Walter Case Jr., who rewrote the harness racing record books in 1998, is being honored for his hard work and accomplishments with the Driver of the Year award from Harness Tracks of America.
The award, presented annually since 1968, honors the driver who is outstanding in dash wins, money earned and the Universal Driving Rating system, a percentage involving win, place and show totals calculated like a batting average).
Returning from a 13-month layoff, Case hit the track with a vengeance, leaving the competition in the dust in both the dash-wins and UDR categories while finishing a respectable 10th in money earned.
Averaging three wins per calendar day for the year, he obliterated the existing single-season dash mark of 853, taking it to the new height of 1,079, a 26 percent rise. In contrast, Mark McGwire’s home-run record bested Roger Maris’ old mark by only 15 percent.
Case’s UDR of .506 is the highest since Stanley Dancer won the inaugural award with .511.
Case also set a season mark for most wins at one track with 980, breaking his own mark of 800 in 1992.
Some of Case’s other remarkable numbers included a 36 percent win ratio, and a 67 percent in-the-money ratio.
Case, who also won the award in 1991 and ’92, will be honored for his achievement at the Harness Racing Congress in Orlando, Fla., on March 6.