DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 28, 2006) – Even though the NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series awards banquet is nearly three weeks away, series champion Mike Olsen is already enjoying the fruits of his title winning season.
Olsen appears on the All-America ballot as one of six drivers nominated in the Touring Series category. Among the others are NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Todd Bodine and NASCAR Grand National Division, AutoZone West Series champion Eric Holmes. The two drivers receiving the most votes from the AARWBA membership in each category are named First Team All-Americans, the next two Second Team selections, and the remainder Honorable Mention. Olsen is one of 19 first-time nominees among the seven categories
While the All-America voting results will not be known for several weeks, Olsen’s first trip to Champions’ Week in New York is right around the corner. Ironically, invitations to the Big Apple were first extended to NASCAR touring series champions following the 2002 season, one year after Olsen won his first title. The 2006 festivities will mark the first time anyone other than four-time champion Andy Santerre has represented the Busch East Series. While Mike is busy preparing his Little Trees Racing team for the 2007 season, his wife Victoria, who will accompany him, has been doing the research on the New York trip. “Vicki has talked to Sue (Santerre) about what will be going on so we should be all right with the itinerary,” he noted.
The first official event on the program is the NASCAR/National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers luncheon on Thursday, a combined award presentation and press conference which the touring series champions will attend alongside the leading NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers of 2006.
That afternoon, all the champions will gather for the traditional group photo shoot at Rockefeller Center, while Thursday evening brings the exclusive champions’ dinner at the Waldorf. Finally, on Friday night, Mike and Victoria Olsen will be V.I.P. guests at the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Awards Ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf, NASCAR’s equivalent to the Academy Awards.
“It will be my first time at the Cup banquet, and we’re looking forward to that,” he declared. “We’ve seen it on TV and its looks like quite an evening. We’ll get to meet a lot of the leading people in the sport so it should be interesting.”
“We’re pretty busy while we’re there but we do get one date to ourselves to check the city out. There’s a lot going on there and it’s always good to get back,” Olsen concluded.
He could have added that it’s even more fun to visit the Big Apple as a NASCAR champion.