by David Mattia, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Plainfield, NJ — Sunday, July 27, will be a great day at Tioga Downs when many of the nation’s top drivers fight it out in the second annual Drivers’ Championship.

Seven of the top money-winning drivers in North America will skirmish for total prize monies of $40,000. Tioga’s leading money winning driver Howard Parker, and 2008’s sponsor’s exemption, Jody Jamieson, will join these elite seven for a total of nine.

Although many tracks have hosted driving championships in the past, Tioga is the first harness track to offer this format, and according to Jason Settlemoir, the Regional Vice President of Racing and Simulcast for Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs, the Drivers’ Championship first came about as an idea put forth by Dustin Ross, who is the regional racing operations manager at Tioga Downs.

USTA photo

Jason Settlemoir

“The Drivers’ Championship was an idea that Dustin Ross came up with,” said Settlemoir. “I agreed it was great for promoting the industry here at Tioga, and bringing these drivers together for a one day championship puts harness racing upon the national stage. With people watching throughout North America it’s an event that is very good for the industry overall.”

A lot of harness fans frequent the smaller tracks and rarely do they get a chance to watch drivers of this celebrity caliber. This event not only gives these fans an opportunity to watch these master drivers at work, they get to meet them as well. Lucky fans will have the chance to meet their favorite drivers and get a photo or an autograph — or maybe even both.

“It’s a worthwhile event,” said Settlemoir. “Especially for the smaller tracks where the fans don’t get to see these top drivers on a regular basis. We get a lot of these drivers scattered throughout the year with all the stakes events we have between Tioga and Vernon Downs, but to have the seven top money-earning drivers all on one day at a smaller track is a great promotion.

Fred Brown Photography

An autograph session with the drivers is a popular feature of the Tioga Drivers’ Championship.

“The drivers have been great too. They show up an hour and a half early and do autograph sessions for the fans. They’ve been great like that. They do a meet and greet so that the fans can get an autograph and get a photograph taken.”

The drivers in this championship don’t have the luxury of picking their mounts as they usually do. This time the field is drawn as an open draw, and it’s the driver who is assigned a mount by way of a pill bottle filled with numbered balls. Turnabout is fair play, and with $40,000 on the line, some little horse who tries his heart out every week without success might get the hands of Brian Sears or Ron Pierce to guide him to the winner’s circle. It’s a longshot’s dream — or maybe even a longshot bettor’s dream.

Dustin Ross and Jason Settlemoir are two gentlemen with a lot of foresight, and one can only wonder what other promotional events they will conjure in the future. Certainly they are dedicated to this one for now.

“I think it’s great for the sport,” said Settlemoir. “It’s great for Tioga and obviously this is something that I will be doing once a year and each year I will try to make it grow — making it bigger and better. Would I like to see more tracks doing it? Well, if that means people promoting the industry and making it into an event, sure I would like to see that. I think it’s great promotion.”

Last year’s co-champions Brian Sears and Yannick Gingras will be on hand as will this year’s Meadowlands Pace winning driver Ron Pierce. Harness racing’s busiest driver Tony Morgan will be there as will the “King of the Longshots” Eric Goodell who is having the best season of his career.

They’ll all be looking to keep up with Tim Tetrick, Andy Miller and Jody Jamieson. Of course Howard Parker will have the home track advantage, but it’s going to be tough out there because these nine drivers have won more than 2,480 races in 2008 and their combined earnings are an amazing $45,564,164.

Tioga Downs is doing something that’s not only different; it’s fun, exciting and innovative as well. Of course it will be interesting to see how each driver scores, but moreover, it will be interesting to watch Tioga Downs usher in a racing promotion wherein it’s the racing itself that brings in the crowds and a renewed enthusiasm.