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The NASCAR Hall Of Fame ~ How It Works 04/14/2015
PattyKay Lilley 
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I
bid you welcome gentle readers, to what has become an annual lesson in the
workings of NASCAR’s Hall of Fame… who gets nominated by whom and who is
finally chosen by whom for the next class of five to be inducted. First, allow
me to thank both NASCAR and the Hall of Fame for finally, for the first time,
having the names of the voting panel available for media access before the
actual vote has taken place. Since the Hall’s inception, this has been
privileged information that became available only when no longer of concern to
anyone. Translated, that means that this year, we in the media don’t have to
guess who died in order to come up with a somewhat relevant list.
If
you are brand new to racing and not at all familiar with the workings of the
Hall, it helps to know that though NASCAR has been a sanctioning body for
racing for over 65 years, the Hall of Fame has only existed for six of them.
Some gold-star calculus student decided that 5 would be a nice round number to
induct annually, so somewhere around the year 2525, if man is still alive,
things may even out, providing that very few new stars appear in the racing sky
between now and then. To date, the Hall consists of 30 inducted members, and as
Mike Helton would say, “It is what it is.” Our purpose today is not to say who
should or should not be in that number, as that is something no two people can
agree upon, let alone many thousands of us. That’s why they have a voting
process, and that, dear hearts and gentle readers, is why we’re here.
In
January, the Hall of Fame saw the Class of 2015 inducted, and that class
included Bill Elliott, Fred Lorenzen, Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly and Rex
White. That, of course, left the list at only 15 in waiting, so it was time for
the Nominating Committee to go to work and fill up the list… but wait. Last
year, the rules changed, and there are now two lists; one of 20 names, as
nominees in waiting, hopeful of induction into the Hall of Fame, and another of
5 names eligible to receive NASCAR’s Landmark Award, the first of which went to
Anne B. France in January. First up, please allow me to introduce to you this
year’s nominating committee:
NOMINATION COMMITTEE
NASCAR Hall of Fame: Executive Director Winston Kelley; Historian Buz McKim.
NASCAR Officials: Chairman / CEO Brian France; Vice Chairman Jim
France; Vice Chairman of NASCAR Mike Helton; Chief Operating Officer Brent
Dewar; Executive Vice President / Chief Racing Development Officer Steve
O’Donnell; Executive Vice President / Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps;
Senior Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton; Competition Administrator
Jerry Cook (Note: Due to Jerry Cook's inclusion on the ballot for the NHOF
Class of 2015, he was recused from voting for the Class of 2016 nominees.)
Track Owners/Operators: International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa Kennedy; Martinsville Speedway President Clay
Campbell; Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage; Atlanta Motor
Speedway President Ed Clark; former Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George;
Dover Motorsports CEO Denis McGlynn; Pocono Raceway board of directors member Looie McNally; Bowman Gray Stadium operator Dale Pinilis; Holland Motorsports Complex operator Ron Bennett;
Rockford Speedway operator Jody Deery; West Coast
representative Ken Clapp.
Media: Mike Joy, FOX.
If
one combs through the list, eliminating the impressive-sounding titles and
counting only the human element, we find there are 22 persons involved in
nominating new members to the list of those waiting and/or hoping for induction
into the Hall of Fame. On February 20, the Nominating Committee released the
names of the five new nominees to be added to the existing list of 15. Those
names are:
Ray
Evernham… three-time NASCAR premier series championship crew chief
Harry
Hyde… 1970 NASCAR premier series championship crew chief
Alan
Kulwicki… 1992 premier series champion
Mark
Martin… winner of a combined 96 NASCAR national series races
Hershel
McGriff… 1986 NASCAR west series champion
Those
gentlemen have been added to the 15 renominated from last year, giving us 20
names from which will be chosen the five that will comprise the Class of 2016.
We also have 5 names from which one will be chosen as the recipient of the
Landmark Award.
Buddy Baker, won 19 times in NASCAR's
premier (now Sprint Cup) series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500
Red Byron, first NASCAR premier series champion, in 1949
Richard Childress, 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three
national series
Jerry Cook, six-time NASCAR Modified champion
Ray Evernham, three-time NASCAR premier series championship crew chief
Ray Fox, legendary engine builder and owner of cars driven by Buck
Baker, Junior Johnson and others
Rick Hendrick, 14-time car owner champion in NASCAR's three national
series
Harry Hyde, 1970 NASCAR premier series championship crew chief
Bobby Isaac, 1970 NASCAR premier series champion
Alan Kulwicki, 1992 NASCAR premier series champion
Terry Labonte, two-time NASCAR premier series champion
Mark Martin, 96-time race winner in NASCAR national series competition
Hershel McGriff, 1986 NASCAR west series champion
Raymond Parks, NASCAR's first champion car owner
Benny Parsons, 1973 NASCAR premier series champion
Larry Phillips, only five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion
O. Bruton Smith, builder of Charlotte Motor Speedway and architect of
Speedway Motorsports Inc.
Mike Stefanik, winner of record-tying nine
NASCAR championships
Curtis Turner, early personality, called the "Babe Ruth of
stock car racing"
Robert Yates, won NASCAR premier series championship as both an engine
builder and owner
The five nominees for the Landmark Award are as follows…
Harold Brasington, founder of Darlington
Speedway
H. Clay Earles, founder of Martinsville
Speedway
Raymond Parks, NASCAR's first champion car owner
Ralph Seagraves, formed groundbreaking Winston-NASCAR partnership as
executive with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
Ken Squier, legendary radio and television broadcaster; inaugural
winner/namesake of Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence
Next,
we have the Voting Panel, which ultimately makes the decision as to who will or
won’t be inducted into the Hall of Fame as the Class of 2016 next January. Those that follow such things will note the
addition of some new names this year. Those are Ron Bennett, Jeff Burton, Steve
Byrnes, Brent Dewar, Eli Gold, Kevin Harvick, Marty Smith and Jim Utter, all of
which are included within the proper categories below. Also, please note that
Dr. Jerry Punch has been moved to the Voting Panel for the Squier-Hall Award
for NASCAR Media Excellence. The fifth recipient of the award will be announced
during the July race weekend at Daytona.
VOTING PANEL
The Voting Panel
consists of the above 22-member Nominating Committee and the following 36
representatives.
*In addition a Fan Vote is
the 59th -- and final -- vote.
American Auto Racing
Writers & Broadcasters Association: Dusty Brandel, AARWBA
President.
Eastern Motorsports
Press Association: Ron Hedger, EMPA President.
National Motorsports
Press Association: Brian Nelson, NMPA President.
Print & Online
Media: Kenny Bruce,
NASCAR.com; Jenna Fryer, Associated Press; Al Pearce, Autoweek;
Jim Pedley, RacinToday.com; Bob Pockrass,
ESPN; Nate Ryan, USA Today; Jim Utter, Charlotte Observer.
Broadcasters: Rick Allen, NBC; Jeff Burton, NBCSN; Steve Byrnes, FS1; Eli Gold,
MRN; Dave Moody, SiriusXM; Doug Rice, PRN; Marty
Smith, ESPN.
Manufacturers: Jim Campbell, Chevrolet; Edsel
Ford, Ford; David Wilson, Toyota.
Retired Drivers: Ned Jarrett; Richard Petty; Ricky
Rudd.
Retired Car
Owners: Junior Johnson; Bud
Moore; Robert Yates.
Retired Crew
Chiefs: Buddy Parrott; Waddell
Wilson; Eddie Wood.
Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion: Kevin Harvick.
Industry Leaders: Former NASCAR Senior Vice
President Paul Brooks; MRN announcer Barney Hall; Retired Associated Press
writer Mike Harris; former motor sports journalist Tom Higgins; former
broadcaster Ken Squier; former Charlotte Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler.
The
58-member panel will vote for the NHOF Class of 2016 on Wednesday, May 20 in
Charlotte, North Carolina, to be announced that afternoon in the NASCAR Hall of
Fame's Great Hall and on the NBC Sports Network. (NBCSN)
But
wait… something is missing. No, it’s not. Please refer to the red asterisk (*) above. This is how the fan vote
works:
Voting
was opened on March 31and will close at noon on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, one day
before the Voting Panel meets to vote. Voting is accessed here:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/hall-of-fame-2015.html
That’s
a bit tricky to locate on the site, as first one has to access the dropdown
menu found by hovering over “Discover” which then allows you to click on Hall
of Fame Voting. It’s NASCAR, and “It is what it is.”
They
do have rules, and I read through those to become familiar with any
restrictions there might be. Quite literally, if you are not a machine, you can
vote from now until noon on May 19, non-stop. This lack of limitation assures
that there will be a vast number of votes cast, probably in the millions on the
way to infinity. Go for it! But… it’s important to note that no matter how many
votes are cast… millions, billions, whatever… they are then tabulated by a
reputable accounting firm and reduced from Mount Everest to a single grain of
sand at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean… quite literally. No matter how many
times you push the “Vote” button, the fans… all of the fans, everywhere, only
count altogether as one single vote at the end of voting day. Not to say they
would, but that means that just a duo of perhaps Brian France and Mike Helton
can outvote all those millions and billions of votes made by adoring fans for
their favorites. The odds are fairly enormous that you won’t get your wish, but
go for it anyway.
Did
I vote? Of course I did. In fact, I broke my own rule and voted twice this
year… because the first time through I neglected to read the “Rules” thing,
which is on the voting page, so I went back for seconds. Will I tell you for
whom I voted? Sure, why not? I tell every year and impress absolutely no one by
doing so. If my ballot seems a bit weighted on the side of age, there is good
reason for that. At almost 77, I’m running short of folks my own age that even
remember some of the names that have already been on the ballot far too long.
If we can’t stem the youth movement long enough to get them in, they will never
be a part of the Hall of Fame.
Remember…
65 years! Most of you haven’t been alive that long, but the sport of Stock Car
Racing had its stars, even before you were born. They were men of a different
era; soldiers that returned from a World War, anxious to reinstate a sport that
had only begun to bud before they were all called away. They weren’t pampered
and they weren’t rich. They built and maintained their own cars for the most
part, and if lucky, eked out a living in doing so. Just because times were
different doesn’t mean those men were not deserving of the recognition they
surely earned. Here are my choices for 2016:
Raymond
Parks
Benny
Parsons
Curtis
Turner
Ray
Fox
Red
Byron
Is
there anything missing or not understood? By all means, leave questions below
and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll find it for you.
And
now, not a moment too soon, it’s time for our Classic Country Closeout. Way
back in the beginning of this one, I played with the lyrics from an old song
entitled “Dear Hearts and Gentle People”, so why not start out with that
one? As was the custom in “olden days”, this was recorded and made it to
someone’s charts by many different artists including Bing Crosby, Perry Como,
Dinah Shore and others. I believe it was born in a movie called “Beyond
the Purple Hills” and sung there by Gene Autry. That was almost the
version you got to hear, but YouTube delivered again and pointed me to a
version of this golden oldie as done by Red Foley, and you all know Mama can’t
pass up a chance to hear Red, especially doing a song that I don’t have in my
library.
Next
up, and our last one today, due to its length, is a compilation of one-liners
and fast lines designed to bend you over laughing, from the Queen of Country
Comedy, Cousin Minnie Pearl. (Born Sarah Ophelia Colley) This gal was and is
what clean comedy is all about. Please enjoy a laugh on Minnie and me.
Be
well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!