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NMPA honors Edwards, Warren and Roberts:

January 20, 2009 at 12:00 AM
  • The National Motorsports Press Association awarded Carl Edwards its annual NMPA Richard Petty Driver of the Year in recognition of his stellar performance in NASCARs top two divisions in 2008.”It’s an honor to win the Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award, Edwards said.”The National Motorsports Press Association members see this sport from the inside out every week and it means a lot to me to be selected by that group as the Driver of the Year. It’s also humbling to look at the list of guys that have won this award. It’s amazing to be on that list. Edwards finished as runner-up in both the Cup and Nationwide standings in 2008 for Roush Fenway Racing.
    The late photographer T. Taylor Warren was selected as the recipient of the NMPA/Pocono Spirit Award, an annual award designed to recognize character and achievement in the face of adversity, sportsmanship and contributions to motorsports. Each year, quarterly winners are selected, and an overall winner is selected by a vote of the NMPA membership.
    Veteran publicist Tom Roberts was selected as the recipient of the Ken Patterson Helping Others Award by the NMPA. From February 1984 to June 2002, Roberts worked 539 consecutive NASCAR Cup races, representing sponsors, drivers and teams. During his career, he has represented such drivers as Bobby Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch. Presented annually since 2004, the Ken Patterson Helping Others Award is named after the former director of public relations for Talladega Superspeedway. The award is presented in conjunction with Talladega Superspeedway and recognizes a public relations representative in the motorsports industry (team, track, and sanctioning body) who has exhibited the kind, generous qualities that Patterson always demonstrated. Patterson died April 2, 2004, from complications of myelo dysplasia syndrome.(SPEEDtv.com)(1-20-2009)