Jorg Bergmeister, Scott Dixon, and Jimmie Johnson are among the drivers named to the 2008 Auto Racing All-American Team. ยป More Photos
The polls have closed for voters choosing 2008 All-America Auto Racing Team and five drivers with landslides of more than 70 percent of the vote are contenders for the Jerry Titus Award -- the team's Driver of the Year.
Who those five are is not revealed until the All-America ceremonies in Ontario, Calif., on Jan. 10 but they will come from among the 17 drivers named to the First Team by the voting members of the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association.
Three former Titus winners are on the team this year -- Indy Car champions Tony Kanaan (2004) and Dan Wheldon (2005), and NHRA Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher (2006) but only Schumacher bids to repeat this year.
The Titus, given in remembrance of the late racer/journalist, signifies the top vote-getter on the All-America team regardless of category, is announced at the conclusion of the annual AARWBA banquet Jan. 10 at the Hilton Hotel in Ontario, Calif., which is open to the public. Two drivers from each of seven categories are elected to the First Team, two more to the Second Team, and all drivers receiving at least five percent
of the vote earn honorable mention.
Schumacher won his sixth NHRA Powerade Top Fuel championship this year, his fifth in a row. With a dominating 15-victory season he won his sixth selection as an All-America in the Drag Racing category, every one of them First Team. He is joined by NHRA Funny Car champ Cruz Pedregon in only his second All-America appearance -- his previous being on the Second Team16 years ago when he interrupted John Force°Øs streak of championships in 1992.
Jimmie Johnson won his third straight NASCAR Sprint Cup but he and Carl Edwards -- runner-up in both of NASCAR's top two championships, Sprint Cup and the Nationwide Series -- raced figuratively wheel-to-wheel through the vote tally in the Stock Car category. While Johnson achieved a three-peat only accomplished once before in Cup history, Edwards posted the most victories (9) on the season in addition to another seven in the Nationwide Series. Johnson makes his seventh All-America team, five in a row on First Team. Edwards is First Team for the first time after two earlier appearances on the Second Team.