Photos of the 2007 Dean Batchelor Award Banquet

December 4, 2007. The Banquet was held at the Petersen Automotive Museum. A large crowd enjoyed the festivities which included a social hour, display of all the Best of the Year Award Finalists' works, a marvelous dinner, and the awards portion of the program. Below are photos of the event. Special thanks go to our sponsors; Hagerty Insurance, Mothers Polish, and SEMA. (photos by Pete Lyons)

Special Thanks goes to our sponsors of the 2007 Banquet: Mothers Polish, Hagerty Insurance, and SEMA.

Platinum Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

The Dean Batchelor Award is chosen from the four Best of the Year categories:

December 4, 2007. The 2007 Dean Batchelor Award went to Bernard Cahier for F-Stops, Pit Stops, Laughter and Tears. Accepting the award for Bernard was publisher Michael Keyser (see photo at right).

The winner was chosen from among finalists in four Best of the Year categories:

Finalists for Best Article of 2007
"Fast and Spurious" by Preston Lerner, January 21, 2007 West Magazine
"Soul Survivor" by Matt Stone, April 2007 Motor Trend
"Travis Pastrana, Rallying with Brutal Speed and Graceful Landings" by Josh Jacquot, August 1, 2007 InsideLine.com
The Winner Is Preston Lerner for "Fast and Spurious"

Finalists for Best Audio/Visual of 2007
"2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Full Test" by Glenn McLanan, June 24, 2007 InsideLine.com
"Interview with Charlie Hughes" by Ed Justice, Jr., January 27, 2007 Road & Track Speed Radio
"Woodward Dream Cruise 2006" by Barry Maguire, April 26, 2007 Car Crazy Central
The Winner Is Ed Justice, Jr. for "Interview with Charlie Hughes"

Finalists for Best Book of 2007
Dan Gurney's Eagle Racing Cars by John Zimmermann
F-Stops, Pit Stops, Laughter and Tears by Bernard Cahier
Flat Out, The Race for the Motorcycle Land Speed Record by Rocky Robinson
The Winner Is Bernard Cahier for F-Stops, Pit Stops, Laughter and Tears

Finalists for Best Photography of 2007
"Salton Sea Roadster" by Louise Ann Noeth, June 2007 Goodguys Gazette
"Sun God" by Julia LaPalme, March 2007 Motor Trend
The Winner Is Louise Ann Noeth for "Salton Sea Roadster"

Michael Keyser, publisher, accepts the Dean Batchelor Award on behalf of Bernard Cahier.

The Lifetime Achievement Award for 2007:

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners 2007: Tom and Ray Magliozzi ... Click and Clack, or the Tappet Brothers.

Presentation by Tim Considine: "Only six times since 1995, has the MPG Board of Directors elected to present the Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award to an individual. The first to Chris Ekonomaki, in 1996, to Jesse Alexander, in 1997, to Denise McCluggage, in 1998, to Shav Glick, in 2000, Wally Parks, in 2003 and, as you learned tonight, to Bob Petersen, in 2005.

"We don't do it lightly and we don't do it every year. It is given to honor a career or body of work over time that deserves special recognition. This year, the MPG Board of directors has decided unanimously to give the Lifetime Achievement award to a particularly worthy recipient. Actually, two recipients, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. If those names don’t ring a bell, you may know them better as Click and Clack, or the Tappet Brothers.

"Tom and Ray Magliozzi have been informing and delighting audiences on Public Radio for 30 years, most famously, for the last two decades, as Peabody Award-winning hosts of National Public Radio's Car Talk.

"Car Talk is heard by more than 4.1 million listeners each week on 588 radio stations. The Magliozzi's column, Click & Clack Talk Cars, appears in 335 newspapers, and the Car Talk section of cars.com receives more than 400,000 unique visitors per week.

"Tom and Ray Magliozzi are also authors, their most recent books being, In Our Humble Opinion and A Haircut in Horsetown and Other Great Car Talk Puzzlers, published by Penguin Putnam.

"For decades, literally millions of us have profited by the advice, humor and great personal charm of these men we honor tonight.

"Unfortunately, they were not able to be here in person, but it gives me great pleasure to introduce, from their studios in Boston, 2007 Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award winners, Tom and Ray Magliozzi." [Video followed]

ClickandClack

-photo by Pete Lyons

ClickandClackWorking

A special presentation of the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award:

2005 Lifetime Achievement Award Presentation made at the 2007 dinner. Matt Stone presented the 2005 award with a slide of Robert E. Petersen in the background.

Margie Petersen accepted the 2005 Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of her husband Robert E. Petersen who had been unable to accept the honor in person previously due to health reasons. Petersen, founder of Petersen Publishing Co. and a pioneer in the automotive enthusiast magazine industry, passed away in March of this year.

MattStone_Petersen

MargiePetersen

More photos from the event:

NominationsTable

The Best of the Year Awards were displayed for all to enjoy.

KeyserAccepts

Publisher Michael Keyser accepting the 2007 Dean Batchelor Award on behalf of Bernard Cahier for F-Stops, Pit Stops, Laughter and Tears.

Spnsore
MPG was proud to have Mothers. SEMA, and Hagerty as sponsors of the evening.

TableDecorations

Tables were festive with decorations by Larkin Hill.

GurneysAndStone

Matt Stone shares a moment with the lovely Evi Gurney and her handsome husband, Dan.

Dan Neal provided animated entertainment as the guest speaker.

An added entertainment of the evening was the racing simulator (the CXC Motion Pro II) developed by Chris Considine (on left of first photo). This sequence shows racing great Dan Gurney putting it to the test and enjoying every second.