Racer of the Year
In order to promote current and future Canadian race drivers and maybe itself as well, the Inside Track Motorsport News (ITMN) is running its Readers Choice Awards program for the second year.
If you visit ITMN's website at www.insidetracknews.com before April 30 and go to the home page, a ballot pops up immediately for what is officially called the Castrol presents the Inside Track Readers' Choice Awards.
You will be taken to a rather comprehensive list of categories that ITMN editor Greg MacPherson says is more is ''more reflective of our core mandate'' and the magazine's new ''new Canadian grassroots racing focus.''
To do this, ITMN created 10 categories covering pretty much every serious racing endeavor on two or four wheels, including three for ''up-and-coming'' racers as well as the established folks at the various levels.
There is also a Canadian Racer of the Year and choice for Person Most Deserving of Induction Into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, which is essentially a referral to another group of voters.
When the choices are made, says David Weber, ITMN's managing editor, ''we'll create awareness of these awards through an aggressive communications campaign. We believe this will help build the careers of Canadian racers who are honoured by our readers. We want the Awards to be as popular as the Canadian Press awards for Athlete of the Year.''
MacPherson believes that, ''by placing international racers like Ron Fellows, Paul Tracy and Rob Atchison into a single category, it opens the doors for those who are still striving towards their ultimate goal to emerge victorious in their respective 'Racer of the Year' categories, without having to compete against popular racers who have already reached the pinnacle of success.''
Because the inaugural effort ''was a great success,'' it was easy to stage the awards program a second time, MacPherson says in the latest issue of the magazine, which is published 16 times a year by the Toronto-based firm.
''The program recently culminated with several of our award winners acting as inductee presenters for the black-tie gala at the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame,'' MacPherson reports. ''That they were invited to do so because Inside Track's readers voted for them in last year's balloting was a great source of pride for all of us.''