For the second year in a row, George Brennan was named Harness Tracks of America’s Driver of the Year, the formidable achievement that remains one of the most difficult awards in the sport of harness racing to win.
The evidence of the accomplishment is clear in the fact that of the 3,438 drivers who competed for purses in North America in 2012, only six were able to finish in the top 10 in Money Won, Races Won and Universal Driver Rating System (UDRS) in-the-money percentage.
Under the HTA formula, points are awarded on the basis of 25 for first down to one for 25th in the standings in Money Won, Races Won, and UDRS, with a 25-point bonus for finishing in the top 25 in all three categories.
With 622 wins (ranked fourth), $10,844,705 U.S. earned in purses (ranked fourth), and a 0.384 UDRS (ranked third), the 45-year-old Monticello, New York native garnered 92 points for the lead. Rounding out the top 10 are: Dave Palone (90 points), Tim Tetrick (88), Jim Morrill Jr. (68), George Napolitano Jr. (63.5), Brian Sears (63), Trevor Henry (43), David Miller (37), Simon Allard (36), Yannick Gingras (35).
Brennan’s 2012 Driver of the Year trophy will be presented at the Harness Racing Congress as part of the United States Harness Writer’s Association's 2013 Dan Patch Awards Dinner on Sunday, March 3, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Here are the complete standings for 2012 for the top 25 drivers in North America:
Driver-Wins (Rank)-Earnings (Rank)-UDR (Rank)-Bonus-Total Points
George Brennan-622 (4)-$10,844,705 (4)-.384 (3)-25-92
Dave Palone-675 (1)-$8,907,620 (8)-.377 (4)-25-90
Tim Tetrick-670 (2)-$18,529,676 (1)-.343 (12)-25-88
Jim Morrill Jr.-404 (22)-$7,711,605 (12)-.416 (1)-25-68
George Napolitano Jr.-645 (3)-$7,041,324 (16)-.329 (20)-25-63.5
Brian Sears-420 (19)-$9,932,089 (6)-.338 (15)-25-63
Trevor Henry-533 (7)-$3,438,020 (Unranked)-.386 (2)-0-43
David Miller-450 (12)-$10,862,271 (3)-.279 (Unranked)-0-37
Simon Allard-457 (11)-$2,758,026 (Unranked)-.368 (5)-0-36
Yannick Gingras-436 (15)-$13,744,045 (2)-.318 (Unranked)-0-35
Corey Callahan-519 (8)-$7,390,084 (13)-.283 (Unranked)-0-31
Ron Pierce-430 (18)-$9,993,333 (5)-.275 (Unranked)-0-29
Sylvain Filion-434 (17)-$8,682,860 (10)-.303 (Unranked)-0-25
Billy Davis-461 (10)-$5,032,090 (19)-.253 (Unranked)-0-23
Marc St. Louis-381 (24)-$1,155,906 (Unranked)-.358 (6)-0-22
Dan Noble-537 (6)-$2,833,711 (Unranked)-321 (T23)-0-21.5
Jason Bartlett-414 (20)-$7,725,294 (11)-.270 (Unranked)-0-21
Aaron Merriman-608 (5)-$4,035,571 (Unranked)-.305 (Unranked)-0-21
Jody Jamieson-332 (Unranked)-$9,178,819 (7)-.293 (Unranked)-0-19
Kevin Wallis-312 (Unranked)-$1,420,508 (Unranked)-.354 (7)-0-19
Gregory Merton-273 (Unranked)-$898,896 (Unranked)-.353 (8)-0-18
Michael Oosting-464 (9)-$2,771,360 (Unranked)-.320 (Unranked)-0-17
Scott Zeron-351 (Unranked)-$8,743,648 (9)-.279 (Unranked)-0-17
Ronnie Wrenn-436 (16)-$1,545,197 (Unranked)-.325 (T22)-0-14.5
Trace Tetrick-380 (25)-$4,448,809 (25)-.278 (Unranked)-0-2
(With files from HTA)