ED Key Award?

[kvanengen]

Thanks, Cowboy. Lets move on and keep this about Mr. Key.

Hi Rick,

I hope you are well. Wow, that is an excellent idea! I think we should consider pitching this to Kevin Elliot.

Thanks,

Kevin

[flyboy75]

Kevin, here's an idea.
What if there were an annual award given to a club rider who most closely emulated what Ed represented? The Ed Key Award. Kind of like the Heisman Trophy of motorcycle racing. Knowing Ed as we both do, I think we'd have to agree that this type of recognition would probably mean more to him than to personally receive an award. The life long impact that Ed has made on motorcycle racing deserves an award that lasts into the future. I'd be interested in contributing to an award that would go in this direction.

Rick Weaver

That's actually a really cool idea.

[F2RGK]

Alrighty then, now that we have cleared up.  I am in for that idea!  Now we just have to get it rolling with the appropriate rules that would go along with that. 

@Cowboy,...trust me, my tact can b off at times since I am pretty direct.  I can't tell u how many times I hit the send button before proof reading first.  Then I am like oh boy, that's gonna get mis-taken!  Lol
It's all good! 

[truckstop]

Kevin, here's an idea.
What if there were an annual award given to a club rider who most closely emulated what Ed represented? The Ed Key Award. Kind of like the Heisman Trophy of motorcycle racing. Knowing Ed as we both do, I think we'd have to agree that this type of recognition would probably mean more to him than to personally receive an award. The life long impact that Ed has made on motorcycle racing deserves an award that lasts into the future. I'd be interested in contributing to an award that would go in this direction.

Rick Weaver

I thought that's what this thread was going to be about to begin with. As someone who has been on the track with Ed ("racing with him" isn't really what i was doing when my goal was always to finish a race before he lapped me) and benefited from his encouragement and presence in the sport, I wholeheartedly agree that there should be an "Ed Key" award.

Maybe not given out every year, and does it overlap Rick Bruer's "On the Gas" award? Is Ed known well enough throughout CCS that it could be a national award? I would think National. We ran into guys at a hotel when we were at one of the southern Team Challenge events that were talking SVs and Ed's name came up. Pretty sure everybody knows who he is.

[LWT Racer]

Pretty sure everybody knows who he is.

I'm pretty sure that is not that case.

There are a lot of insanely fast SV guys all over the country. I think you'd be surprised how many people aren't aware of some names.


Only reason I know of Ed Key is because of svrider.com when someone posted his race bike.  I have never heard anyone talk about him at the track.  Nothing against him but we have our own fast guys/kids to worry about.


I have no issues with this award being given out.


I also view it as "CCS thanks you for giving us thousands of your dollars" :)

[kvanengen]

Things often get mistaken through text. We know this. We're all fellow riders and friends here.

I put a good amount of thought into Rick's idea today. The more I think it over the more I like. I've reached out to Kevin Elliot to consider the idea on this thread. We currently have a "Potato Head" and a "On the gas" award for the MW already. I think an award that represents honesty, determination and class (That's off the top of my head) would be a good fit. Like what Truckstop noted, it can't overlap Rick's "On the Gas" award.

[kvanengen]

I'm pretty sure that is not that case.

There are a lot of insanely fast SV guys all over the country. I think you'd be surprised how many people aren't aware of some names.


Only reason I know of Ed Key is because of svrider.com when someone posted his race bike.  I have never heard anyone talk about him at the track.  Nothing against him but we have our own fast guys/kids to worry about.


I have no issues with this award being given out.


I also view it as "CCS thanks you for giving us thousands of your dollars" :)

Swiest certainly has a valid point which is worth considering. There are a good number of fast SV riders out there. However, there is more to it than Ed's time on a LW bike, which was a small part of his career. His career went for over 40 years and in that time he raced and beat some of the top names in road racing who still remember Ed to this day. There are countless riders who's greatest memories on the track are of racing against, ED. I'll admit having raced Ed for a number of years I have a special appreciation for what he can do on a bike. I certainly understand Swiest prospective considering he doesn't know ED the way I and others do.

[Burt Munro]

Kevin,
I think what makes Ed unique are the other aspects to who he is outside of the victories he amassed on the track. The respect he always displayed to everyone at the track, from fellow riders to race officials to casual fans was second to none. Ed was as competitive as they come, but he never let that interfere with the respect he displayed toward fellow riders. The championships were just one component of what has made Ed so highly respected.

The idea that I envisioned for the Ed Key Award is that it be a national award. Since Ed also had a period earlier in his career where he won WERA Championships maybe the award shouldn't be exclusive to CCS. That aspect can be discussed.  A selection committee could review nominations from all CCS regions (and possibly WERA). I envision this to become a lifetime achievement award for which certain criteria could be established.

Just some rambling ideas to throw out there.

[LWT Racer]

Sounds like you want to a Half of Fame

[CCS]

While I agree on this premise, I have a problem because the CCS records before 1992 were lost in a series of computer crashes/changes so our records are not complete. Those 8 years were done on a series of Apple IIe, Mac and DOS computers and did not always include affiliate regions in the results so it would be hard to conclusively say that Ed is/was the longest active rider. Both LRRS and CCS FL pre-date CCS going back to the AMARR days. (I think that's it)

[F2RGK]

Ok, I c I have to add my two cents here again to keep people on track.  My purpose of this thread was just to give an idea thoughtful to Ed Key if CCS didn't provide something for Ed's retirement.  I did mention that part in the first post.  I am not located in the Midwest region anymore so I am out of the loop up there.  Now since I am here I Florida, the original thought of my idea to post this came from weeks prior when I visited a track day event at PBIR( palm beach raceway).  I went around the paddock to see who I knew and was welcomed warmly.  Well, considering the one person who remembered me, instantly brought up Ed's name.  The rest of the group immediately knew who we see talking about.  So, as far as the Midwest region vs. the south region, knowing Ed, goes out the window. 

So, as for the Ed Key award idea, in general, if this gets approved, should go to someone who has character, respected, is a long time racer, whether its CCS or Wera if u want to make it a National thing.  That individual needs to be a promoter in the sport ie: someone who takes the time teaching others like Bruer for example, has to be someone you'd say that you'd miss after they left the racing scene, lol.  This isn't supposed to turn into a popularity contest, it should happen naturally.  Or if u really want to throw a spin on this, we could just offer it to the track workers in charge that make sure everything goes running smooth.  Ie: Fuhrman, Larry, (mind stopped working for memory, lol) CCS Florida director etc. 

Everyone that submitted an idea should be added to a master list then break it down to like 20 factors, that's it.  Ok, I hope I've helped.  Also, please re-read the main posts before you comment so something doesn't get twisted so we don't get off track, hehe!  Cheers people!!

[F2RGK]

I typed this post on my phone so sorry for spell check error words!