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CUP: Reaction To NASCAR Hall Of Fame Vote
Hall nominee Darrell Waltrip, Mike Joy, Ken Squier and Kyle Petty discuss the nominees and the day’s biggest surprises.
Hall of Fame nominee Darrell Waltrip said he's OK with being passed over this time for the honor. (Photo: SPEED)
NASCAR today announced the selection of David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett and Bud Moore to the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, an announcement carried live on SPEED.
NASCAR on FOX play-by-play announcer Mike Joy hosted SPEED’s coverage alongside Ken Squier, Kyle Petty and Hall nominee Darrell Waltrip. Joy, Squier and Petty are voting members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame selection committee. Following are select quotes from the broadcast in which the men discuss the vote’s biggest surprises and the day’s biggest expectations:
On Darrell Waltrip not making the second class of inductees:
“It’s the ‘Pearson factor.’ Everyone kept telling me, ‘You’re in, man. Don’t worry about it.’ I’ve been worrying about it. The reason I’m sitting here right now is because I didn’t have a real good feeling about being up there today. I know I’ve done everything I can do. But there’s no way you can say those aren’t deserving inductees. It simply comes down to ‘where are we going with the Hall of Fame,’ and right now they want to go with some of the foundation, some of the founding fathers of the sport and grow it out from there. I’m a young pup. I’m too young (joking). People kept saying, ‘You’ll be in sooner or later.’ I was hoping it would be sooner but I’m okay with later. I understand my role in the sport.”
-- Darrell Waltrip
On the day’s biggest surprise:
“Many thought the triumvirate of Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison would go in as a group. There was a lot of sentiment for that (in the deliberations). But there were a lot of impassioned speeches for the fellows who built our sport from the beginning, who were there from the early days, who participated for such a long time. There were so many people in that room who either drove for or worked for Bud Moore … This appears to be a situation where they were saying, ‘While he’s here, let’s honor Bud Moore for his contributions to the sport,’ and to me, that may be the surprise of the day.”
--Mike Joy
“It’s a total surprise to me because I truly felt this was the year when they had to solidify the biggest luminaries, the biggest principals of the game that we’ve seen over the last 25 to 30 years that America recognizes. So when (Darrell) Waltrip and Cale Yarborough are not in that group, I’ll tell you what happens. They’ll be the Pearson of next year.”
--Ken Squier
On the direction the committee leaned and what it considered in making its decision:
“They talked about Bud (Moore) and they talked about his war service, and they talked about the ‘greatest generation,’ and they looked at the sport and they said, ‘The ‘50s, ‘60s, as the sport was building – those 25, 30 years were the building blocks and foundation of the sport.’ I think a lot of people in that room kept leaning that way. You saw what the fan vote was. The fan vote agreed with exactly what Ken (Squier) was saying – we need our superstars. These are superstars – Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, David Pearson – those are superstars that we need but I think in that room today, they looked a bit broader.”
--Kyle Petty
On the omission of certain nominees from the second inaugural class:
“At least there’s some controversy, some extra intrigue, some extra stories that are developing out of this and that’s really important to a Hall of Fame. Look at baseball – they always have this thing of replaying the game and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s very therapeutic, very helpful to this sport to have a Hall of Fame like this, to have people like you (Darrell Waltrip) to be so desirous to be a part of this thing.”
--Ken Squier
“What did we talk about from last year until today? David Pearson! How could they leave David Pearson out? So, I think there’s always going to be that odd guy out that we’re all going to say, ‘How could we leave him out?’ I think we’re going to have that for the next 10 years or so. It makes it fun … I think they also feel like we’re going to be here next year and we’ll be able to make a run at it next year. Who knows? I may be sitting here 10 years from now (not voted in).”
--Darrell Waltrip
NASCAR on FOX play-by-play announcer Mike Joy hosted SPEED’s coverage alongside Ken Squier, Kyle Petty and Hall nominee Darrell Waltrip. Joy, Squier and Petty are voting members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame selection committee. Following are select quotes from the broadcast in which the men discuss the vote’s biggest surprises and the day’s biggest expectations:
On Darrell Waltrip not making the second class of inductees:
“It’s the ‘Pearson factor.’ Everyone kept telling me, ‘You’re in, man. Don’t worry about it.’ I’ve been worrying about it. The reason I’m sitting here right now is because I didn’t have a real good feeling about being up there today. I know I’ve done everything I can do. But there’s no way you can say those aren’t deserving inductees. It simply comes down to ‘where are we going with the Hall of Fame,’ and right now they want to go with some of the foundation, some of the founding fathers of the sport and grow it out from there. I’m a young pup. I’m too young (joking). People kept saying, ‘You’ll be in sooner or later.’ I was hoping it would be sooner but I’m okay with later. I understand my role in the sport.”
-- Darrell Waltrip
On the day’s biggest surprise:
“Many thought the triumvirate of Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison would go in as a group. There was a lot of sentiment for that (in the deliberations). But there were a lot of impassioned speeches for the fellows who built our sport from the beginning, who were there from the early days, who participated for such a long time. There were so many people in that room who either drove for or worked for Bud Moore … This appears to be a situation where they were saying, ‘While he’s here, let’s honor Bud Moore for his contributions to the sport,’ and to me, that may be the surprise of the day.”
--Mike Joy
“It’s a total surprise to me because I truly felt this was the year when they had to solidify the biggest luminaries, the biggest principals of the game that we’ve seen over the last 25 to 30 years that America recognizes. So when (Darrell) Waltrip and Cale Yarborough are not in that group, I’ll tell you what happens. They’ll be the Pearson of next year.”
--Ken Squier
On the direction the committee leaned and what it considered in making its decision:
“They talked about Bud (Moore) and they talked about his war service, and they talked about the ‘greatest generation,’ and they looked at the sport and they said, ‘The ‘50s, ‘60s, as the sport was building – those 25, 30 years were the building blocks and foundation of the sport.’ I think a lot of people in that room kept leaning that way. You saw what the fan vote was. The fan vote agreed with exactly what Ken (Squier) was saying – we need our superstars. These are superstars – Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, David Pearson – those are superstars that we need but I think in that room today, they looked a bit broader.”
--Kyle Petty
On the omission of certain nominees from the second inaugural class:
“At least there’s some controversy, some extra intrigue, some extra stories that are developing out of this and that’s really important to a Hall of Fame. Look at baseball – they always have this thing of replaying the game and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s very therapeutic, very helpful to this sport to have a Hall of Fame like this, to have people like you (Darrell Waltrip) to be so desirous to be a part of this thing.”
--Ken Squier
“What did we talk about from last year until today? David Pearson! How could they leave David Pearson out? So, I think there’s always going to be that odd guy out that we’re all going to say, ‘How could we leave him out?’ I think we’re going to have that for the next 10 years or so. It makes it fun … I think they also feel like we’re going to be here next year and we’ll be able to make a run at it next year. Who knows? I may be sitting here 10 years from now (not voted in).”
--Darrell Waltrip
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