GOSHEN NY – Tom Charters, Jeff Gural, Bill
Popfinger, and Tim Tetrick have been selected by the Hall of Fame Screening
Committee of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) as ballot
candidates for this summer’s election vote toward harness racing’s highest
honor, membership in the sport’s Hall of Fame.
The chapters of USHWA, the sport’s leading
media organization, nominate deserving candidates based on prepared biographical
information and discussion within the chapters. This list of names is then
considered by the USHWA Screening Committee, with consultation with several
Hall of Fame members, on Hall of Fame Day, the first Sunday in July at Goshen,
and they then select the candidates for that year’s balloting, with the
provision that anyone connected to a candidate is excluded from the discussion
of and vote on that candidate’s viability. A person must receive 75% of the
yes-no voted of the USHWAns eligible to vote and the current Hall of Fame
members in order to join the Goshen pantheon.
Tom Charters worked his way through the
ranks in harness racing, starting out as a caretaker (among his charges was
Horse of the Year Delmonica Hanover) before becoming a racing secretary. In
1984 the Hambletonian Society hired Charters as executive director of the
Breeders Crown, a newly-created series of season-end championship races, and
his work in establishing the Crowns as signature events led to his being named
executive director of the Society in 1994, then being promoted in 1998 to
president and chief executive officer. Charters’ tireless work in such diverse
fields as increasing racing handle, simulcasting and television production,
international racing, and brand name establishment, plus the temperament to
juggle all of these jobs along with dealing the wide range of personalities at
the highest levels of the sport, firmly established him as one of the captains
of the industry.
Jeff Gural was a longtime racing fan,
owner, and breeder, associated with Allerage Farms, Little E LLC, and other
equine partnerships, along with proprietorship of New York’s Vernon Downs and
Tioga Downs racetracks, when he undertook the monumental task of leading the
privatization of the sport’s flagship track in North America, The Meadowlands,
away from a state-run operation of New Jersey. Enlisting the aid of many of the
sport’s top figures in addition to large investments of his own money, time,
and expertise, Gural has been the directing force of the revitalization of the
mile oval, with a new grandstand built on the old backstretch side of the
track, a facility and the parallel racing program aimed squarely at maximizing
revenue for all of racing’s interlinked parties in today’s changing, challenging
gaming environment.
Bill Popfinger has been a horseman for over
50 years, going from success at smaller tracks to operating a powerful Grand
Circuit stable, and he continues his winning tradition today – a trainee of his
won at Pocono on Monday. Popfinger first hit the harness limelight 50 years
when he guided Lady B Fast to an upset win over the great trotters Fresh Yankee
and Nevele Pride at Yonkers, and he cemented his stardom with his famous daring
early move to the lead with Happy Escort, “the lights on, the horn honking, and the pedal to the metal,” to
defeat heavy favorites Falcon Almahurst and Flight Director in the 1978 Little
Brown Jug raceoff. That quote also cemented Popfinger’s nickname of “Showbiz,”
and over the years he campaigned such marquee horses as Happy Motoring, Praised
Dignity, Spellbound Hanover, Say Hello, and Spicy Charlie.
Tim Tetrick, at age 37, has already become one
of only four drivers to have driven the winners of over $200 million in his
career, and few doubt he will contend for the top spot, John Campbell’s $299M+
career total, before all is done – after all, any possible mishaps may not slow
a man who already has two “bionic hips” after replacement surgery. Also the
single-season money recordholder for a driver with $19.7M in 2008, Tetrick also
produces quantity with quality, driving his 11,000th winner earlier
this year, putting him ninth all-time, fifth among active drivers, and second
in the 2019 dashwinning standings. The list of top horses associated with
Tetrick is too long to mention here, but it is fairly safe to say that when it
comes to Breeders Crown time and the selection of year-end awardwinners, the
name “Tetrick” will be associated with several of the champions.
Charters, Gural, Popfinger, and Tetrick will be joined on the ballot by Phil Pikelny, former author and publicist, and Ken Weingartner, media relations manager for the USTA, the two ballot candidates for the Communicators Hall of Fame selected by USHWA directors at their annual meetings this past February
