AREA DRIVERS MADE THEIR MARK.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK MOTOR SPORTS

Two area drivers made the final year of competition in the NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series, a memorable one.

M.K. Kanke, a driver from Frazier Park and a Kennedy High graduate, won two Southwest Series races and became the series all-time leader in wins.

Rip Michels from San Fernando won the Southwest Series championship by one point over Eric Holmes. In doing so, Michels will go down as the last driver to win a Southwest Series championship.

Now the Southwest Series drivers will have to look elsewhere to race. Kanke has been quoted as saying he will never race in another NASCAR event again. At season's end, Michels was undecided about where he would race next year.

The NASCAR Elite Division drivers weren't the only ones making their farewell bids. Bryan Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate and Valencia resident, is leaving the Indy Racing League and returning to the American LeMans Series.

Larry Dixon, a Van Nuys High graduate, and Miller Lite ended their partnership with his Don Prudhomme Racing NHRA Top Fuel dragster.

Here's a look at the six area drivers who made headlines this year:

M.K. Kanke: He became the winningest driver in NASCAR Southwest Series history after the race at Stockton 99 Speedway in July.

Kanke entered the Southwest Series season with 20 wins, one fewer than Rick Carelli, and second on the career win list. When the season started, there were three tracks -- Stockton, Altamont Motorsports Park and Phoenix International Raceway -- where Kanke had yet to win a race.

He said he wanted to win at all three before the season was over. He nearly pulled it off.

He won the race at Altamont Motorsports Park in Tracy in July to tie Carelli for most wins in series history. Kanke followed with a win at Stockton to break the record.

Carelli said he wanted to see Kanke win a few more races and distance himself with the win record, but Stockton would be Kanke's last. He fell short of his goal of winning at the three tracks when he finished ninth at Phoenix on Nov. 9, the last Southwest Series race.

Rip Michels: He won the NASCAR Elite Division, Southwest Series, championship by one point. He also won the Southwest Series race at Irwindale Speedway.

Michels, a fan favorite at Irwindale Speedway -- where he holds the track record for most wins -- won only one Southwest Series race. Fittingly, it was at Irwindale.

His string of runner-up finishes was what made him a champion driver. Michels was second in fourof the eight Southwest Series races. Add his win at Irwindale Speedway and Michels recorded five top-two finishes.

He was the only driver to record a top-10 finish in all eight races and was a top-five driver in sevenof the eight.

Ron Hornaday Jr.: Already the leader in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career wins, he added to his total with two more.

Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway champ from Palmdale, has 29 career Truck Series win. His win at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in Ohio in July gave him 28 career wins. He followed with a win later that month at Kentucky Speedway for No. 29.

But his biggest win of the year probably came in August when Allstates Employer Services signed on to be Hornaday's primary sponsor on his Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet Silverado.

It guaranteed Hornaday a spot in the Truck Series in 2007 and a chance to run for a third Truck Series championship.

Bryan Herta: He closed the chapter on his Indy Racing League career and opened a new one in the American Le Mans Series.

Herta will be the first to say that last season in the IRL was a frustrating one. His Honda-powered entry struggled, as did his three teammates' cars, most of the year. His best finish was fourth at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida in March.

He posted only six top-10 finishes and was 11th in points.

But there was a silver lining at Andretti Green Racing. The team was preparing to enter the American Le Mans Series with an Acura-powered entry and the team picked Herta to be its primary driver.

He will team with Dario Franchitti for most of the races and perhaps even Danica Patrick, the team's newest addition and only full-time woman driver in the IRL.

Larry Dixon: He and Miller Lite ended a partnership that started in 1995 at Don Prudhomme Racing in his NHRA Top Fuel dragster.

Miller Lite will no longer be a sponsor on his dragster team.

The two-time NHRA Top Fuel champ went through a winless season. But he said he is looking forward to a fresh start in 2007.

Travis Thirkettle: He won his first NASCAR championship by taking the Late Model title at Irwindale Speedway.

Thirkettle, a driver from Newhall, won eight of the 15races, including five in a row at one point, and beat his teammate Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills by 29 points.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) Valencia's Bryan Herta (Hart High of Newhall), is leaving the Indy Racing League and returning to the American Le Mans Series. He posted only six top-10 finishes and was 11th in points in IRL this season.

Darrell Ingham/Getty Images

(2) Ron Hornaday Jr. celebrates at Kentucky Speedway after winning the 29th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of his career.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images for NASCAR