12/3/2016
GLSS-Great Lakes Super Sprints
BANQUET CLOSES BOOKS ON INAUGURAL SEASON
December 3, 2016: A year ago, things were just getting rolling on a new Sprint Car series called Great Lakes Super Sprints. Since then, GLSS raced 17 races at 12 different tracks and had 7 rain out/cancellations! Closing a season that had 87 different drivers run with GLSS, only 1…a 17 year old called “Kid Rocket” would end up on top and be called Champion of the 2016 Inaugural Season!
The GLSS banquet was held in Lansing, MI at Impression 5 Science Center. Impression 5 and Great Lakes Super Sprints partnered up in August when the “RACE TO WIN” interactive racing display from Indianapolis Childrens Museum, sponsored by Hot Wheels arrived for a 4 month visit. The grass roots Sprint Car STEM Education Program GLSS operates and the goals of Impression 5 dovetail together and make a great partnership.
There were 85 people present for dinner and seventeen teams were represented at the banquet to celebrate and congratulate the top ten finishers.
The festivities were kicked off by Master of Ceremonies, Roger Williams (the voice of Tri-City Motor Speedway and Crystal Motor Speedway). The Pledge of Allegiance and opening prayer were led by Joe Geibe, the owner and driver of the #23 car.
Dinner was served as a buffet featuring London Broil and Chicken Baked Ziti. There was also a broccoli salad, green garden salad, artisan bread basket, a variety of cheeses, various sliced fruits, raw vegatables w/green goddess dip, California mixed vegatables, whipped garlic potatoes and chocolate/vanilla cake w/whipped frosting. Drinks included water, lemonade, tea, coffee, soda, beer and wine.
After dinner a video compiled by Jennifer Peterson was played for the group, showcasing interviews, go pro shots and video from races. You can find it on youtube by searching "2016 GLSS Inaugural Season".
Williams started off the evening festivities by introducing Tom Sprauge, the owner of Thunderbird Speedway and thanking the banquet sponsors: Ridenours Auto Repair & Towing and Specialty Fuels & Logistics. The trophy sponsors were recognized and thanked: Kistler Engines, Kistler Racing Parts, Engler Machine and Tool, New Supplies Company and Specialty Fuels & Logistics. Door prize sponsors were introduced: Lane Automotive and All Star Performance, Kears Speed Shop, Hoosier Tires, Ridenours Auto Repair and Thunderbird Speedway. Thank you to all our sponsors for their support.
Starting off the award presentation was our 10th place finisher, driver of the #31 car, Andy “Tuna” Teunessen of Hastings, MI. Our 9th place finisher, the driver of the 16B car was Mad Max Stambaugh of Lima, OH. Winner of 8th place was the owner and driver of the #84 car, Kyle Poortenga of Woodland, MI. 7th place and winner of the Rookie of the Year was 15 year old and driver of the #37 car, Noah “Rooster” Dunlap of Wapakoneta, OH. Taking 6th was driver of the #16 car, Ryan Ruhl of Coldwater, MI.
Kicking off the top 5, finishing in 5th place was Linden Jones of Edwarsburg, MI and driver of the J19 car. Taking 4th and also from Wapakoneta, OH and driver of the #57 car was Mike “Bull” Dunlap. Finishing 3rd overall and driver of the 49T car, from Bellevue, MI is Gregg Dalman. Missing 1st by 20 points and taking Runner Up honors was Dustin “Double D” Daggett of Portland, MI. Stepping up to claim the 2016 Championship, from Perry, MI was Chase “Kid Rocket” Ridenour.
As Ridenour came to the front, a standing ovation led by Dustin Daggett was a sight to see. Ridenour thanked all the teams, but especially the help that Daggett has given him. Daggett assured Ridenour that a Championship is tough to defend and he would be there challenging him for it in 2017!
After the top ten awards and speeches were over, Barry Marlow was introduced by singing Happy Birthday to him. Marlow recapped the season in numbers and shared some of the increases to the purse for 2017 and a sneak peek at the 28 race schedule for next season.
Marlow then presented a few special awards. The first was presented to Dustin Daggett commemorating the first feature winner of GLSS’s first solo race at Mount Pleasant Speedway. The next award was presented to Linden Jones to commemorate his first ever feature win at Butler Motor Speedway. The Huffer Family was recognized with a plaque, thanking them for allowing GLSS to convert their race hauler into a traveling classroom for the Sprint Car Education Program. The last award was presented to Marshall Campbell who put together the show car GLSS uses in their education program and for selflessly providing a brand new sprint car to put on display at Impression 5 Science Center during the RACE TO WIN display through January 6th.
The banquet closed the book on Great Lakes Super Sprints Inaugural Season!!! The future is bright and bigger things are coming for 2017. Thank you to all the fans, local track owners, car owners and drivers that supported GLSS this year. We look forward to doing it again in 2017!!! Happy Holidays!
Special Thanks to Rose Calabrase for her donation of all the snacks for the tables, to Joe Valenta for designing and building our beautiful steel center pieces and to Roger Williams for traveling down to MC our banquet. THANK YOU!
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