Rick Allen, Larry McReynolds & Winston Kelley Talk About NHoF & New Nominees

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Rick Allen, Larry McReynolds & Winston Kelley Talk About NHoF & New Nominees

NASCAR Hall of Fame discussed by SPEED's Rick Allen, Larry McRenyolds and Winston Kelly...

David Harris | Posted April 11, 2012 Charlotte, NC

The NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., honors legends of the sport, and much more. (Photo: Getty Images)

SPEED’S RICK ALLEN, LARRY MCREYNOLDS & WINSTON KELLEY TALK ABOUT HALL of FAME ADDITIONS on NASCAR RACE HUB

Rick Allen, who handles play-by-play for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on SPEED, Larry McReynolds, who is the NASCAR analyst for FOX & SPEED, and NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley, all commented on this year’s class of 25 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Allen and Kelley are also two of the 29 members who make up the NHoF voting panel.

Tonight, on NASCAR Race Hub, five additional names were added to the group – Ray Fox, Anne B. France, Wendell Scott, Ralph Seagraves and Rusty Wallace. Allen, McReynolds and Kelley joined host Danielle Trotta for tonight’s episode.

Allen and McReynolds also talked about the differences among last year’s active owner and inductee Glen Wood, and current car owner nominees Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick. Here are some of Allen and McReynolds quotes from tonight’s show:

Allen: In the previous 15 people that have been inducted, I voted for 10 of them. At the outset, I thought all 10 were locks, and probably all 15 of those guys were locks. This year, I don’t see those locks anymore. You don’t see the clear cut five that you’re going to vote for. So I think there’s going to be a lot of discussion this year on the voting panel.

Trotta: When you look at someone like Jerry Cook, we saw Richie Evans gets in last year as a modified champion, do you think Jery could follow suit here in 2013?

Allen: I wouldn’t say he’s riding the coat tails, but Richie Evans paved the way and I think Jerry could ride right into the Hall of Fame. I’m not so sure if it’s his time to get in, but he’s definitely deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.

Trotta: How about somebody more recent, but history is still developing. You know who I’m talking about.

Allen: Richard Childress. On the graphic, it stated ‘to present…’ My argument is that, I think Richard Childress is deserved of being in the Hall of Fame, but not yet. That’s the problem. He’s still making his history right now.

McReynolds: No question, Richard Childress will be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but to me, when you go into the Hall of Fame, it’s about telling the story. Well, when someone is still active like Richard Childress is, the story is still being told. There are more chapters to be written. When it comes to owners, Richard Childress will be there.

Allen: The other name that really stands out is Rick Hendrick. We go back to what we saw before, here’s Rick Hendrick continuing to write history. I mean, who knows, this weekend he could get his 200th win. That’s where I think we have to wait until that history is written before we put somebody into the Hall of Fame.

McReynolds: I won’t challenge that because I’m on the same page as you Rick, but the only thing I will say, is that someone pointed out to me in the other stick-and-ball sports and the Hall of Fame; their players, like owners, like coaches, they will put active owners and coaches in the Hall of Fame because they very well could be owners and coaches until the day they die.

Trotta: All very deserving here, it’s not a matter of if, but when.

Allen: It’s when. We ask that question every single year. All 25 nominees are very, very deserved of being nominees. They will get in the Hall of Fame, but it’s just a matter of when.

Trotta: For some of them, their chapter, their legacy has already been cemented; it is easier to take them from the list, from those that are continuing their legacy.

Allen: Glen Wood is a perfect example of that. Here is a current owner, that’s still active at the race track, but we inducted him a year ago in to the Hall of Fame. He’s an active owner, I understand, but I think his history has already been written already. The Wood Brothers team, I think was a 50s, 60s, 70s team, that’s where their history was made. I think now is the Hendrick and the Childress era. This is when their history is being written. That’s why I don’t think we can put them in just yet.

McReynolds: Even though the Wood Brothers won the 2011 Daytona 500 with Trevor Bayne, but most of their 98 wins came there in the 60s, 70s and even the early 80s.

On Rusty Wallace…

Winston Kelley: He might be the first that goes in the first time that he’s nominated. You had Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace, they were the tandem ion the late 80s and early 90s. Where he won, they were the driver’s race tracks.

Allen: The short tracks. He was so good a short-track racing. A driver had to work with his crew chief to make sure they put the best product out on the race track. He was very, very good at that.

On Wendell Scott…

Kelley: We talk about Wendell Scott, the legacy that he had. We talk about the path that he has paid for others, the Darrell Wallaces’ and guys like that, but to come behind him. Here’s what sticks out to me, I’ve heard Richard Petty and Ned Jarrett say on multiple occasions, and they raced against him, we don’t know how good Wendell Scott was. He did more, with less, than anybody that’s ever been in this sport. If he had been in comparable equipment, he would have won so many races. There are so many reasons that Wendell Scott deserves to be on this list.

Allen: Probably not the most popular driver at the race track, when these races are going on. Not only did he have everybody else he was fighting against on the race track. But he had the fans that weren’t really behind him as well. He’s a real pioneer in this sport.

Kelley: The perseverance that he had, and I witnessed that, him working on that race car himself, when I went to the races with my dad back in the 60s and the 70s. He had four-consecutive years in mediocre equipment at best, that he finished in the top 10. He could drive a race car.