HOUSSOCK: The 2026 Eccentricities, Trophies Edition

The famed moonshine still trophy given in recent years at the NASCAR All-Star Race. (North Wilkesboro Speedway photo)

By Carol Houssock, SWN Northeast Contributor

Nominations have been flooding in for the inaugural Eccentricity Award. Well … not really, but classic trophies in American motorsports date all the way back to the dawning era of the Indianapolis 500. 

Now it’s a race to produce something different. That’s what this column is all about. 

Everybody Loves … Animals

South Alabama Speedway takes race celebration to a different level. Winners of the Rattler 250 receive a trophy – and then some. The trophy contains a coiled replica of a rattlesnake, developed as a sister event to the City of Opp Rattlesnake Rodeo. 

The ‘and then some’ includes a real rattler draped around the winner’s neck. Some say finishing second isn’t a bad thing in that particular race.

Dirt drivers hope to win a smaller version of the Big Gator during the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park. Wyoming County Int’l Speedway in Perry, N.Y., is known as the bullring, and many of the track's trophies over the years have had a bull on top of the pedestal.

Trophies at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., incorporate a bald eagle, an American flag, and regional anthracite coal, all mounted on a track-like tri-oval base. 

“We’ve used this version since 2017,” says track President Nick Igdalsky of the Pocono trophies. “We’re very proud of it.” 

Colorful trophies are increasingly popular. The winner of the Texas Late Model Stampede earned a longhorn skull with horns mounted on a wooden base, with lettering that changed colors. 

At Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C., the top gun in the Jerry Moody Memorial ‘I Dig Pigs 100’ wins a unique trophy that weighs 15 pounds and stands 28 inches tall. An antique copper-finished pig sits on top of a double-decker wooden base, with pictures of Moody to preserve his legacy. 

The Chambers of Commerce Love … Us

The glass trophy awarded at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International celebrates the gaffer industry in Corning, N.Y., and the track’s partnership with the 150-year-old glassmaker. 

The profile of the track is incorporated throughout the length of the piece, and the shade of blue represents the iconic guardrails at The Glen.

Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway honors the iron and steel industry in and around nearby Birmingham. Like the sculpture of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, which overlooks the city, the Vulcan trophy salutes those foundries and is made of solid iron on a stainless base.

Texas Motor Speedway presents a unique wooden double cowboy boot trophy created by a nearby wood carver, commissioned to create something that screamed ‘Texas’.  

From 2015 to 2020, winners at Kentucky Speedway received a Crosley jukebox. Crosley is based in Louisville, and they partnered with the track to present them. Nashville Superspeedway, near the eponymous Music City in Lebanon, Tenn., honors that industry with a Les Paul Gibson guitar.

North Wilkesboro presented a copper and wood trophy designed to recall the moonshining past in the area and its roots in racing. This heavy still featured some classic logos and phrases. Winners at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., celebrated with a special surfboard. 

That tradition firmly ended with the paperwork becoming public this week that the last pieces of the ACS property, which formerly housed a two-mile oval track, were sold by NASCAR to a redevelopment company back on May 18.

I’ll Drink (Or Eat) To That

Who wouldn’t want a real vending machine for winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte? At Spud Speedway, it’s common to see a race winner hoist a sack of potatoes over his or her head in victory lane.

But one of the most famous, and tasty, foods actually has a name – Loudon. Winners at New Hampshire Motor Speedway each year pose with a live lobster that is eventually prepared for consumption.

Homesick Much?

Since 1964, Martinsville Speedway has presented each winner with a custom grandfather clock. For many years, those clocks were produced by the Ridgeway Clock Co., but now they are made by Hermle North America after the closure of Ridgeway. 

Twenty years ago, track champions at the now-defunct Tioga Motorsports Park (formerly Shangri-La Motor Speedway) in New York went home with toilet seats. 

“If you’re gonna flush money down the toilet racing, do it with style,” the track promoter at the time said at the presentation.

Kids of Kansas Speedway winners can boast about the track’s one-time trophy featuring SpongeBob SquarePants. The trophy presented at Phoenix Raceway generally includes a cactus, while winners of the Tom Dawson Memorial Trophy presented at Five Flags Speedway’s iconic Snowball Derby super late model race take home a traditional piece with a snowball on top each December.

Functional? Nah.

Ah, the days of the Pep Boys Auto 500 and a big wrench at Atlanta Motor Speedway (now EchoPark Speedway), or double pistons on a pedestal. At Iowa Speedway, they’ve included a gas pump as part of the winner’s take-home prize to honor the corn-ethanol industry of the Hawkeye State.

The former promoter at Mobile (Ala.) Int’l Speedway was a professional wrestler. Wrestling belts and an actual wrestling ring have been part of that track’s trophies. At Rockford Speedway in Illinois, the fast qualifier for the National Short Track Championship won a three-foot-tall bullet made from wood. 

Of course, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway has one of the most iconic trophies, presenting a sharpened Gladiator sword to signify the track’s nickname as The Last Great Colosseum. 

Lest We Forget

All kidding aside, trophies in American motorsports date back to the early days of the Indy 500. The winner stands by the Borg-Warner Trophy, which debuted in 1936 and is now the oldest and most famous trophy in all of auto racing. 

The piece stands five feet, four inches tall on its base and weighs more than 150 pounds. The race winner takes home a smaller likeness after winning America’s oldest motor race. 

NASCAR’s Great American Race, the Daytona 500, has a similar perpetual trophy named for the late Harley J. Earl – a longtime concept car designer who served as NASCAR’s second commissioner. 

That trophy features a Firebird One prototype on a large tri-oval stand. Introduced in 1959, it’s four feet tall and five feet wide. Winners also take home a likeness. 

At Michigan Int’l Speedway, nearest to the auto capital of the world in Detroit, the winning car manufacturer receives the coveted Heritage Trophy to display until the next year. That award stands three feet tall and weighs 30 pounds with its wooden base. 

The Winner Is…

Each of these is a memorable prize, as are countless others, but there can only be one 2026 Eccentricity Award winner. 

That winner, celebrating moving fast like no other, even has a song named after it. 

“You’re ‘Still’ the one,” North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Steering Wheel Nation, its management, staff, sponsors, or other contributors.