Two years ago, in 2013, the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation (JMMF)/Auto Racing Scholarship Award was established to give a journalism student finances to focus on racing. This scholarship is funded by auto racing giants Mario Andretti, Dan & Evi Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Danny Sullivan, All American Racers, Inc., Steve Earwood, president of Rockingham Dragway, Dan Luginbuhl, retired Penske Corp VP of Communication, Greg Penske, and the Auto Club Speedway.
Since the year 2000, the JMMF has awarded 99 $5,000 journalism scholarships to students.
In 2013, the award was given to Mike Vernon of University of Kansas. Last year, the award went to Mike Saw of Univeristy of Missouri.
This year, the scholarship was awarded to a student by the name of Garrett Ross. Ross is from York, Pennsylvania and is currently a junior at Penn State University and is focusing in sports journalism. He was named the managing editor of the student-run campus newspaper and prior to that, served as a sports staff writer for the paper while also serving as copy desk chief of the paper this past Spring.
The award will be given at Santa Anita Park on October 24th at the JMMF "Day at the Races & Monte Carlo Night" event.