Written by Mike McGinley, KCR SCCA Regional Executive
“The Martin” was the 2020 location for our KC Region Awards Banquet on February 15th, 2020. Attendance was outstanding with over 145 KC Region club members enjoying the show. Lisa Kern, our social director, and Tara Young, our Assistant RE, took over MC duties this year, and Jessica Dorn, our Club Treasurer, once again handled the silent auction with all proceeds going to “Go Baby Go”, helping local children with disabilities gain self directed mobility with toy cars. Once again, we did a great job raising money for such a worthy cause.
During the evening we recognized many of our Club Members for their Outstanding Service to the Club, and their performance during this years competition in Rally Cross, Autocross, Time Trials, and Road Racing. 64 members were awarded with first, second and third place trophies. Congratulations to all for a fantastic performance in 2019!
2019 Region Awards Recipients
SCCA Member of Excellence – Rich Bireta
(selected by the National Board of Directors and recognized at the 2020 National Convention)
Joe Tasler Award – Everett Watts
Glen Sheppard Award – Steve Bachenberg
E. Tom Newcomer Driver of the Year – Jim Wheeler
(Jim has won this award 9 of the 27 years it’s been presented, more than any other member!)
Regional Driver of the Year – Steve Bachenberg
Vic Sadler Award – Ken Snyder
RallyCrosser of the Year – Mark Hill
Solo Workers of the Year – Jonathan Griffith and April Turner
Solo Novice of the Year – Jared McCorkendale
Solo Driver of the Year – Mark Hill
Solo Most Improved Driver – Eric Moe
Solo Fast Female – Janet Bauman
Time Trials Driver of the Year – Adam Pessetto
Norma Williams Award of Excellence – David Williams
(Check out the picture of the trophy on our Facebook page with David comments of thanks for all that made the award possible)
Paula Diehl, our Past RE, handed out 97 SCCA Longevity Pins recognizing Club members for longevity of membership in 5 year increments. This year we recognized two members that celebrated 55 years of membership, Charlie Williams and Glen Sheppard, and one member celebrating 60 years of membership, LaVone Daily.
I was lucky and got to sit next to Glen and Barbara Sheppard during the event. Glen had many fascinating tales about his adventures in racing. When our “Ford vs. Ferrari” movie event was receiving the outstanding event recognition, Glen mentioned meeting and racing with Ken Miles at Lake Garnett back in the 60’s. He also mentioned another event when the Shelby Team was there racing the 1965 Shelby GT350’s and they were in the pit right next to his. He got to spend a lot of time around Carrol Shelby and his team. Cool stuff. He mentioned that he used to take his 8mm movie camera to his autocross events back in the 60’s and that his son had recently converted them and created a video he posted on our Facebook page. If you haven’t seen it before you need to check it out:
For those of you old enough to remember the 60’s it does a great job of taking you back. There are a lot of cool cars, like the early Cobra about the 30 minute mark, and many more. Thanks Glen for sharing this video history with the club.
The Board has agreed we need a bigger venue for next year with our growing membership and we have a lot of new ideas for next year.
If you have comments about how we can make next years event more fun feel free to email me at mikemcginley50@gmail.com.