Henderson wins NASCAR’s Wendell Scott Award
Originally Published by The Middletown Journal
Written by John Bombatch, Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
FRANKLIN — Calling it both a humbling experience and an honor, Sloan Henderson was excited to learn she had been selected as NASCAR’s recipient of the 2010 Wendell Scott Trail Blazer award.
The annual award, named after former NASCAR driver Wendell Scott, goes to a female or minority driver in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series who personifies excellence both on and off the race track.
Scott made his first NASCAR stock car start on March 4, 1961 and was recognized posthumously for his feat at Atlanta Motor Speedway this season. Scott became the first African-American race driver to win a NASCAR event on Dec. 1, 1963 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Henderson, 18, who has long sought to become the first female race driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event, will receive the award on Dec. 12 at the NWAAS awards banquet at the Crown Ballroom at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C. She will be one of three award winners who will give a speech at the banquet.
“You can no longer advance your racing career just by turning left,” Henderson laughed. “I’ve been working on the media relations and marketing part of this sport, and giving this speech will just be another part of that. I’ll be speaking to a whole group of other champions in the audience, so I don’t have to worry about them not knowing what I’m talking about.”
Racing primarily at Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia, and Columbus Motor Speedway, Henderson claimed 20 top-five finishes, two feature wins and set two track records during the 2010 season.
She placed third overall in Ohio and was 97th out of the top 500 Whelens Series drivers in the country.
“The winner is determined based on submitted nominations and finishing position in the Top 500 of the Division I NWAAS national points,” NASCAR spokesperson Lauren Wescoat said in a statement. “Sloan was the highest finishing female driver in the NWAAS Division I national points standings.”
On Sunday, Henderson learned she’d been invited to potentially drive in NASCAR’s Grand-Am road racing series next season.
“We’ve been looking into the possibility of racing in the NASCAR Truck Series or maybe in the ARCA stock cars, but I’ve got to look into the road course racing. I haven’t done very much of that so far, so that might be fun.”
Henderson in sponsored by Lebanon-based Green Pro Landscaping, Franklin’s Koehlke Components and Middletown’s The Rebel 105.9 WPFB-FM radio station.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.
