-
Home
- TV Shows
- TV Schedule
- NASCAR
-
Latest Headlines: NASCAR
-
-
Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Games
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
- Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
- Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
Sprint Cup
CUP: Five Join NASCAR Hall On Emotional Night
Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Dale Inman, Glen Wood and Richie Evans inducted into NASCAR shrine…
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Darrell Waltrip receives his jacket during the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Charlotte Convention Center on January 20, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo: Getty Images)
The NASCAR Hall of Fame now boasts some new cachet – two of the Sprint Cup Series’ all-time greatest drivers, a pioneering crew chief, a team owner with 60 years in the business and a driver who built a solid career without stepping into the sport’s top series.
Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Inman, Glen Wood and the late Richie Evans were inducted into stock car racing’s marquee hall Friday night in an emotional ceremony at the Charlotte Convention Center.
The ceremony swelled hall membership to 15. Inducted in the first two years were Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Junior Johnson, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Bud Moore, Lee Petty, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett and David Pearson.
The ceremony will be broadcast by SPEED at 6 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
Richard Petty, the all-time winningest driver in Sprint Cup history, introduced his cousin and crew chief, inductee Dale Inman, as leader of the “Dale Inman School at Petty Enterprises.”
Inman trained a number of mechanics who went on to great careers in NASCAR, among them Robin Pemberton (now a NASCAR executive), Steve Hmiel, Robbie Loomis, Barry Dodson, Tony Glover, Jake Elder and Mike Beam.
“The big thing Dale had that really made the thing work was people,” Petty said. “He really knew how to work with people.”
Petty said Inman had “attitude, confidence and focus.”
Inman, who won seven championships with Petty and another with Terry Labonte, said he was thankful for “the people I’ve met, the places I’ve seen and the friends I’ve made, in and out of racing.”
He recalled racing in the 1950s and ’60s, including the final race on the old Daytona beach-road course in Florida. “You talk about track conditions,” Inman said. “That was some track conditions.”
Leonard Wood, likely to be elected to the hall soon, called Inman “my biggest competition but he was also one of my best friends.”
Later in the ceremony, Leonard inducted his older brother, Glen, into the hall, presenting him with a hall ring and saying, “It’s a long way from the cornfield.” They started racing in 1950 near their hometown of Stuart, VA.
Leonard said his brother “was always fair, honest, gave good advice and needed no more than a handshake.”
Glen said he was “proud to have been a NASCAR driver and car owner for the past 60 years. This is about two families – the Wood family and the Ford family.”
Nine-time Modified champion Evans was inducted by his long-time crew chief, Billy Nacewicz., who said Evans taught him two big things, “one, a hard work ethic and, two, to enjoy whatever you’re doing.”
Nacewicz said Evans and his friends ripped apart one of the driver’s drag racing cars and converted it to a stock car when they discovered it was possible to race and make money.
“Richie loved the modifieds,” Nacewicz said. “He became the face of the division. Richie was a person that if you ever met him, you were left with a lasting impression.”
Evans was killed in October 1985 in a crash during practice for a modified race at Martinsville Speedway.
Lynn Evans, Evans’ widow, accepted for her husband.
“Rich would be so honored and humbled to be included with the inductees past, present and future,” she said. She thanked voters for “stepping outside the box” to choose her husband, the first inductee without a record in the Sprint Cup Series.
Yarborough, the Sprint Cup Series’ first driver to win three straight championships, said racing is “like a tall ladder. It’s a long, hard climb to the top. I feel like I’m finally standing on the top step.”
Yarborough thanked his wife, Betty Jo, for “sticking with me through some awful hard times.”
He told a story about his early years of struggle when the couple, buying groceries, returned everything they had placed in their shopping cart because they found a sale on black-eyed peas for 10 cents a can.
“We put everything back and bought every can,” he said. “We had black-eyed peas for breakfast, dinner and supper for a long time.”
Yarborough thanked all of his team owners and crew chiefs, particularly Junior Johnson. “We had a good run, for sure,” he said. “Junior, I can’t thank you enough, man. We had a good ride.”
Jeff Hammond, once his crew chief and now his partner on Fox Sports’ broadcasts of NASCAR events, inducted Waltrip into the hall. “I venture to say our sport will never see the likes of DW again,” he said.
A video by Bobby Allison, Waltrip’s fiercest rival, introduced the Waltrip segment. “Bobby Allison said I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame,” Waltrip said. “Does anybody here know how big that is?”
Waltrip’s acceptance speech lasted 23 minutes, easily the longest of the evening. He recounted stories of his difficult early days in the sport, when he stirred the waters with rebellion, and thanked virtually everybody involved in his climb through racing.
“I’ve had two lives, and I’ve had two careers,” Waltrip said. “When I came onto the scene, I was not a nice guy. I was an antagonist. It just seemed to work for me.
“A lot of people say they took the path of least resistance. I took the path I couldn’t resist. You know why? There was no one on it.”
Waltrip thanked his wife of 42 years, Stevie, who has been by his side for virtually every step of his career, even at a time when women were barred from NASCAR pits and garage areas.
“If there was a hall of fame for drivers’ wives, Stevie would be in the first class,” Waltrip said.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Inman, Glen Wood and the late Richie Evans were inducted into stock car racing’s marquee hall Friday night in an emotional ceremony at the Charlotte Convention Center.
The ceremony swelled hall membership to 15. Inducted in the first two years were Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Junior Johnson, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Bud Moore, Lee Petty, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett and David Pearson.
The ceremony will be broadcast by SPEED at 6 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
Richard Petty, the all-time winningest driver in Sprint Cup history, introduced his cousin and crew chief, inductee Dale Inman, as leader of the “Dale Inman School at Petty Enterprises.”
Inman trained a number of mechanics who went on to great careers in NASCAR, among them Robin Pemberton (now a NASCAR executive), Steve Hmiel, Robbie Loomis, Barry Dodson, Tony Glover, Jake Elder and Mike Beam.
“The big thing Dale had that really made the thing work was people,” Petty said. “He really knew how to work with people.”
Petty said Inman had “attitude, confidence and focus.”
Inman, who won seven championships with Petty and another with Terry Labonte, said he was thankful for “the people I’ve met, the places I’ve seen and the friends I’ve made, in and out of racing.”
He recalled racing in the 1950s and ’60s, including the final race on the old Daytona beach-road course in Florida. “You talk about track conditions,” Inman said. “That was some track conditions.”
Leonard Wood, likely to be elected to the hall soon, called Inman “my biggest competition but he was also one of my best friends.”
Later in the ceremony, Leonard inducted his older brother, Glen, into the hall, presenting him with a hall ring and saying, “It’s a long way from the cornfield.” They started racing in 1950 near their hometown of Stuart, VA.
Leonard said his brother “was always fair, honest, gave good advice and needed no more than a handshake.”
Glen said he was “proud to have been a NASCAR driver and car owner for the past 60 years. This is about two families – the Wood family and the Ford family.”
Nine-time Modified champion Evans was inducted by his long-time crew chief, Billy Nacewicz., who said Evans taught him two big things, “one, a hard work ethic and, two, to enjoy whatever you’re doing.”
Nacewicz said Evans and his friends ripped apart one of the driver’s drag racing cars and converted it to a stock car when they discovered it was possible to race and make money.
“Richie loved the modifieds,” Nacewicz said. “He became the face of the division. Richie was a person that if you ever met him, you were left with a lasting impression.”
Evans was killed in October 1985 in a crash during practice for a modified race at Martinsville Speedway.
Lynn Evans, Evans’ widow, accepted for her husband.
“Rich would be so honored and humbled to be included with the inductees past, present and future,” she said. She thanked voters for “stepping outside the box” to choose her husband, the first inductee without a record in the Sprint Cup Series.
Yarborough, the Sprint Cup Series’ first driver to win three straight championships, said racing is “like a tall ladder. It’s a long, hard climb to the top. I feel like I’m finally standing on the top step.”
Yarborough thanked his wife, Betty Jo, for “sticking with me through some awful hard times.”
He told a story about his early years of struggle when the couple, buying groceries, returned everything they had placed in their shopping cart because they found a sale on black-eyed peas for 10 cents a can.
“We put everything back and bought every can,” he said. “We had black-eyed peas for breakfast, dinner and supper for a long time.”
Yarborough thanked all of his team owners and crew chiefs, particularly Junior Johnson. “We had a good run, for sure,” he said. “Junior, I can’t thank you enough, man. We had a good ride.”
Jeff Hammond, once his crew chief and now his partner on Fox Sports’ broadcasts of NASCAR events, inducted Waltrip into the hall. “I venture to say our sport will never see the likes of DW again,” he said.
A video by Bobby Allison, Waltrip’s fiercest rival, introduced the Waltrip segment. “Bobby Allison said I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame,” Waltrip said. “Does anybody here know how big that is?”
Waltrip’s acceptance speech lasted 23 minutes, easily the longest of the evening. He recounted stories of his difficult early days in the sport, when he stirred the waters with rebellion, and thanked virtually everybody involved in his climb through racing.
“I’ve had two lives, and I’ve had two careers,” Waltrip said. “When I came onto the scene, I was not a nice guy. I was an antagonist. It just seemed to work for me.
“A lot of people say they took the path of least resistance. I took the path I couldn’t resist. You know why? There was no one on it.”
Waltrip thanked his wife of 42 years, Stevie, who has been by his side for virtually every step of his career, even at a time when women were barred from NASCAR pits and garage areas.
“If there was a hall of fame for drivers’ wives, Stevie would be in the first class,” Waltrip said.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Shake and Bake: Recent Posts
-
It Wasn't A Good Weekend For The Star-Spangled Banner (Video) »
-
Tweets Of The Week: All-Star Edition »
-
Mustang GT + Mark Martin's Engine = 800HP Of Street-Legal Awesomeness »
-
Kurt Busch Is Focused, But Is He A Chase Contender? »
-
Ricky vs. Danica: All-Star Race - Who's On Top This Week? »
-
Feud of the Week: Joe Gibbs Racing vs. the Sprint All-Star Race »
-
Race Day Blog: Sights and Sounds From the Sprint All-Star Race »
-
Daryl Wright Breaks It Down With Pit Road Rapper Kenyatta Houston »
Kansas Speedway
LATEST HEADLINES: NASCAR
-
SPEED ALERT: Race Hub To Broadcast NASCAR Hall Of Fame's 'Class Of…
NASCAR Hall of Fame announcement on FOX Sports’ SPEED starting… -
CUP: Monday NASCAR Notebook
Jimmie Johnson has the most victories of any active driver at Charlotte… -
DW: 48 Team Is Redefining Excellence
Jimmie Johnson now stands alone as the only four-time winner of the… -
CUP: EXCLUSIVE - No Crew Chief Changes At SHR
Ryan Newman had the best finish of any of the Stewart-Haas drivers… -
CUP: More All-Star Frustration For JGR
Matt Kenseth had a disappointing Sprint All-Star Race finish…… -
CUP: Bono Works Through Pain
Kevin “Bono” Manion has fought gout for a decade…… -
CUP: All-Star Power Rankings
Jimmie Johnson moves back to the top of the FOXSports.com/SPEED.com… - More News
