Top drivers of 2000 season honored at banquet!
By Dave Panske

January 26, 2001; Seymour, WI - N.E.W. DIRT officially closed their 2000 season with their 17th annual awards banquet on Saturday night, November 11th, at the Edgewood Supper Club in Seymour. Over 300 people attended the event.

The top five drivers in each of the four divisions received trophies and rookies were recognized in each division.

The IMCA Modified division completed another very competitive season. Brian Mullen dominated the division here in 2000. He won a division leading 7 features during the season including a record six straight over mid season. The total also includes a second straight Budweiser Nationals title to become the first division repeat winner. The wins move his total to 36 on the all time list, 13 behind the 49 victories of R.M. Van Pay. The championship makes him the only four time title holder in club history, his last coming in 1995. Brian will sport a new car this season to defend his title.

R.M Van Pay finished second in the point chase running close to Mullen all season long. The former 3 time champion won two features this year and is the all time leader with 49 wins.

Brad Rohloff won a division second best 3 features this year moving his career total to 15, which is third on the all time list. He also finished third in the standings. Scoff Mullen has run in three divisions over his career here and won his first ever modified feature on September 3rd. He finished 4th in the standings. Travis Spaulding has put many laps on the tri oval and this year rounded out the top five in the standings.

Two other drivers, besides Scott Mullen, won first career features at Seymour in 2000. Jared Siefert captured his on August 6th and Jeremie Hedrick pulled off his win on August 20th.

The Wissota Late Model division completed their season with Troy Springborn successfully defending his 1999 track title. Troy had the second highest win total for the season in the division with 5 features checkereds during the season and is now tied for 6th on the all time list with R.M. Van Pay with 6. Former champ, Terry Anvelink ran to second place in the standings this year. He won I feature and moved to second on the all time list with 30.

Another former champion, Tom Naeyaert took third place in the standings winning 1 feature and moved to 4th on the all time list with 16. Tim Buhler had an up and down season but did collect 1 feature win to finish 4th in the standings.

Former 6 time champion, Pete Parker, won a division leading 6 features this season, including a first repeat title in the Budweiser Nationals. On June 11th, he set a career record of 100 feature wins here at Seymour since the club began running the track in 1984. He finished the season still first on the all time list with 103. He rounds out the top five this year.

The Street Stock division ran 59 different drivers during the year with 8 winning features. Four of those were first time winners.

Chaz Van Ooyen, Jr ran at the top of the standings all season long despite a tight battle between the top five. He ran to a tie for the most feature wins with three and was one of the first time feature winners as well. Chaz claimed his first career championship.

The Greenleaf connection, brothers Jesse and Jamie Colwell shared point leads and kept pace with Van Ooyen all season long. Jesse added 2 feature wins to his career total, now 6, and finished the year only 23 marks behind in second place in the standings. Jamie completed his second season in the division, running to a three way tie for a division leading 3 feature wins. He was also one of the first time winners. Jamie ended up 3rd in the standings with 504 points. Travis Van Straten ran at the top of the standings all season long as wall and was the third driver with 3 feature wins for the season. He also ran double duty most of the year, running in the Stock Car division as wall. Van Straten, the 2000 Luxemburg champion, finished 4th in the standings only 1 point behind Jamie Colwell with 503. Bob Bernier ran strong all season, winning 1 feature on the way to rounding out the top 5 positions.

Other feature winners in the division this year. Dean Kellner picked up one win. Fred Davister and Charlie Van Ooyen, Sr. were the other two first time feature winners. Van Ooyen, who retired after the season, picked up his lone feature win on August 27th.

The IMCA Stock Car division was the most competitive all season long.

Tim Van De Hei had a dominating season to record his first career track championship. He also ran in the top of the National standings as well. Tim ran to a division leading 7 feature wins, which moved him to 4th on the all time list with 9. The list included a string of 6 straight during mid season. The old record was 4 straight set in 1995 by Charlie Kroll. The season total ties him with John Gregorich in 1993 and Rod Snellenberger in 1999. The record is 8 set by Kroll in 1995.

Shawn Wagner finished a strong sophomore season still looking for that first feature win, but consistent top five finishes all season put him second in the standings with 454.

Benji LaCrosse won 2 features here this season to become a first time winner as well. He was one of the dominant drivers in the area for the year, setting several record and winning his first career title at Thunder Hill, in only his second year racing. He finished 1 mark behind Wagner with 453 for third in the points.

Jerry Wilinski was another driver in the point chase all season long. Consistent runs put him in 4th place with 450 points. Jeremy Christians was the Budweiser Nationals champion for his first career feature win here at Seymour after a strong showing all season long. He was part of the tight point battle finishing with 446 points for the year.

Brandon Czarapata was the other first time feature winner this season. John Heinz, Larry Karcz, Jr and Jon Wolf each added wins to their totals.

Rookies were also honored in each division this year.

The Modified division gave the nod to Jared Siefert. He won a feature and finished 8th in the standings. The Wissota Late Model division was so close this year that co-rookies were named. Jim Rychtik was a steady runner and finished 7th in the standings. Dean Maurer moved up from the modified division and finished 8th in the standings. The pair were only 3 points apart 677-674.

The Street Stock division honored Jeff Treml as the rookie. Jeff won several races during the year and finished 11th in the standings.

Former Street Stock champion, Jason Czarapata, made the move to the Stock Cars and finished 6u~ in the standings to earn the rookie title.

N.E.W. Dirt would like to THANK all of the drivers, crews, sponsors, worker and fans for their support during the year.

Plans are set for a May 6th season opener in 2001.