ANFA

Pioneer Awards - presented by ANFA, Rocket, Cruzin and Sydney Dragway, 17th November 2012.

Well, the 2012 Pioneer Awards and Re-union is over and done for another year.

Around 300 people attended the evening to see some great past Champions receive their Pioneer Awards and have their names affixed to the wall at Sydney Dragway.

This year, the recipients were: Warren & Freddie Armour, Graham Hussey, Jim & Nelma Reed, Joe Gatt, John English, Dennis Syrmis and Bob & Maureen Dunn.

The evening had a little bit for everyone, with some quite emotional presentations and some damn righteous ones.

Dennis Walford found a Miss Valvoline from a 1965 pit shot for John English...well, it wasn't quite the glamour in the picture, far from it.  But John and the crowd thought it was pretty humorous.

Gentlemen Jim Reed got to partake in a good glass of scotch on stage with one of his good friends, Dave Cook which continues a tradition both guys have had from way back.

Graham Hussey posed with some of the gladiator drivers and some of the new generation drivers, while Freddie Armour got to sit in a real life Cackle car at the end of the night courtesy of the Preen Family.

Bob and Maureen Dunn had a crew reunion on stage as well as kids and grand kids for a huge family picture.

An emotional presentation was made, first to Sue Syrmis on behalf of her husband Dennis Syrmis who has not been well of late to which the crowd responded with much love and warmth.  Allan Burgers made the other emotional presentation to his good friend and fellow racer Joe Gatt.  Joe had been through a pretty rough time as of late, and it was Al who was with him a lot of the way, so this presentation alone was special.

At the end of the presentations, a cackle was held to close out the evening.  Many people stayed to sample the atmosphere that was thick in the air.  There possibly has never been such a turnout of Drag Racing Royalty in the one place at the one time in recent memory.

It was agreed that this event has to occur yearly, as some who could not attend this past event are virtually hanging to next year.  Several people had not seen each other for 20 to 30 years, and that is just not acceptable with the aging competitors from this great sport.

Don't forget to check out some of the pictures in our Gallery and also here from Steve Thomas.

Bring on 2013!