DENVER, January 26, 2011 -- The Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame today announced it has elected 10 members for enshrinement in 2011.  The induction ceremony will be April 6, 2011.  A limited number of tickets go on sale for the ceremony on Thursday, February 3rd here on our website.

DENVER, April 8, 2010, The Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame elected five members for enshrinement in 2010 during a special induction ceremony and reception held last night.

The 2010 class includes:

Joe Giba’ s motorsports career spanned more than 33 years, including racing both motorcycles and midgets.  During his career, he won two Colorado Midget Racing Association features in Pueblo in 1947.  He also won 10 Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association features in 1948.  Overall, he had 22 feature wins, with his last feature win taking place at Lakeside Speedway in 1963.  Additionally, Giba became the first non-champion to be afforded an RMMRA lifetime membership.  Giba also established a one-lap midget record on the paved Milwaukee Mile, with an average of 101.070 MPH, and reportedly set a four-lap mark in a midget at Lakeside that was never broken.   Giba passed away of lung cancer in 1986 at the age of 77.

Mitch Miller
Mitch Miller first became involved in motorsports in 1965 in public relations and advertising roles with the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association.  In 1966, he began announcing for the RMMRA and was then elected president of the RMMRA in 1970.  He served in that position for seven years, and also served as the organization’s vice president and business manager.  During that time he also served as an announcer for all RMMRA races and several USAC shows.

In 1978, Miller began the Belleville Midget Nationals, which soon became the largest midget race in the country.  Miller also directed the South West Independent Midget Series from 1981-1985 and the American Independent Midget Series from 1983-1995.  In 1987, Miller helped start the Chili Bowl midget race.

ROY BOWE

Roy Bowe was born in Denver in1916.  During his racing career, he was unquestionably one the best drivers ever to come from Colorado. He won 64 main events running in Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association and won the RMMRA Championship in 1948 and 1949.  In addition, he won a total of 12 prestigious feature races outside of Colorado.  He is also fondly remembered for driving a plaid race car.

The list of car owners he drove for included Johnny Boomer, Walt Killinger, Bob Van Buskirk, and Ray Koch. During his racing career he also gained a reputation as being one the best foreign car mechanics in the area, as well as an outstanding aviation mechanic.

Bowe also served with the Army Air Transport Command in China, Burma and India during World War II.

GEORGE BUTLAND

George Butland actually started running demolition derbies at Lakeside Speedway in the early ‘50’s and went from there to late model racing at Lakeside and Englewood Speedways. He was born in China and learned to speak Chinese better than most locals. Returning from China, he took an interest in auto racing. Along the way, he bought and helped established GB Auto Salvage with the help of his son, Pete and his wife, Hilda. It grew into one of the premiere salvage yards in the State. In 1972, he bought CNS with Larry Dechant. After the 1973 season, he purchased Dechant’s interest in the track. The track suffered several difficult years, but brought in the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and was able to schedule them yearly.

In the years he owned CNS, he received four “Promoter of the Year” awards. He also had NASCAR sanction the track for 2 years. When he accidentally set off several fireworks that went amiss during the 4th of July fireworks show, the track became the hot spot for future 4th of July shows. He would intentionally miss fire the pyrotechnics and fans would go nuts.

He sold CNS in 1990, but was always around the track until he passed away. When a racer was in need it was not uncommon for this person to hand them a $100 bill. Stories about this man could fill hundreds of pages.

ADE BUTLER

Ade Butler graduated from North High School, where he competed in both basketball and baseball.  He witnessed his first midget race in 1937 at Merchants Park, and then began working on midget race cars in 1937 for owner/driver Burton Spickler.  He served as a gunner and bombardier in World War II.  Upon his return, he built his first midget in 1947.  He continued to build cars for himself, as well as others, through the 1960s.  Many of the top midget race car drivers of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s drove cars he built.  Ade is also actively involved in restoring vintage midget race cars.

ALAN BOCKLA

Alan Bockla was one of the best top fuel dragster owners and drivers to come from Colorado.  In his teens, Bockla started drag racing a Chevy-powered 1940 Ford Coupe.  By 1960, he was driving a Chevy-powered T-Roadster at local drag strips.  Then, in 1962 he started driving top fuel dragsters.  In 1963, he drove his own top fuel dragster in a number of match races at Continental Divide Raceways, including one match race against a jet-powered dragster.  In 1964, set a speed record at Rocky Mountain Drag way of 200.44 miles per hour, and he became the first driver to run over 200 miles per hour in the state of Colorado.

In 1967, he set a speed of 217.90 miles per hour, the second fastest speed ever turned at Continental Divide Raceway.  All-in-all, he set six Colorado speed records, with nine top fuel eliminator titles and turned in 12 top times at drag racing events.  Bockla retired after the 1970 drag racing season.

ART WARD

Art Ward moved to Colorado from Oklahoma in 1958 at age 18. Soon after, he became a feared street racer behind the wheel of his two hot ‘57 Chevys. He and his friends would hang out at drive-ins looking for races. In 1959 Ward graduated from the streets to a track in Scottsbluff, Neb. There, he won his class and the “King of the Hill” shoot-out against a dragster in his ‘57 Chevy, which he then drove at Continental Divide Raceway and Thunder Road for the rest of the year.

In 1962, Art teamed up with owner and former driver Roger Guzman and starting in 1963 the two set record after record at a number of drag strips with a 1951 Anglia and then a 1939 Willies in the B/Gas class. 1966 was the year when Art first sat behind the wheel of the Guzman 1968 MG, powered by a blown, big clock Chevy named “Assassination.” Competitors called the car “Killer Car” because of the car itself and Ward’s driving talents. Ward won the Indy NHRA Nationals in 1966. The following year, Ward posted a 95 percent win record while setting a National record of 9.44 seconds, 139 miles per hour for the quarter mile. “Assassination Too,” a 511 cubic inch supercharged Corvair Funny Car came on the scene in 1968. Guzman provided Ward with a car he would drive to back to back wins in California, winning the Nitro Championships and setting track records almost everywhere he went.

Ward took 1969 off, returning the next year to drive the “Avenger” Funny Car Mustang, when he partnered with Jack Bradley. In the next few years he set several track records, became the Rocky Mountain Funny Car champion and won the AHRA Funny Car Nationals at Century 21 Speedway, topping 204 miles per hour on one of his runs. In 1975, Ward again joined with Guzman and in 1976 won the NHRA Division 5 Funny Car Championship. He tried his hand at driving a top fuel car in 1977 before retiring in 1978.

During his drag racing career he had run against the best there was taking his share of victories. Unfortunately, several years ago, Ward lost his battle against his toughest opponent of all, cancer.

JOHN ABBOTT

John Abbott started drag racing in 1954 and graduated to driving Top Fuel Dragsters by 1964.  In 1977 he won the Top Fuel Dragster title at the Popular Hot Rod Magazine Championships and in 1978 he won Top Fuel Dragster at the International Hot Rod Association's Spring Nationals.  Abbott then won the American Hot Rod Association's Winter Nationals in 1979.  He was also named Colorado's Drag Racer of the year in 1978 and 1979.

In 1981, he won the most prestigious drag race in the country, the National Hot Rod Association's U.S. Nationals, taking the top fuel dragster title, the year before he was runner up at this event. Abbott retired in 1983 after winning hundreds of top fuel races and setting many track records. He now helps his son and daughter-in-law with their drag racing endeavors.