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2005 NOSA Banquet Summary Recently, the Northern Outlaw Sprint Association held their 2005 banquet to give special recognition to their drivers, fans, supporters, participating tracks, and other members that support NOSA on the road. Just short of 100 people, Pat Mooney was invited to be the master of ceremonies and kicked off the party just shortly after everyone enjoyed a nice meal and some conversation. Mooney is a track announcer, so he was well prepared for the commentary that went along with notes prepared for him. He knows many of the drivers and some of the great stories that transpired over the year. Mooney started off by recognizing the Scott Nelson and the Safety Crew from the River Cities Speedway. The next appreciation award went to Wayne Nelson of the Grand Forks Herald for his weekly race results and pre-race articles that gave NOSA some great exposure over the past year. Don Mutcher and his traveling team of push trucks were recognized and thanked for his continued support of NOSA. He provides the push that each driver needs to begin the night. Sara Larrabee joined the NOSA group by accepting the leading role for selling the 50/50 tickets with the proceeds going to the point fund. Sara was given a plaque for her great effort in selling tickets. Mike Orness was on hand to receive the next appreciation plaque for his support of NOSA by posting results on the internet, maintaining the NOSA website, taking pictures of the racing action for publications, and providing the placemats at each table setting along with the slideshow of pictures throughout the year. Pat Mooney continued with the appreciation awards by recognizing the fans that showed up to watch some of the best sprint car racing in the north. In 2005, NOSA was honored to compete in front of an estimated grandstand attendance total of 86,700 fans. NOSA’s largest 2005 crowd was at Victory Lane Speedway in Winnipeg Manitoba, where NOSA raced in front of an overflow crowd of nearly 5000 fans. NOSA was also fortunate to race at near capacity crowds at their weekly Friday night venue at River Cities Speedway. In 2005 NOSA would embark on a 43 race schedule. Mother Nature would not treat the racers too kind to start out, especially at River Cities Speedway. However, once the racing started rolling, race night began to heat up. As part of the schedule, NOSA would travel to 10 different race tracks, in 3 different states, and two different provinces. These speedways include River Cities Speedway, Nodak Speedway, Devils Lake Speedway, Greenbush Race Park, Norman County Raceway, Estevan Motor Speedway, and Cedar Lake Speedway. NOSA would also make a return to Marshall County Speedway in Warren MN, after a few years away from there. NOSA would also make a return to Victory Lane Speedway. NOSA also enjoyed a new stop along the way. Viking Speedway, in Alexandria MN would also host NOSA sprints in 2005. This was the first year ever to race NOSA sprints there. Each Track was awarded with a plaque for their support of NOSA. NOSA has enjoyed a slow steady resurgence in car counts for the NOSA tour. The total driver roster totaled forty-six drivers, which is the highest ever in the history of NOSA. In 2005, the average car count was twenty-one cars. This is a huge jump from the late 1990’s, 2000, and 2001, when on occasion; the counts dipped under ten at times. In 2005, there were ten different Feature winners and twenty-two different heat winners. There were also three drivers that enjoyed their first NOSA feature wins. Chris Burke took his first checkered flag at Viking Speedway, in Alexandria, MN. Dustin Lindquist enjoy his first ever NOSA victory at the NODAK Speedway in Minot, ND. Rhys Layton would also enjoy their first NOSA Victory, with Justin Zimmerman behind the wheel, in Minot ND. NODAK Speedway, in Minot ND, was recognized for their participation for making 2005 a success by adding NOSA Sprints to their 2005 weekly Sunday night race program. Certainly one of the events that was truly a high note of the year, was the 1st Annual Roughrider Classic held in conjunction with River Cities Speedway and Minot. This was the biggest prize money event for the NOSA tour. The 2nd Annual Roughrider Classic has already been booked for 2006 over the Fathers Day weekend. This past year NOSA drivers competed for a total purse of $314,125.That is up considerably due to specials such as the Roughrider Classic. To put that prize money into perspective, if you were to add up the laps for the entire season and multiply that by the miles, drivers logged 26,828 laps; which would be equivalent to 8100 miles. The 2006 NOSA Tour Schedule was mentioned at the banquet and will be released soon after the new year. There is also the changing of 360 sanctioning bodies from WISSOTA to ASCS, which announced their intentions of running a northern series that will be taking over a large part of the schedule. However, NOSA has already been contacted by several tracks seeking more information on holding a NOSA event. NOSA is very grateful to have a couple of very good contingency sponsors the past several years to contribute to the NOSA point fund. The point fund is also contributed to by the money raised by the 50/50 raffle every week at River Cities Speedway, fund raisers, sanctioning fees, and membership dues. Another large supporter of NOSA is Hoosier Tire. Along with a very handsome donation to our point’s fund, Hoosier has awarded a SP2 right rear tire to each of the top six in final points. A new award this year presented by Hoosier Tire North and Dan Shirek is the Perfect Attendance Award. Nick Shirek, Casey Mack, Wade Nygaard, and Chris Shirek competed in every NOSA Point earning event and will receive a front tire. Also this year Lev Wings, in conjunction with Dan Shirek awarded product certificates based on 2005 purchases. Lev Wings announced at the beginning of the year that there would be 2 front wings and one top wing given away. This year the front wings went to Scott McDonald and Shane Roemeling. The top wing was awarded to Rhys Layton, who owns the car driven by Donavan Peterson. Towards the end of the banquet, each of the drivers finishing in the top ten were recognized for their accomplishments throughout the year and were awarded their trophies. The final point standings can be found at www.nosasprints.com . The following plaques were also awarded to each driver for the 2005 season. Rookie of the year; Casey Mack, Hard Charger; Dave Sobczak, Crew Chief; Ethan Thompson, Most Improved; Chris Burke, Sportsmanship – Driver; Tom Cummings and Scott McDonald, Sportsmanship – Crew; Mulvaney Crew and Shirek Crew. The newest and biggest award this year is a traveling trophy for the NOSA Champion. This award is named the NOSA Traveling Cup. Its intention is to recognize what NOSA is all about. There are several headings including the Mission Statement of NOSA, Rookie of the Year winners, Feature winners, Points Champions, all tracks that have hosted a NOSA race, and still to be added will be a yearly recap section. These include past and present winners and will travel with the current NOSA Champion, who is Chris Shirek. Last years Champion, Mark Dobmeier presented this trophy to Chris Shirek. For more information on the Northern Outlaw Sprint Association, please visit www.nosasprints.com. This coming years schedule will be out soon, so if you want more information, and if you are seeking other information that is not listed at the site, please contact the association. There will be a meeting coming up soon and details will be posted as soon as those dates are scheduled. For more pictures of this years banquet, please visit www.nosasprints.com |
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