Annual Mark Yuhas Memorial Award

In November of 2019, our club lost one of its most dedicated members, when Mark Yuhas passed away.  Mark was a lifelong model builder, kit and model collector, and vendor, and attended nearly all of the local model shows.  He attended all of our club meetings, participated in all aspects of our club functions, and helped out with anything needed.  He would always bring several boxes of build-ups or kits to each meeting, to sell.  To honor his service to our club, we have created the annual Mark Yuhas Memorial Award.  This award was to be given during our annual club show; to the builder of the model that most represents Mark's favorite style of models, or to a person who has done a lot for the model car hobby, or done a lot for our club.  

Since we did not have a show in 2020 due to the covid virus, we decided to give the award to a person that has done a lot for the hobby, and/or done a lot for our club.  With that in mind, we voted unanimously to give the 2020 award to Bill Borgen.  Bill builds a unique style of historic, antique, weathered models, and has won many awards at many shows.  We asked him to give a presentation at one of our meetings, at which he would give background and motivation for his building technique, explain his methods, and bring some of his models for display.  Bill responded by bringing not only a few models for display, but many.  That meeting resulted in approximately 40 people attending, all who wanted to listen to his presentation, see his work, and hear what motivates him in this hobby.  At the conclusion of the meeting we all realized what a passion he has for the hobby, as well as his desire to preserve historical vehicles in a humorous way.  It was the best meeting our club has had.   Photos were taken of both the award plaque and the presentation, which occurred during our club's March meeting.  These photos are posted below.  Again, many thanks to Bill for his presentation.

For our 2021 Mark Yuhas award, this was selected at our 2021 show held Saturday, October 9, 2021 at Tuslaw Middle School.  A member of our club who was a good friend of Mark, selected the winning model and its builder.  The 2021 winner is the 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda from the Factory Stock Class 2A, entry #126, built by Frank Vetula.  Congratulations Frank !  We apologize for not being able to get a photo of Frank, but do have a photo of his model shown at the bottom of this page.  Frank is from Zanesville, Ohio, and is a member of the Y City Scale Modelers Club in Zanesville.

For our 2022 Mark Yuhas Award, this was selected at our May, 2022 club meeting by a vote of the club.   The 2022 winner is the Lou Furlong's 1965  Plymouth Belvedere "Sir Boss" , from the Competition - Closed Wheel Class 10A , entry #102, built by Patrick Grubish.  Congratulations Patrick !   Patrick is from North Canton, Ohio, and was a neighbor of the Furlong family, and is still friends with Lou's son.  Lou started racing in the early '50's and ran at Quaker City, Magnolia, and Dragway 42, as well as in Michigan and Indiana.  Lou was featured in Hot Rod and Popular Hot Roding magazines.  That was the inspiration for Patrick's build, and several photos of Patrick's replica build are shown below.  As a side note, the decals for the actual race car were designed and created by Lou's son Lance and grandson Matt.

For our 2023 Mark Yuhas Award, this was selected at our 2023 show held Saturday, April 15, 2023 at Tuslaw Middle School.  A member of our club who was a good friend of Mark, selected the winning model and its builder.  The 2023 winner is the 1964 Ford Galaxie from the Juniors Class 1J, entry #141 or #142, built by Lincoln Shaw.  Congratulations Lincoln !  Mark enjoyed Fords from the early 60's and would have appreciated seeing this model.  Lincoln Shaw is eleven years old and in the 5th grade at Tuslaw Middle School.  He maintains a 4.0 grade average and is on the basketball and baseball teams.  His interests include competitive slot car racing, riding his bike and reading.  He also has a small business called "Lincoln's Rustic Lemonade" that sells lemon flavored drinks and treats, with 25% of profits going to charity.  He became interested in model building through his father and grandfather.  His first 2 builds were jet planes (age 6) and since has built quite a few cars and trucks.  The '64 Galaxie 500 he entered in the show was the first model that he painted, glued and built by himself.  It had no engine, and since he had previously built some snap-tight kits, it was perfectly suited for a youth-type build.  The model is painted "Star-spangled Blue", a Testor's Extreme Lacquer, which is not an easy paint to apply.  Photos are shown below of the model, plus of him accepting the award, as well as the 3 generations of model builders  in his family, which include his dad Jason and grandfather Eric.  For future builds Lincoln would like to start customizing his own ideas.  He was recently gifted a 3D printer that should help with these goals.  Again, congratulations Lincoln !

Our 2024 Mark Yuhas Award was selected at our 2024 show held Saturday, April 13, 2024 at Tuslaw Middle School.  A member of our club who was a good friend of Mark, selected the winning model and its builder.  The 2024 winner is the 1970 Grand Torino GT from the Box Stock Class 1A, entry #141, built by Jon Eby. Congratulations Jon !  Jon is from Wooster, Ohio, has been building many different types of models for many years, and has won many awards at various shows in Ohio.  Photos of Jon's Torino, are posted at the bottom of this page.

Our 2025 Mark Yuhas Award was selected at our 2025 show held Saturday, April 12, 2025 at Tuslaw Middle School.  A member of our club who was a good friend of Mark, (our club Vice-President Brian Knoblauch), selected the winning model and its builder.  The 2025 winner is the 1971 Duster Pro Stock from the Competition - Closed Wheel Class 10A, entry #30, built by Patrick Grubish.   Congratulations Patrick !   This is the second time Patrick has won this award, and he is the first double winner of the award.  When the winning model is selected, it is not known to the person selecting this award who built the winning model, so  this is a tribute Patrick's model building ability, as well as his fondness for the same type of models as Mark.  Photos of Patrick's model and him accepting the award will be added in the near future.