Salem, IN (April 20, 2017) – Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS officials have announced that VanDoorn Racing Development will continue their support of CRA with their sponsorship of the VanDoorn Racing Development Rookie Award Program with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance for the upcoming 2017 season, which is set to begin next Sunday, April 30th at Baer Field Motorsports Park. The program includes the Howie Lettow Rookie of the Year Award that is named in honor of legendary crew chief Howie Lettow who passed away seven years ago after a valiant battle with cancer.
The Howie Lettow Rookie of the Year Award Presented by VanDoorn Racing Development will be awarded to the highest finishing registered rookie in the final 2017 VanDoorn Racing Development Rookie Award Program points with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour. With this program the drivers get to drop their worse two finishes of the season. Cody Coughlin was awarded the inaugural Howie Lettow Rookie of the Year Award at the end of the 2011 season. Anderson Bowen was the 2012 winner, Corey Deuser the 2013 winner, Grant Quinlan the 2014 winner, Quinnton Bear the 2015 winner and last year’s winner was Jack Dossey III.
Howie Lettow was a respected and successful crew chief in the old ASA National Tour and with the now defunct ASA Late Model Series. Few individuals had the credentials of Lettow and his outstanding ability to mold and work with some of the finest short track stock car drivers in the country, especially his ability to work with rookie drivers. Drivers who worked with Lettow and earned Rookie of the Year Titles in ASA included NASCAR Superstar Jimmy Johnson, Ken Lund, Ted Musgrave, Scott Hansen, Steve Holzhausen, Steve Carlson, Ricky Johnson and David Stremme.
“We are very honored to have VanDoorn Racing Development supporting this great program again with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour,” stated Butch VanDoorn with VanDoorn Racing Development. “Howie was one of the best Crew Chiefs around, especially working with young rookie drivers. Every year this series continues to attract great young talent as one of the top development series in the country!”
There are five drivers who have registered to run for the 2017 Howie Lettow Rookie of the Year Award Presented by VanDoorn Racing Development, including Carson Hocevar who ran a handful of series events in 2016 and competed in a handful of late model events at Berlin Raceway, Hope Hornish the niece of Indy car and NASCAR driver Sam Hornish Jr. who also competed in a handful of series events in 2016, former Flat Rock Speedway Outlaw Late Model racer Clarity Newhouse who ran a couple of series events in 2016, Mandy Chick who has raced primarily the last two seasons at Lebanon I-44 Speedway and 12 year old Harrison Hall, who has raced on dirt primarily in his young career including racing a dirt modified and dirt late model last season.
The Howie Lettow Rookie of the Year Award Presented by VanDoorn Racing Development winner will receive their choice of a bare VanDoorn Racing Development Late Model Chassis or a $1000 cash bonus from VanDoorn Racing Development. VanDoorn Racing Development will award the second place finisher in rookie points with a $100 Product Certificate and the third place finisher with a $50 Product Certificate.
The VanDoorn Racing Development Rookie Award Program will also include the VanDoorn Racing Development Rookie of the Race Award, which will consist of a $100 cash bonus awarded to the highest finishing registered rookie at each JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event during the 2017 season.
VanDoorn Racing Development will also be a Contingency Award Sponsor again with the series, awarding the first and 13th place finishers at each event with $75 Product Certificates and will award a $500 Product Certificate toward a Shock Rebuild to the 2017 series Champion and one by random draw of the top 10 finishers in final points at the 2017 CRA Awards Banquet.
Based in Fruitport, Michigan, VanDoorn Racing Development provides a variety of services to short track racing. VanDoorn Racing Development was founded by three time ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Johnny VanDoorn and three time CRA Championship winning Crew Chief Butch VanDoorn. They offer complete cars, repair work, one stop setup and shock services. They work with all divisions of racecars from Sportsman to Late Models on asphalt and dirt. Contact VanDoorn Racing Development at 616-414-9071 or follow VanDoorn Racing Development on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vandoornracingdevelopment.
More information on all the CRA Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
