The other award goes to the best Rookie driver and is named after Stephen Penn who tragically lost his life doing what he loved in April of 2022.

On 9 February 2009, Peter Barry, aged 44, was flown to Wellington Hospital in a critical condition with severe head injury.

Barry's car continued to move slowly along the track for three quarters of a lap before a flag marshall stopped it.

The coroner raised concerns about the HANS (head and neck restraint system) device, a safety item compulsory in many motorsports.

[4] In 2022 the Championships were not completed after Stephen Penn who was driving for the Manawatu Mustangs crashed and sustained injuries leading to his death on the track.