Chattanooga race-car driver Ronnie Johnson received the first Bob Cross Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday at the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series awards banquet in Cartersville, Ga. Johnson, who has been racing for more than 30 years and twice won dirt world championship races, has more than 500 victories at 52 tracks and is in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. He leads the NeSmith series with 14 career wins. Cross, who died last April 25 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident, was a GM Racing engineer who developed the crate engines used in the NeSmith series. “I never met Bob Cross, but I know what he has meant to dirt late model racing, and I’m proud to receive this award honoring his memory,” Johnson said in a series release. “The GM Performance crate engines have been very good for my career because they are good, affordable injuries. We have Bob Cross to thank for that.” The 2011 NeSmith competition begins Feb. 24-26 at Tampa, Fla.
Softball
*The Chattanooga State softball team ended a season-opening 9-2 run in this Las Vegas suburb by edging North Idaho twice Monday, 1-0 and 4-1. Misha Aldridge pitched a five-hitter in the first game, when Chattanooga State got six hits and Laura Curtis doubled in Shelby Johnson, who had walked, in the sixth inning. Chelsea Burgess went 2-for-2 for the Lady Tigers, who go to a Florida tournament this weekend. Kadey Robinson and Katy Sparks pitched the second game, when Meagan Crawford hit a two-run home run — her sixth already — and went 3-for-3. Brittany Cooley and Andrea Dalton each was 2-for-3, Cooley with an RBI.
Track & Field
* Bryan College track runners Bryson Harper from Sequatchie County High School and Zach Buffington from Ootewah qualified this past week at the Indiana Relays at Bloomington, Ind., for the NAIA indoor nationals in early March in Geneva, Ohio. Harper was 11th in the invitational section of the men’s 3000-meter run with a personal-best time of 8:34.96 and added another PR the next day with a 1:56.82 in the 800. Buffington was second in the 5000 with a 15:14.62, lowering his school record in the event. Ericka Simpson of the Lady Lions was second in the third section of the women’s 3000, breaking her school record with a 10:56.95.