This year the Award Committee felt two individuals deserved to receive the Mac award and therefore two outstanding people were recognized at the R4/2: Mike Swiss and Joe Neumeister.
All of Retro racing owes a deep debt of gratitude to Mike Swiss, who almost single-handedly kick-started the national growth of the retro niche when he came up with the idea of putting on the first Sano race at Chicagoland Raceway in 2007. Not conincidentally, that event was where the organization that became IRRA was formed. Mike has been a member of the IRRA Board of Directors since its creation and IRRA has benefited greatly from his experience in the slot racing hobby. Without Mike's actions and involvement, there is little doubt that Retro racing would not have seen the incredible growth it is enjoying today.
Is there anyone who has more consistently promoted Retro racing than Joe "Noose" Neumeister"? As a key and hard-working member of the IRRA Board of Directors, as one of the most prolific retro body painters in Retro, as a founding member of the Retro East™ regional retro group, as the creator and webmaster of the IRRA website, and as the Tech Nazi at the Sano and R4 races, Noose has tirelessly worked to bring growth and stability to this segment of slot racing.
Congratulations to both of these fine individuals, without whose efforts Retro racing would not be what is is today.
