Saturday night October 24th, the Turning Stone Resort-Casino’s Events Center in Verona played host to the Mitchell’s Speedway Press Hall of Fame Induction and Chris Nelson Insurance 2009 Awards banquet. This brought to a close a very successful season at Oswego Speedway.  Season ending awards, and season long point money were awarded, as well as the Hall of Fame class of 2009 was inducted into the prestigious Oswego Speedway Hall of Fame.

The night kicked off with Master of Ceremony Roy Sova taking a quick look back at the summer at the speedway, as well as remembering the dedicated people that passed away this year, who had made their mark at the track.

Carol Dillabough, from Novelis, stepped to the podium to thank the speedway for their efforts on the can collection nights, and presenting the speedway a recognition award for being a partner in the Habitat for Humanity program in Oswego County. The track and their fans donated 109,975 recyclable cans in 2009 bringing the four year total to 425,320 cans. Novelis has been the title sponsor of the supermodifieds for five seasons. Pathfinder Bank president Tom Schneider was next on to the podium with his reflection on the bank’s involvement with the SBS series. PathFinder Bank has been the title sponsor of the SBS Series for four seasons.

Speedway awards took center stage next.  In a well deserving effort, the Oswego Speedway “Recognition Award”, and Ed Clark Safety Crew “Spirit” Awards were both given to the Oswego Speedway Track Safety Crew.  In an emotional touch to the award, Don Flack helped present the awards.  Don was the person the speedway safety crew revived twice after being in cardiac arrest after his son-in-law, Mike Bond’s, win in the SBS Classic.  Mr. Flack along with the Flack family helped present the awards, which were a very popular decision, as the standing ovation from the crowd would prove.

The five person Hall of Fame Inductions were next on the slate, as John Henry from Mitchell’s Speedway Press was front and center to open the door to the Hall for the 2009 class. Dick O’Brien, the long time Speedway Track Manager as well as Post-Standard journalist was the first to be inducted this year.  O’Brien was unable to attend, as he recently went under double knee replacement surgery.  Dick’s neighbor John Coe accepted the award.

John Hill handled many duties in his career at Oswego Speedway, from corner man, to program writer to moving onto the Syracuse Post-Standard.  John had a deep passion for the speedway, and was not afraid to show, tell, or write to anyone about the facility. John recently passed away, and his daughter Bobbi Hill-O’Day, as well as other family members were on hand for Mr. Hill’s induction.

Mark Regan had the doors to the Hall swing open for him, as he was a staunch supporter as well as top runner in the limited supermodified, now SBS division.  Mark is the all time point leader in the division, and well as being involved in the division since it’s inception in 1990.

The Car Owner category saw Dave McKnight Sr. make the Hall of Fame this year.  Mr. McKnight recalled his days as a crew member for Jack Greedy, before his car owner days of the red #6 which wheeled Warren Coniam to some of his finest days at Oswego.  In just a season and a half together, the McKnight-Coniam team gathered a Classic win, track title and 21 top fives.

The last inductee for 2009 was driver Pat Abold.  Abold will most often be remembered for his spectacular 1992 season, where he found the outside groove to his liking, and blazed his way to the front on a weekly basis.  He won 8 features that year, including the Mr. Supermodified race.  The next season, Pat won the second ever winged race at Oswego.  In his career, he collected 22 wins at Oswego and 17 on the ISMA trail.

Eagle Fan Club President Larry Lee was front and center, to award the Tony White and Jim Shampine Memorial Awards.  Speedway veteran Rob Pullen earned the Tony White Award with his dedication to the SBS division on the track and off. Longtime car owner Pat Strong was the very popular decision for the Jim Shampine Award, maybe the most prestigious award given during the banquet.

The top twenty drivers in the SBS division picked up their season long point money with newly crowned track champion Dave Gruel talking about his successful season.  Tom Schneider from Pathfinder Bank returned to congratulate the drivers.

The supermodified drivers picked up their checks after the SBS guys, with Otto Sitterly picking up his third track championship in four years, stepping up to the podium for his acceptance speech.  Supermodified class sponsor, Novelis, brought Carol Dillabough back to award the checks to the teams.

The Rookie of the Year awards were next in line. Andrew Schartner was the Bosco & Geers SBS “Rookie of the Year” and Daniel Connors, Jr. was the Cleaning for a Reason supermodified “Rookie of the Year. Next up, Steve Gioia Sales Inc. presented Steve Abt the SBS “Car Owner of the Year” award and Keith Gilliam earned supermodified “Car Owner of the Year”. The final awards for the night were presented by Hoosier Tire. Barbeau Racing was named the SBS “Crew of the Year” and Gioia Racing was named supermodified Crew of the Year”.

The final checkered flag was brought out on the 2009 season at the banquet, with high hopes of another successful year at Oswego Speedway in 2010, which will be the 60th season of racing at the famed lakeside oval.