George Follmer, Don Knowles Receive RRDC Awards In Daytona
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The Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) gathers each year during the Rolex 24 at Daytona race meeting to honor its members and celebrate the start of the racing season.
This year the club, with membership by invitation, bestowed its Phil Hill award named in honor of the 1961 Formula 1 champion to George Follmer, a legend in the sport.
In the days when drivers raced whatever they could, Follmer stood out in just about every category of motor sport. A California native was born in 1934, he is the only professional racer from the USA to compete in Indy cars, NASCAR, Formula 1, the World Endurance Championship, Can-Am, Trans-Am and the initial IMSA series back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The RRDC Phil Hill award has been given annually since 1993 to the person who the RRDC feels has rendered outstanding service to road racing. The recipient could be a driver, an entrant or an outstanding member of a sanctioning body.
Speaking of this grand honor Follmer noted, "I've had a lot of admiration for Phil because he was a California guy and I was one of those guys. It's a great honor to receive this award in his name."
During the same celebration, five-time SCCA champion Don Knowles received the 2011 Bob Akin Award, considered the top award in motorsports for amateur, vintage/historic or semi-professional drivers.
The prize-winner is selected by Akin's son Bobby, RRDC members Brian Redman and Archie Urciuoli, and must be approved by RRDC president Bobby Rahal. The trophy comes from Steuben Glass in Corning, NY and goes to a driver who best exemplifies the extraordinary qualities and characteristics that were native to Akin, including a passion for motorsport and automobiles, a high level of sportsmanship and fair play and contributions to the sport.
Born in Pittsboro, NC, Knowles, 64, worked for the Federal government for 30 years, retiring in 2003. He's competed in more than 350 races over his career and, along with his five SCCA national titles (three in SSB and two in T2), Knowles has won 14 24-hour races, has 35 wins in five professional series and was a member of the Corvette Land Speed Record team.
Knowles is a former associate Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior and a staffer on the US Senate's Appropriation Committee. He was featured in Sports Illustrated 20 years ago and more recently as "Dandy Don" in Road & Track magazine.
"The first thing about the award is that it honors Bob Akin," said Knowles. "He was a great competitor, a good friend, and a wonderful, erudite racer. And it’s a good thing for racers to think about sportsmanship every so often. It's just wonderful to be recognized by my peers," he said modestly. "It's like the 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,' and I appreciate it and will treasure it."
Akin died in an accident in 2002; the Bob Akin Award has been bestowed every year since 2003.
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