On President’s Day Monticello Raceway will have its own
tribute to our U.S. presidents with the ‘Not-Quite Presidential’ Pace, a
special race to be driven by drivers whose surnames are the same as any of our
presidents.
With the two Washington brothers--Cedric and Dennis--as
Mighty M regulars the raceway has a leg up with two possible starters.
However, the pool of possibilities is comparatively small and
although David Carr of the United States Trotting Association provided a list
of 70, or so, drivers with presidential names most aren’t close to the
Monticello area with a huge number from faraway Canada.
“It’s going to be quite a hard job to fill the race because
we’ve got a limited pool of drivers to draw from,” noted Eric Warner the tracks
director of racing. “But we moved a bit closer recently when I received
confirmation from Don Hoover and Howard Taylor.”
Hoover is currently the racing secretary at Saratoga Raceway
and a former professional driver and Taylor is a prominent horse owner and
occasional driver. Hoover has driven 179 winners while Taylor finished
first 54 times.
“We have a good start but we’ll need eight drivers to fill
our race,” Warner added.
Any driver who fits the criteria of having a presidential
surname and would like to have more information, or possibly enter in the “Not
-Quite Presidential” Pace on Monday, February 17, (Presidents Day), is
urged to contact Warner in the race office by calling 845.794.4100ext.557; or
they can contact the track's publicity office at ext. 455.
