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With the NASCAR Hall of Fame under construction in Charlotte, North Carolina, a 50 member panel met this week to vote on the inaugural HOF class. Five members were voted in and as is custom with NASCAR, controversy ensued. First off, lets get to the four that nearly everyone agrees on.
Bill France Sr.-It was Bill Sr. who started NASCAR back in 1947 and ran it until turning it over to his son in 1972. He absolutely deserves to be in the first class.
Richard Petty- You have to have the driver with the most wins and championships right?
Dale Earnhardt-Tied Petty with seven championships and was an Icon through the 90's, helping bring NASCAR to a nationwide audience. He has been gone since 2001, but there are 100's of black #3 flags waving at every race still today.
Junior Johnson- Won 50 races as a driver and six championships as an owner. It was Johnson who first used drafting as a major strategy at the super speedways. Johnson tied NASCAR to its roots with his beginnings as a moonshine runner.
Here is where it gets dicey. David Pearson won 3 championships and has the second most wins next to Petty. Pearson never ran a full series, but raced for 27 years and won 18.2% of the races he entered. He was not selected. Instead, Bill France Jr., who took over for his father in 1972 and ran NASCAR until 2003 was the fifth selection this year.
Count Richard Petty as one of those disappointed. "That wouldn't have been my pick" said Petty refering to the France Jr. selection.
The voters included NASCAR executives, writers and past competitors as well as one fan vote from the NASCAR website. It was announced that Pearson, Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison were the top vote getter's not selected, so expect those three to get a great shot next year.
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