Salm, Denton earn Drivers' Choice Awards

Mike Salm and Scott Denton earned Drivers’ Choice Awards which were presented at the Cajon Speedway’s awards banquet January 8.

Salm and Denton were also presented with awards for their finishes in the season standings. Mike McGlone did not finish in the top ten in the standings, but the car driven by McGlone and owned by Roy and Linda Costello earned a 100 percent participation award, as did the cars owned and driven by Salm and Denton.

Salm and Jimmy Dickerson shared the Sportsman of the Year award for the Grand American Modified division, while Denton earned Most Improved Driver honors for the Bomber Stocks.

“I feel like it’s kind of an honor,” Salm said of his Driver’s Choice Award.

In addition to the official track awards for Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Driver, and Best Appearing Car, drivers within each division vote on the Driver’s Choice Awards, which also includes the Sportsman of the Year category. The Modified drivers produced a tie in the vote for Sportsman of the Year.

“Jimmy Dickerson is a nice guy, but he’s tough on the track,” said Salm.

Dickerson also won the Driver’s Choice Award for Best Appearing Car. Hector Leon won the official track award for Best Appearing Car. Salm, who had won the previous four official Best Appearing Car awards for the Modifieds, wasn’t even nominated for the 2004 season.

“I don’t know what happened there,” Salm said. “I felt like we should have been nominated.”

Salm also took home the trophy for the fourth-place driver in the Modified division and the plaque for the fourth-place car owner in the Modifieds. “We should have done better this year. It was just one of those years,” he said. “We felt like we had a better team than we actually showed there.”

Salm won the 2000 Modified season championship and finished second in the division in 2001, 2002, and 2003. “It was just a tough year. It wasn’t our best year,” he said. “The first part of the season was really rough.”

Salm won the first main event of the season but only had two additional top-five finishes in his first ten races of the year. The season also included crew chief Jim Gray losing two fingers which had become caught in the winch as the crew was loading Salm’s car onto the trailer after an early exit in the July 17 race.

Despite mechanical problems that led to last-place finishes July 17 and July 24 and a bent frame that prevented Salm from running the August 14 main event, Salm still earned a 100 percent participation trophy for the ninth consecutive year. “This has probably been one of our toughest years since our rookie year,” said Salm, who has not missed a Modified race since starting his racing career in 1996.

Three days before the banquet promoter Kevin Brucker announced that he would not serve as the track promoter in 2005 due to family issues, but the pre-banquet announcement allowed for some discussion prior to the banquet about interested potential promoters renting the track from the Brucker family, and by the banquet Brucker had heard from three interested groups. If there is a 2005 season, Salm plans to return to Cajon Speedway.

Denton, who finished fourth in the 2003 standings and second in the 2004 standings, received the Drivers’ Choice Award for Most Improved Driver for the second consecutive year. “This is two years in a row for Most Improved Driver from the other drivers, which is, I think, pretty impressive. Of course I couldn’t have done it without the crew and lots of help this year,” he said. “I just think most improved for two years, that’s really good. We had a good bunch of guys that we raced with, and I really take it to heart that they voted for me for this award.”

Denton received a trophy for his fourth consecutive year of 100 percent participation. “Four years, that’s pretty good for us with all the troubles we’ve had,” Denton said. “It was very challenging this year. Took a lot of money and a lot of time to get that stuff done.”

Denton went through several motors during the year, and engine builder Dode Martin joined the assistance also provided by crew chief Mike Speed and pit crew members Ray DiGangi, Lyle Driscoll, Allen Hailey, Keith Krueger, Trevor Krueger, Dick Laycock, and Alex McKay. “It’s very demanding on our families and our time,” Denton said.

Driscoll became a pit crew member late in the season. Before the 2004 season Denton sold one of his Bomber Stocks to Driscoll, but during the September 11 practice laps Denton hit the wall and his Nova’s frame was bent. Driscoll, who was not in the points race and who also drove a Modified during the season, loaned his Chevelle to Denton for the final three races.

“We hit the wall and had to change cars and couldn’t have done it without the old Chevelle finishing up the season,” Denton said.

During the ensuing week Denton and his crew made changes to the Chevelle’s setup. The Bomber Stock rules include a minimum car weight, including the driver, and a maximum left-side weight percentage. Denton is approximately 100 pounds heavier than Driscoll, and while Denton did not finish high enough September 11 for a post-race weight inspection the adjustments focused on meeting the left-side weight threshold. “We had a lot of work to do on that to make it legal,” Denton said.

Denton finished nine points behind division champion Brian Fitzgibbons in the driver standings. “We did really well this year. We were qualifying really well,” Denton said. “We were being very consistent with our qualifying.”

Fitzgibbons turned a 23-point deficit into a three-point lead during the September 18 race to overtake Denton in the standings. “We’ve got a first-place team, and those guys really worked hard to keep me on the track,” Denton said. “I think with all our support and everything, we’re a first-place team.”

Driscoll gained 177 car owner points by loaning his Chevelle to Denton, and Denton finished sixth in the car owner standings. “We would have had a better ownership finish if I wouldn’t have crashed, but that’s the way it goes. We were lucky we got that,” Denton said of finishing sixth as a car owner.

Denton himself took home the Driver’s Choice award, the 100 percent participation trophy, the second-place driver trophy, and the sixth-place car owner plaque. He also saw two of his former crew members, Phil Griffin and Lee Harbin, earn Rookie of the Year awards. Harbin won both the Driver’s Choice Award and the official track award in the Factory Stock division while Griffin received both awards in the Pony Stock division.

Both Griffin and Harbin had worked on the Factory Stock Denton owns. “That helps you out when you’re a driver,” Denton said of having experience and knowledge about a car. “I think that’s why both of those guys got to be Rookie of the Year.”

Denton, whose second child was born November 5, plans to drive part-time in 2005. “A lot of daddy duty,” he said of his other plans.

Denton will also assist Keith Krueger, who will be driving a Factory Stock on Barona Speedway’s dirt oval.

McGlone and the Costellos received a trophy for two consecutive years of 100 percent participation. “It was just the three of us for most of the year, so it was a lot of extra hard work,” Linda Costello said.

The Monte Carlo also saw several motor changes in 2004. “Between Mike and myself we put in a lot of time,” Roy Costello said.

If the Cajon Speedway season is finalized for 2005, the Costellos and McGlone, who finished 13th in the 2004 standings, plan to return for another season. “Our main goal is to race at Cajon,” Roy Costello said.

“We’re hoping to get one more year out of this car because it is a good car and it hasn’t really been able to show its true colors yet,” Linda Costello said.

If there is no Cajon Speedway season in 2005, the Costellos and McGlone will race at the Perris Auto Speedway dirt track. “If we do go to Perris it will be a learning year,” Linda Costello said.

“We’re going to figure out what we’re going to do and we’ll go racing,” McGlone said. “Looking forward to it, though. Can’t wait.”