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Year In Review: Whelen All-American Series

Philip Morris celebrated his fourth national championship in Charlotte, N.C., in December in grand fashion at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. As the calendar has officially turned to 2012, let’s take one last look back at the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

VIDEO: Philip Morris Championship | PHOTOS: Top Images from the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series | PHOTOS: NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I Track Champions

30 Years Running: NASCAR celebrated its 30th season of the Whelen All-American Series. Nine tracks were recognized for being part of the series for all 30 years: Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway; Holland Motorsports Complex, Holland, N.Y.; Langley Speedway, Hampton, Va.; Old Dominion Speedway, Manassas, Va.; Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway; South Boston (Va.) Speedway; Spencer Speedway, Williamson, N.Y.; and Stafford (Conn) Motor Speedway

History In The Making: Philip Morris continued to build his legends on the ovals in his native Virginia. The 46-year-old Ruckersville, Va., driver started his year with 11 wins in 12 starts at South Boston Speedways en route to his second track title on the .400-mile oval. With 52 career wins, he broke the track record for wins of 34 shared by former national champion Barry Beggarly and David Blankenship. In 2011, Morris also competed at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford – picking up a win there in Sept. – and Langley Speedway in Hampton as he won his fourth NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Virginia championship. In 2012, he will start his national title defense the way he ended 2011. The track announced its Whelen Late Model 300 will move from the end of the season to March 10.

Kid Roc Continues To Roll: Keith Rocco’s bid for a second straight NASCAR Whelen All-American Series came up 11 points short for the Wallingford, Conn., driver. But it wasn’t for lack of effort from the 26-year-old. Rocco had more wins (24) and added track titles in the Modified divisions at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl and Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway. It was his fourth NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Connecticut championship and marked the fifth straight season he’s finished in the top four in the nation.

New Faces In Victory Lane: At the track promoters meeting during Speedweeks in Daytona, NASCAR announced it was lowering the minimum age for drivers in Division I for NASCAR Whelen All-American Series to 14. It wasn’t long before the impact of the rule change was felt, as 14-year-old Michael McGuire won the Late Model feature at Motor Mile in June to become the youngest winning in series history; 16-year-old Zachary Hausler collected 16 wins in the open-wheel Modified Division at Houston Motorsports Park and Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. The success wasn’t limited to Division I, though, as 37 different drivers under the age of 17 won NASCAR-sanctioned weekly events. Garrett Denton was 14 years, 5 months, 10 days when he won in the Division IV at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl to become the youngest overall winner in series history; and Kaylee Misak (15 years, 11 months, 15 days) won in Div. V at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway to become the youngest female winner of the season.

Rookie Battle: Like the national championship, the national Rookie of the Year presented by Jostens also went down to the final weekend, with 17-year-old Travis Braden of Wheeling, W.V., holding off Taylor Miinch, 17, of LaMesa, Calif., by just seven points to claim the honor. Braden also finished 12th in the national standings and won the Ohio championship driving at Columbus Motor Speedway and Kil-Kare in Xenia. Miinch finished 14th in the nation racing at Toyota Speedway, while Austin McDaniel, 17 of Harrisburg, N.C., finished third in the rookie standings and 46th in the nation.

Virginia Is For Racing: Virginia Late Model ranks were well represented in the national standings. In addition to Morris, Motor Mile champion Lee Pulliam and Langley champion CE Falk III finished third and fourth, respectively. Frank Deiny Jr. raced at both Motor Mile and Langley and was ninth nationally. Natalie Sather finished fifth in Virginia and 25th overall, and was honored with the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Award Banquet. The state’s fourth track championship, Old Dominion Speedway, went to 19-year-old David Polenz. Things got interesting after the NASCAR points season ended, when Pulliam used a bump-and-run to win the prestigious Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 300 at Martinsville Speedway, and then chaos erupted post-race at South Boston when Pulliam took exception to Morris’ driving after the later won the South Boston 300.

History And Milestones: Four females finished in the top 55 of the national standings, as Amy Catalano (New York) and Erica Thiering (Alberta) won track and state/provincial championships. Lexi Wilson, who set the mark as the youngest female winner in 2010, advanced to the Late Model division at Lake Erie Speedway in Northeast, Penn., and won the Pennsylvania Rookie of the Year Award presented by Jostens; Jeff Strunk won his ninth Modified division championship on the dirt of Grandview Speedway in Bechtesville, Penn. It marked Strunk’s 14th NASCAR track championship, breaking a tie for second he had with Jeff Aikey and moving him within three of the record of 17 set by Nebraska’s Joe Kosiski.