by Bob Heyden

Holy cow! He drove and owns (with partners) the Horse of the Year, Shartin N, and he will be enshrined in the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in July. Tim Tetrick’s dream year of 2019 has flipped over into 2020. Let’s take a look at some numbers that now apply to the most recent driver inducted into the Hall Of Fame.

1. Herve Filion in 1974 was the last driver before Tetrick to own both the earnings and the wins titles all-time, simultaneously. He had 637 wins and $3,474,315. Tetrick accomplished the feat in 2007 with 1,189 victories and $18,350,047. He then increased that to $19,752,066 in 2008, and that record still stands today, as does his wins record from 2007.

2. Tetrick is now 38, and goes into the Hall Of Fame in July. Stanley Dancer was 41 in July, 1969 upon entrance and Billy Haughton 44 the year before that.

3. Tetrick has won a Hambletonian elimination four straight seasons. No driver not named Tetrick has won a Hambletonian elimination three straight years at the Meadowlands in 39 years.

4. These are the margins that Tetrick has led with in driver earnings for each of his nine seasons out in front:

2007 — $4,982,223 over Ron Pierce
2008 — $3,084,976 over Brian Sears
2009 — $3,398,864 over Pierce
2010 — $3,872,117 over George Brennan
2011 — $1,316,015 over Brennan
2012 — $4,785,631 over Yannick Gingras
2013 — $1,933,346 over Gingras
2018 — $1,774,771 over Gingras
2019 — $2,229,590 over Gingras

5. Tetrick remains the only driver to win 1,000 races and capture a million-dollar race in the same year. In 2007, he twice won a seven-figure event with Southwind Lynx, in the Rooney and the Meadowlands Pace.

6. Tetrick’s 2007-2008 totals combined, the most ever in the sport’s history for a two-year period, was $38,102,113. By comparison, Billy Haughton’scareertotal was $40,160,336.

7. Tetrick’s 2,092 combined wins for the 2007-2008 season was the all-time record at the time — 1,189 in 2007 followed by 903 in 2008. Aaron Merriman smashed that mark by recording 2,238 total wins in 2017 and 2018 combined — 1,095 wins in 2017 and 1,143 wins in 2018.

8. Here’s a comparison between Babe Ruth and Tim Tetrick:
• At The conclusion of the 2019 dream season with both a HOY and a Hall Of Fame nod, Tetrick had won a race in 22 straight seasons, starting 1/20 in 1998. Ruth played in 22 seasons, starting out in 1914 2 for 10 as a hitter and 2-1 as a pitcher and finishing with the Boston Braves in 1935.
• Ruth set the record in 1920-1921 for home runs in consecutive seasons at 113. Each total was the highest ever single-season number at the time also — 54 in 1920 followed by 59 in 1921. Tetrick in 2007-2008 set the record for earnings in a single season in consecutive seasons in 2007-2008 of $38,102,113 — $18,350,047, followed by $19,752,066. Ruth was 25 and then 26 in 1920 and 1921. Tetrick was 26 and then 27 in 2007-2008
• Ruth’s batting average in 1920 and 1921 was .376 and .378 for an average of .377. Tetrick’s driving UDRS in 2007 and 2008 was .388 and .355 for an average of .372.
• Each did something several years later to add to their power-packed bio. Ruth in 1927 hit 60 home runs, thus owning the three highest home run totals in baseball history. Tetrick, in 2012, had a $18,529,676 campaign, thus owning the three highest single-season earnings totals in harness racing history. No baseball player since has owned the top three home run seasons of all time in the 93 years since. No harness driver in the past eight years has approached Tetrick’s three seasons and they remain the top three earnings seasons by a driver of all time.