA, 6

tie, Peter Murphy, Brisbane, QLD, AUS, 6

tie, Jeremy Sherman, Phoenix, AZ, 6

tie, David Steele, Tampa, FL, 6