A highlight of the Awards Celebration concluding the 2009 Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge season was the presentation of the Steve Engel "Big Man, Big Heart" award to veteran drag racer and longtime supporter of the Challenge, Mike Knowles.
 
Knowles, from Grand Junction, Colo., is the second recipient of the award that was created in the memory of Steve Engel, a Pro Mod racer who died in 2008 as a result of a high-speed accident during qualifying for the U.S. Nationals. The Steve Engel "Big Man, Big Heart" Award is a perpetual honor handed out annually to a member of the Pro Mod community that best exemplifies Engel's gregarious spirit and generous nature.
 
A drag racer for more than two decades, Knowles was extremely supportive and helpful of efforts to maintain and grow the series at the beginning of 2009. During racing events, it's well known within the pits that Knowles will lend any parts a driver might need, and he has been known to feed more than 100 people a day from a variety of teams from his makeshift portable kitchen at the back of his pit. In his words, "If they are hungry, we'll feed 'em."

A highlight of the Awards Celebration concluding the 2009 Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge season was the presentation of the Steve Engel "Big Man, Big Heart" award to veteran drag racer and longtime supporter of the Challenge, Mike Knowles.
 
Knowles, from Grand Junction, Colo., is the second recipient of the award that was created in the memory of Steve Engel, a Pro Mod racer who died in 2008 as a result of a high-speed accident during qualifying for the U.S. Nationals. The Steve Engel "Big Man, Big Heart" Award is a perpetual honor handed out annually to a member of the Pro Mod community that best exemplifies Engel's gregarious spirit and generous nature.
 
A drag racer for more than two decades, Knowles was extremely supportive and helpful of efforts to maintain and grow the series at the beginning of 2009. During racing events, it's well known within the pits that Knowles will lend any parts a driver might need, and he has been known to feed more than 100 people a day from a variety of teams from his makeshift portable kitchen at the back of his pit. In his words, "If they are hungry, we'll feed 'em."
 
"To say I'm honored by this award is a huge understatement," Knowles said when he received the award Sunday evening. "Honestly, I thought that when I was called on stage, Matthew was going to ask me to hand it out, and I wondered why I was going up there.  I was that surprised.
 
"For me, I'm challenged to try to be more like Steve - he was an amazing man. I remember that he was one of the first guys I'd go looking for when I pulled into the track, and he'd always have a huge smile and a handshake that would just wrap around your whole arm. He just made you feel welcome and special. At the end of each day, he'd always pull his chair up to the edge of his pit and crack open a beer, regardless of whether he won or lost.  You'd always want to go and talk with him because he was smiling and having a beer. Nothing could get him down.
 
"Not only who he was, though, he left a legacy after he was gone.  I was probably the king of over-driving cars before his crash. I've crashed two alcohol Funny Cars, and now, when I am sitting in the car, I look at things differently. I see my wife and my son, and I think 'if I have to pedal it, that's ok, there will be another round another day.'
 
"This award means more to me than I can say, really. We always put everything we have into what we do out here, and we love to go to the track and be with our friends. It's just who we are, and what we love. To be recognized for that, well, it's humbling," Knowles said.
 
The first recipient of the award was John Waldie, a governor of the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame and former chairman of the nominating committee. His own racing career spanned more than four decades and included action in most of the current classes contested in the sport.
 
"It's also cool to follow John in receiving this award. He is such a nice guy, really a friend to everyone. I'm really just blown away and honored by all of this. Of course, without my wife Kim and our son Zach out here, along with all the guys on our crew and team, it wouldn't be the same, and I want to be sure to include them in all of this, too. We're out here as a team, and we're all a part of this," Knowles added.

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