ARRA Announces Three Bill Hanna Award Winners Ringoes,NJ – Bill Hanna was one of the founding members of the Auto Racing Research Associates historian group that researches, documents and provides to the public - auto racing statistics, facts, figures and other various subjects having to do with auto racing. ARRA has grown to become a group of auto racing historians spread from shore to shore in the United States and into Canada…boasting over 40 highly skilled racing research members. Bill Hanna was a determined, highly motivated person interested in digging for the facts on various elements of the sport. Bill passed away much to soon and in his memory, ARRA began the Bill Hanna “Passion and Dedication” Award to recognize those in the sport with a Passion and Dedication above the norm. “In ARRA’s move from a regional entity to one that encompasses the country, I began to look at our organization and saw some things that needed to be changed.” ARRA President Fred Voorhees noted about what became a two year lull in presentation of the award. Moving toward a national focus.....Voorhees thought that the Hanna award needed to reflect that also, being open to thousands more people in racing across the country. “The logistics of that goal was a bit difficult though.” remarked Voorhees in describing the gap in awarding the honor. “One of our groups historians does a lot of traveling for the sport and visits a vast amount of speedways across the nation and through his time as Curator of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, he knows lots of dedicated people in our sport. So, I think that we have that part of the equation taken care of.” The three Hanna award recipients will be Carol Houssock, Earl Krause and Kevin Eyres. “I have been aware of Carol Houssock for many, many years” Fred mentioned. “She is wrapping up 31 years of being a race track announcer, hanging up the mic…. and has been involved in the sport in many ways, including as a writer for Speedway Illustrated and an active member of the Eastern Motorsport Press Association. Thirty one years in anything is dedication! With all of that in mind…there is no doubt that Carol is deserving of this award in Bill Hanna’s memory.” “I don’t think I have to introduce Earl Krause to anyone in the Northeast corner of the racing world!” Voorhees opened up with when speaking of the second recipient of the Hanna award. “Earl if almost racing royalty here in the Northeast! Okay, maybe I am stretching it a bit there, but I am only showing my respect for Earl and his history in the sport! Well known for his weekly column in Area Auto Racing News…as well as being an assistant Editor of the highly popular, weekly auto racing newspaper. Earl is also highly sought out for his emcee’ing style at various racing functions and is a highly respected announcer, having taken the mic at many racing facilities…currently the Wall Stadium in New Jersey. Earl is an historian himself, being involved in many facets of the sport along the way and embracing a fantastic memory for the facts from the past. For all of that…Earl fits the mold for a recipient of the Bill Hanna Passion and Dedication award! Kevin Eyres brings such diversity to his presentation of the Hanna award! “He sure does! Exclaims President Voorhees in talking about one of his long time racing acquaintances. “I think I got to know Kevin back in the early 90’s when I was doing PR work for the Pro 4 modified division and they appeared at the Central Jersey Speedway. Kevin was part of a three man promotional team back then at Central Jersey.” He continued, “Having been a successful driver at the nearby Wall Stadium, Kevin dabbled in the promotional side of things and went on to becoming the annual coordinator of the Christmastime benefit gathering and party for the residents of the Matheny School for developmentally disabled children and adults, demonstrating his humanitarian side. These days…he is also a member of the pit crew for well known driver Stewart Friesen. Successful driver, promoter, humanitarian and pit crew guy…..I think Kevin has approached this sport from lots of different angles. He is Bill Hanna Passion and Dedication material!” The awards are presently being ordered and will soon be available to present to the three recipients. Those wishing to reflect on past winners of the Bill Hanna Award can visit the Bill Hanna Wing of the website and scroll down to see the three previous winners. The ARRA website can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/arradocumentingracinghistory/ Auto Racing Research Associates is a growing group of over forty auto racing historians across the country banded together for the purpose of the research, documentation and displaying of auto racing history such as driver win statistics, track, racing series and organizations histories and also the background of racing personalities, particular cars from the past and various other interesting facts of racing history that should not be forgotten. ARRA continues to build a network of associated auto racing related websites to unite for better chances of furthering the understanding of the past of our sport. ARRA offers looking up services for those looking for one particular piece of information from the past. They are the official statistics information source of the Flemington Speedway Historical Society and have been doing much of the research work for a number of years for the Northeast Dirt Modified Museum and Hall of Fame in Weedsport, NY. ARRA President, Fred Voorhees, was honored by the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame, located in the Weedsport, NY based Dirt Modified Museum for his work for ARRA in July of 2025, being awarded the Andrew S. Fusco Award for Media Excellence.
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