It is fair to say that if you get a chance as a Sprintcar driver at the Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic to be joined on the back straight, beneath the Lucas Oil Grandstand, by Gavin White, with the Alan Pollard Memorial Quick Time Trophy in hand that you are soon to be in elite company.

For the past 20 Classics Lex Pollard has made it possible for the Fastest Overall Qualifying Lap at the Classic to be handsomely rewarded for what on average is between 10 and 12 seconds of work!

Honouring here late husband, Alan, is Lex's Legacy at the Classic and it is now a enshrined part of the Classic weekend as opposed to just another part of the show!

Now over that 20 year journey, Lex has been able to sit in her seat high atop the Grandstand and witness 18 different drivers add their name to the Alan Pollard Memorial!

Of those 18 only two have been able to repeat the effort!

Highlighting the class of the drivers who have set quick time at the Classic, both Donny Schatz (2000 and 2005) and Danny Lasoski (2001 and 2002) are the two multiple winners of the award.

But it is not until you look down the list of previous winners that you begin to truly appreciate the calibre of driver that has attended the Classic in that 20 year time frame.

How well do these names roll off the tongue - Garry Rush (1998), Randy Hannagan (1999), Schatz (2000), Lasoski (2001), Lasoski (2002), Robbie Farr (2003), Paul McMahan (2004), Schatz (2005), Chad Kemenah (2006), Brooke Tatnell (2007), Ryan Farrell (2008), Ashley Cook (2009 - remember the Cookie Monster Car?), Jason Sides (2010), Max Dumesny (2011), Garry Brazier (2012), Luke Dillon (2013), Tim Kaeding (2014), Daryn Pittman (2015), Daniel Pestka (2016) and Kerry Madsen (2017).

Of those quick timers, only one has gone on to claim the Alan Pollard Award as well as the Classic win in the same year. Tim Kaeding achieved the rare feat in 2014.

For those trivia buffs out there - of those 20 fastest times, the man on the pole in heat one, should they all be put together would be..... Ashley Cook with a pass of 10.417 seconds!

So as the 2017 Classic, Kerry Madsen's success in the Alan Pollard Memorial and James McFadden's 40 laps victory begin to fade, we look forward to the 46th running of the Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, and continued acknowledgement of the Alan Pollard Memorial.

The 2018 Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic will be held on Friday January 19, Saturday January 20 and Sunday January 21, 2018.