DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 25, 2024) - Tom Davey, who passed away in 2023, was named the 2023 recipient of the RRDC Bob Akin Award. He was honored at the annual Road Racing Drivers Club members' dinner on January 24, prior to the running of the 62nd Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season opener of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Each recipient of this honor, considered the top prize in motorsports for amateur, vintage/historic or semi-professional drivers, is selected by Akin's son Bobby, RRDC members Brian Redman and Judy Stropus, and approved by RRDC president Bobby Rahal.
The distinctive trophy was conceived by the RRDC in 2003 to honor the memory of longtime RRDC member and past president Bob Akin, who lost his life following a testing accident in 2002.
It was designed by Steuben Glass in Corning, New York, and is given to a driver who best exemplifies the extraordinary qualities and characteristics that Akin represented, including a passion for motorsports and automobiles, a high level of sportsmanship and fair play, and who has contributed to the sport of motor racing and the community at large.
The primary award, etched with the names of the recipients, is displayed at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, New York. Each honoree receives a smaller replica.
Tom Davey was a champion race driver whose day job as writer and filmmaker produced a body of work that has enriched motorsports for decades. One of his proudest achievements has been the creative evolution of SAFEisFAST.com, launched by Jim Mullen in 2010 with grants by the FIA’s Institute for Motorsport Safety. Following several successful seminars, the program was taken online. Joining the enterprise in 2012, Davey brought his filmmaking skills and production values to bear to yield the encyclopedic storehouse of insider racing knowledge that is today’s SAFEisFAST.com. With Mullen’s guiding hand, it’s been Davey’s gift to the industry.
SAFEisFAST.com is the culmination of a career that produced some 200 motorsports TV programs, including the ESPN “Secrets of Speed” series and Fox Sports international weekly motorsports program “V-Max."
During the late '60s and through the '70s and '80s Davey was a five-time SCCA National Champion – winning twice in open-wheel cars and three times in GT machines. He was runner-up in the World Super Vee Championship, finished third in the Pro Super Vee Championship Series and third in the World Formula Vee Championship. He also scored GT class victories at Sebring and Watkins Glen and participated three times in the Baja 1000.
"A deep thank you goes to the RRDC for once again having this award in my dad’s name. It means the world to our family," said Bobby Akin, who was not present, via a statement.
"I admired Tom's dedication to the RRDC and the Safe is Fast program. He and Jim Mullen were instrumental in creating something near and dear to my father’s heart: teaching young drivers how to go fast as safely as possible!
"What I did not know about him was how good a driver he was. He was a class guy who never, at least to me, boasted about his past successes, as a writer, filmmaker and champion race-car driver. Tom was a great friend, talent and gave so much of himself to the RRDC."
Jim Mullen accepted the award on behalf of Tom Davey.
"Tom Davey was crusty (as described by RRDC member and dinner organizer Lisa Noble), often ennobled and sometimes a bit martyred...but he commanded our respect and admiration and affection because his artistry was superb," said Mullen.
"Tom’s videos kicked ass because he himself was a kick-ass race car driver.
"We knew Tom as a hard-core racer, but his day job was as a senior art director in the advertising business, first on accounts like Ford where he sold a few million F-150s with the words 'Ford Tough.' Later, Tom had his own one-man company where he wrote ads for Skip Barber’s racing school. Tom also produced over 200 television shows on racing for ESPN and Fox but, to quantify Tom’s impact on the racing community, consider the worldwide reception to his 125 tutorials on SAFEisFAST.com: 7 million views overall, 3 million Facebook visits, 33,000 YouTube subscribers, 24,000 Instagram followers, and 40,000 Twitter engagements.
"For 14 years, Tom was the soul of Safe Is Fast but there is one other contributor who deserves an extra measure of our appreciation. When we first went online, Tom recruited a technical whiz named Jeff Tan who was the most important person in Tom’s later life – as a friend, a protégé and something of a son. Jeff built the Safe Is Fast website, shot and edited 30 or 40 of the early tutorials and continued bailing us out of innumerable technical challenges. But Jeff’s unheralded and critical contribution was that he spent many years quietly managing Tom’s declining health, arranging his many hospital stays and helping Tom through those last, painful months of hospice. Jeff can’t be with us tonight, but Tom’s Akin trophy is his to keep as a tribute to his selfless care and his endless kindness, and as a reminder of his unique relationship with this exceptional man."
Past RRDC Bob Akin Award honorees:
2003 - Sam Posey
2004 - Charlie Gibson
2005 - John Fitch
2006 - Jim Haynes
2007 - Cameron Argetsinger
2008 - Jim Downing
2009 - Steven J. Earle
2010 - Augie Pabst
2011 - Don Knowles
2012 - Miles Collier
2013 - Peter Sachs
2014 - Bill Warner
2015 - Judy Stropus
2016 - Murray Smith
2017 - Archie Urciuoli
2018 - Jeff Zwart
2019 - Rob Dyson
2020 - Jeremy Shaw
2021 - Awardee Not Selected
2022 - John Fergus
About the RRDC:
The Road Racing Drivers Club was formed in 1952 as a way to give champion drivers a say in their sport, particularly in the areas of safety, and has evolved to serve the future of road racing by mentoring new drivers on both amateur and professional levels. The Club's membership includes leading industry professionals, race officials and motorsports journalists, in addition to prominent racing names.
In 2011, the RRDC launched a free on-line training seminar – www.SAFEisFAST.com – featuring RRDC members and other industry experts in high-quality videos covering subjects from physical and mental preparation to driving techniques, driver safety to car setup and sponsorship. The videos are updated regularly. Each week, a professional from the world of motor racing answers readers' questions on the site in a feature called 'Ask a Pro.'
Bobby Rahal is President and John Fergus is Vice President/Treasurer.
The RRDC presents three annual awards: the Phil Hill Award, the Mark Donohue Award, and the Bob Akin Award, and supports the Team USA Scholarship, which has been assisting young Americans in the early stages of their careers since 1990.
Membership in the RRDC is by invitation only.
Written By: Judy Stropus