×

Shaver to receive dirt track racing honor

Steve Shaver of Parkersburg in August will be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. The retired driver is a real estate agent at Berkshire Hathaway. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — A Parkersburg man will be inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame at Florence, Ky.

Steve Shaver will be in the 2018 Class for his numerous accomplishments in dirt track racing and will be inducted at ceremonies on Aug. 11 at the Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.

Shaver is a 1982 graduate of Parkersburg High School and was a running back for the Big Reds. For a year he attended West Virginia University where he decided to pursue his passion and become a race car driver.

Among career highlights:

∫ Two-time winner of the North-South 100 at Florence Speedway.

∫ Five-time winner at the East Bay Raceway Park Winter Nationals in Tampa, Fla.

∫ Fifteen career S.T.A.R.S. Series victories.

∫ Four career Hav-A-Tampa/United Dirt Track Racing Association Series victories.

∫ Five career World of Outlaws late model series victories.

∫ Four Lucas Oil late model series victories.

∫ Six-time Harvest 50 winner at Skyline Speedway, Stewart, Ohio.

∫ Three-time winner of the Jim Dunn Memorial at Midway Speedway at Crooksville, Ohio.

∫ Three-time winner of the Big Kahuna at Allegheny Motor Speedway in Cumberland, Md.

∫ Winner of the Hillbilly 100 at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne.

∫ Two-time West Virginia state champion at I-79 Speedway in Shinnston.

∫ Two-time Mark Balzano Memorial winner at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells.

Upon retiring from racing, Shaver joined his father, Holmes R. “Butch” Shaver, in the real estate business. The junior Shaver is a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Real Estate Center.

He and his wife, Ami Weaver Shaver, have two children, Calli, a freshman at West Virginia University, and Dylan, a junior at Parkersburg High School.

The 2018 class includes five drivers and three contributors who made a significant impact on the sport of dirt late model racing. The induction ceremony will be held during the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned North-South 100 weekend at the Florence Speedway.

Also in the class are drivers:

∫ Steve Barnett, who recently retired with 22 track and series titles and more than 200 victories in 40 seasons.

∫ Don Hoffman, among the winningest drivers in Iowa.

∫ Jimmy Mars, who has celebrated victories in the Dirt Track World Championships, the Dream Race, the USA Nationals, the Topless 100 and the National 100.

∫ Wendell Wallace, a top player with the Hav-A-Tampa Dirt Racing Series with 26 victories on the cigar tour, has garnered a number of the sport’s major accolades, including the DTWC, the Topless 100, the Show-Me 100, the Cedar Lake Masters and the Magnolia 100.

Contributors to be inducted are:

∫ Dottie Byers and her late husband Lee of the Dependable Carburetor Shop in Chicago.

∫ The Cook Family of northern Wisconsin who developed the Cedar Lake Speedway in the late 1950s and operated the track for 43 years.

∫ Tony Hammett of Woodruff, S.C., who was the Hav-a-Tampa Dirt Racing Series official photographer.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today