Newsmaker of the Half-Century

[macdaddy]

From this article on the CC website...

The American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) has recognized the contributions of the venerable team owner (Haas) by naming him as one of 50 nominees for the organization's 'Newsmaker of the Half-Century' award.

"I am honored to be included in this distinguished group of individuals and I am proud that my love of motorsports is being recognized in this fashion." Haas said.

Nineteen of the 50 nominees for the award made their marks in Champ Car racing, including all-time Champ Car pole position leader Mario Andretti, all-time victory leader A.J. Foyt, and former series champions Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Al Unser Jr., Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser Sr., Bobby Unser, Michael Andretti and Rodger Ward. In addition, Champ Car luminaries such as Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue, Andy Granatelli, Jim Hurtubise, Roger Penske George Bignotti and Jim Hall are also nominated for their many contributions to the sport.

The Champ Car World Series today announced that it would be a corporate sponsor of the AARWBA 50th anniversary celebration, which will be celebrated at a number of events throughout the 2005 racing season.

The 50 nominees will be pared down to 12, with those 12 being announced at the AARWBA All-American team banquet January 15 in Pomona, California. The 12 finalists will then go before another vote of AARWBA members with the winner to be announced later in the 2005 season.

[Kicking-back]

Haas, Penske and Mario Andretti would all be worthy winners.

[macdaddy]

...From that partial list.
Penske and Mario I cannot argue with.
I'm sure there are other names like Earnhardt and Schumacher on the ballot! I've spent a little bit of time Googling for the entire list of fifty, to no avail...

[Omega99]

Surely the Zanardi story is worthy of a mention...

[Kicking-back]

I suspect the nominations have to be American, which rules out Zanardi and Schumacher.