Bill Balser to Receive NEAR 2011 Jack Ratta Memorial Media Award
Pioneering New England auto racing photographer Bill Balser has been selected as the recipient of the New England Antique Racers 2011 Jack Ratta Memorial Award.
Balser will accept the award at the 14th annual New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on Sunday, Jan. 30 at LaRenaissance Banquet Hall in East Windsor, CT. Ticket forms and further information will be on the NEAR website (www.near1.com) in the near future.
Hailing from Brocton, MA. Balser’s distinguished career in auto racing photography began during the 1950s. He regularly shot at tracks such as West Peabody, Westboro, Norwood, Seekonk, and Lakeville in Massachusetts, and also Connecticut’s Thompson Speedway and Brookline, NH, among others.
He was the official photographer for the NASCAR Bush North Series for over a decade. Traveling extensively, he captured images from Oxford Plains, ME. to Martinsville, VA.
2011 New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame inductees are drivers Punky Caron, Dan Meservey, Russ Nutting and Jerry Dolliver, car owners Rich & Ray Garuti, Stanley “Skip” Matczak, Vic Kangas, and Speedway Scene publisher Val Lesieur.
Veterans Committee inductees are the late Danny Galullo, early car owner Louie D’Amore, and the much-celebrated racer Buddy Bardwell.
For more information visit www.near1.com.
Sources: Dave Dykes/NEAR PR