2010 ACS Awards Banquet

2010 Driver of the Year - 8 Time Track Champion Greg Miller

        A crowd of 250 gathered at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic on Saturday, December 4 for the annual Adams County Speedway awards banquet.  Sixty-nine drivers in four classes shared over $33,000 in point fund distributed by NASCAR and the Adams County Fair and Racing Association.

      Eight time track champion Greg Miller received the coveted Driver of the Year award for his dominating performance in the pro stock division at the speedway.  In seventeen weeks of competition on the ACS half-mile Miller had four wins, fourteen top five finishes, and finished outside the top ten only one time.   Greg took his time at the podium to thank his car owners, Gary and Judy Nissen, by presenting them with a duplicate championship trophy and champion jackets.

     In the Chat Mobility hobby stock division Pat Shiflett from Diagonal took his first championship trophy by amassing 517 points compared to 470 by runner-up veteran racer David Weeda.  Rounding out the top five were Brit Pellman, Rick Ritchie, and Matt McAtee.  The Hard Charger award for advancing the most positions during feature events went to Red Oak's Jerod Weston, while the best appearing car award went to Clarinda's Jeremy Ribbey.  The award for the most improved driver went to Creston's Brit Pellman.

    The Northland Oil pro stock championship trophy will join seven other championship trophies on the mantle at Greg Miller's home in Lorimor.  Following him in points was Craig Garner from Clarinda and Creston's Kevin Sharp.  Jeff Orr and Brad Derry made up the rest of the top five, while Derry captured the NASCAR Division III national championship racing at both ACS and I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska.  Miller also took home the plaque for Hard Charger, while Glenn Orr was voted best appearing car.  Corning's Ron Helvie was named the most improved driver in the class.

    Griswold's Dan Mueller returned to the stage as champion in the Poet Biorefining modifieds for the fifth time in the last nine years.  In sixteen weeks of racing Mueller had twelve top-five finishes and never finished outside the top ten.  Jared Stien, racing out of Maryville, Missouri was only nine points behind Mueller at the season's end, even though he missed one race week due to family commitments.   Todd Van Eaton, Chris Hogan, and Brian Foote also finished in the top five of this extremely competitive class.  The Hard Charger award went to Jared Stien while another Maryville driver, Eric Hanna, was named most improved driver for the season.  Jeff Wiggins number 36t car was named best appearing car in the class.

     The father-son combination of Leon Zeitner and Justin Zeitner took home the big trophies in the Coors Light Silver Bullet late model division.  In sixteen weeks of points racing both drivers finished outside the top ten only one time each, but Leon's five wins provided the bonus point margin needed to capture the top spot and $4500 in NASCAR bonus funds.  Following the Zeitners in points was past track champion John Hampel from Nodaway, Mt. Ayr's Paul Glendenning and Corning native Trent Jackson.   Leon Zeitner took the Hard Charger award and Maryville's Karl Ritterbusch was awarded the best appearing car award.   Former modified driver JC Wyman from Griswold moved into a late model mid-season and was awarded the most improved driver award for driver the car to victory lane three times in only seven starts.   Missouri Valley's Max Stone received the $1000 cash prize from NASCAR as the feature division Rookie of the Year for piloting his M80 car to 8 top ten finishes and ninth place in points.

       The Sportsmanship award, presented to one driver in each class, is possibly the most coveted award since it is voted on by fellow drivers and officials at the speedway.  This year the sportsmanship plaques went to Chat Mobility hobby stock - David Weeda, Northland Oil pro stock - Kevin Sharp, Poet Biorefining modified - Chris Hogan, and Coors Light late model drivers John Hampel and Karl Ritterbusch shared the honors.

     ACS officials announced the tentative start date of the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All American Series season with practice day set for Saturday, April 16 and the first points event on April 23. 

Hobby Stocks:  Front row Champion Pat Shiflett, David Weeda, Brit Pellman, Rick Ritchie, Matt McAtee.  Back row:Tom Myers, Jeremy Auten, Jeremy Purdy, Jeremy Ribbey, Dean Richards, Delmar Derry

Pro Stock: Front row Champion Greg Miller, Craig Garner, Kevin Sharp, Jeff Orr, Brad Derry.  Back row: Glenn Orr, Ron Helvie, Clay Mercer, rep for Jeremy Swanson, Joe Zadina, Jason Rold, Dwain Pelzer

Modifieds:  Front row Champion Dan Mueller, Jared Stiens, rep for Todd Van Eaton, rep for Chris Hogan, Eric Hanna.  Back row: Jeff Wiggins, rep for Derrick Hicks, rep for Les Helvie, Larry Foote, Jeff James.

Late Models: Front row Champion Leon Zeitner, Justin Zeitner, John Hampel, JC Wyman, Karl Ritterbusch.  Back row: Rookie of the Year  Max Stone, Jack Larson

Hobby Stock Awards

Sportsmanship Awards:  Hard Charger Jerod Weston (rep), Best Appearing Jeremy Ribbey, Most Improved Brit Pellman, Sportsmanship Award David Weeda

Pro Stock Awards

Best Appearing Glenn Orr, Sportsmanship Kevin Sharp, Hard Charger Greg Miller, Most Improved Ron Helvie

Modified Awards

Most Improved Eric Hanna, Best Appearing Jeff Wiggins, Hard Charger Jared Stiens, Sportsmansip Award Chris Hogan (rep)

Late Model Awards

Most Improved JC Wyman, Hard Charger Leon Zeitner, Sportsmanship Awards John Hampel and Karl Ritterbusch

Mitch Swartzendruber - Craftsman Mechanic of the Year