2015 NASCAR HOF class

Bill Elliott

Wendell Scott

Joe Weatherly

Rex White

Fred Lorenzen

Congrats to all of them and their families. I disagree with Scott selection, but I felt like it was going to happen anyway. Rex has to be the surprise of the five'some - though a very welcome one. Surprised he was voted in over Jerry Cook, Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Benny Parsons and Terry Labonte.

Also, no owners or crew chiefs this year (at least not in most noteworthy role). All drivers with 4 of 5 being very old school.

Looks like a home run to me

Ok Chase, not being rude,mad,or any other adverbs,adjectives or misused words I have to ask this--- why was it a surprise,because he was from Va. or because he raced the hard way,with very little money but a desire as big as,well he loved our sport. I first met him at non other than Jacksonville Fla on his way to the track.

They needed directions and dad told them to follow us as we were going there too. and thats how we met a fellow racer,color excluded because it was like talking to any other racer or crew.

Now just curious as to why, heck I was glad that the underdog made it .. I may be kicking a big can of worms over here but at least I asked nicely------- didnt I ??

I'll do my best to respond. I don't think it's a surprise as it was an inevitability. Wendell was before my time, so I can't speak specifically as to his ability as a racer. Based on what I have read of him, he has a hard racer during an era when his skin color would have made it twice has hard. I think if you look at it from a strict statistical perspective, yes there are several other candidates that deserve to go in over him.
However, as we well know, there is no set guideline as to requirements/eligibility to get into the Hall, and the racial hurdles Wendell had to overcome cannot in any way be discounted. Again, the vote is interpretational, so what you might deem Hall Of Fame worthy may be completely different than what I deem.

As I stated during the announcement, I really feel like this was a year where you could have elected ten people, and they all would have been deserving. As a nine year old kid back in 1987 that picked #9 as his first basketball jersey number (all because of Bill Elliott,) I can tell you that I am full of joy that Bill got in on the first ballot, and had a higher vote total than anyone except his boyhood hero, David Pearson. When you think about guys like Benny Parsons, Terry Labonte, and Curtis Turner that didn't get in- and we all know they are deserving- I think if anything, it says for the foreseeable future, NASCAR will continue to have strong induction classes in the years ahead.

Two final points: I keep hearing the argument against Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress getting voted in is that most feel they are still writing their legacy in the sport. If that is the case, why keep nominating them year after year? Let someone whose final chapter has been written get a chance at the vote. It's pretty much contradictory if you ask me.

Final point: You create a special award for people that perhaps wouldn't normally make the Hall Of Fame, and then decide the first recipient has to have the last name of France?!? At this rate, NASCAR will nominate Paris, France for the HOF next year! Unreal. Maybe guys like T Wayne Robertson and Ralph Seagraves and Smokey Yunick will get their due someday now that they have bestowed yet another award on the Frances. Or, maybe they can create another award next year and give it to yet another France family member!

I disagagree with the Wendell Scott selection also. All he ever won was one race. The only reason he was elected is because he was black if he would have been white he would have never been elected. Some people may think of me as being racist but its just a fact.

Evidently you do not know the real Wendell Scott.. He did things others did NOT have to do to only do what he enjoyed. This could go on forever .... All I said was the underdog made the cut---- no hype on race creed or any other.. just saying

The legacy of Wendell needs to be acknowledged by the Hall - no doubt about it in my mind. The hell he persevered through is nothing short of amazing. Yet...his stats don't merit inclusion with the other nominees being considered for 2015 in my opinion. The Hall created a new award for 2015 - the Landmark Award. As it was described, Wendell would have been THE perfect candidate for it. Instead, it was awarded to the friggin' bookkeeper of NASCAR. I'm a CPA so perhaps I should jump for joy that one of our own was selected. Ha! But Anne France's selection to it makes a mockery of the award from the word go. I would have preferred another nominee get the vote for the 5th entrant to the Hall with Wendell getting the Landmark Award.

But...that's not how it went. Can I accept Wendell as a NHOFer along with King, Pearson, Cale, Bobby, Chief, Buck and the others? Absolutely! Just saying where my voice would have been had I been part of the panel.

I know where you are coming from -- Noe lets see if we can get Smokey in,for sure he turned may rocks over that others walked around.. The man was a genius

Perhaps I should've said 'unexpected' vs. surprised. Rex is very deserving of the selection. But many folks clamored for and conventional wisdom suggested others may get the votes such as Benny, Terry, Robert Yates, Childress or Hendrick as owners, Jerry Cook as another modified rep, etc.

Little Joe as 2x champ was a slam dunk.

Elliott had the credentials and fit the mold of recent, more contemporary selections such as Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace.

Lorenzen was an automatic too in my opinion - just surprised he only got 30% of the vote. Perhaps the vote was diluted by choices spread amongst the other nominees.

So for Rex to slip in there solidly is certainly to be applauded - even if it was a bit unexpected considering the caliber and popularity of the other nominees.

I applaud the Wendell Scott induction. It's not the Hall of Statistics. He embodied a spirit of racing no other NASCAR racer can ever claim. His career is an inspiration, and he is one of the most famous stock car drivers ever. He is a Legend. Congratulations to the Scott Family.

That's good. I'm expecting we'll see Dave Marcis and JD McDuffie among next year's nominees. More dedicated racers you'll never see.

Although I have some objections to Wendell Scott I can accept this year's HOF class. I still wish they would double the number of entrants because there are so many that came before Bill Elliott I'd like to see get in. No, it shouldn't just be about statistics. That would leave out James Hylton, who competed against the best factory teams and came close but never won a title (and only two races). It leaves out Ken Schrader, Buddy Arrington and Soapy Castles. And a ton of guys who ran the small tracks and never won a Grand National title.

I think the Landmark Award for another member of the France family is ludicrous but they can redeem themselves by keeping it around beyond just this year. There are a couple deserving broadcasters that could get in this way and who I wouldn't consider proper candidates for regular HOF entry. There's Humpy Wheeler and T Wayne Robertson and maybe this is the only way we'll sneak Raymond Parks past the France Family blockade designed to take all the credit for themselves.

I hope we see either Benny Parsons or Ricky Rudd in there next year, and I think they changed the rules, so Mark Martin should be in soon too.

Well said !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Harlow Reynolds----Lynchburg,Va.

Wendell Scott had two racing careers and it was my misfortune to see only one - the Grand National side. I had the opportunity to watch Wendell many times in GN at many different venues. The equipment nearly always looked used up and we all know the limited budget and small family crew he worked with. I never saw him look competitive in GN at any track where I saw him race. Of course, the first time I went to a race in South Carolina - at Darlington - he wasn't there because Bob Colvin had rejected his entry.

What I really regret is that before he tried the GN circuit I never saw Wendell race at my hometown weekly track, Richmond's Southside Speedway (originally Royall Speedway until 1959) where he scored 22 feature wins against some of the top weekly racing talent in the country.

And, I never saw Wendell race and win at Richmond Speedway just north of Richmond on U.S. 301, or at Virginia's Zion's Crossroads Speedway or Danville Speedway or Brunswick Speedway - all Virginia weekly tracks where he competed on more equal footing and won.

All in all, I think this year's Hall of Fame class shapes up pretty darned good.

I'll be a lot happier when two other Virginia drivers, Curtis Turner and Ray Hendrick, join the two Virginians who went in this year. Let's hope all those folks voting for the car owners of today don't totally forget the car owners and drivers of yesterday in future voting, but I have my doubts. Raymond Parks, Red Byron and many other pioneers seem unknown to today's racing media.

It was my distinct pleasure in early 1990, to induct Wendell into membership in the exclusive Strawberry Hill Mod Squad , shortly before his death. Although too sick to attend, his contributions racing modifieds on the dirt at the Strawberry Hill venue of the Atlantic Rural Exposition on the Virginia State Fairgrounds in Richmond during the annual State Fair of Virginia NASCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MODIFIED RACES were recognized.

For those who think 1959 Southside Speedway and Virginia State Champion, Wendell Scott had it tough trying to compete in Grand National, his life getting to and racing on the weekly tracks of Virginia and North Carolina was no picnic. In fact, he was banned from racing on some of the weekly North Carolina tracks close to his Danville, Virginia home, including tracks in Winston-Salem, High Point and Eden.

In a 1977 interview with the Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance Star , Scott painted a picture of what those days were like.

In that interview he went out of his way to point out how he was helped by the late Virginia driver, Runt Harris . Runt held NASCAR license #5 and his daughter, Brenda Harris Newhouse of Jackson, Mississippi is a member here at RacersReunion.

Here's how Wendell described it back in 1977:

One of the best all around classes they've had yet! Couldn't believe the amount of older pioneers that were inducted!