Inaugural 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame by Kristian Krempel

Richard Petty celebrates with champagne in Victory Lane in July 1984 after winning his 200th race in NASCARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s premier series â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it marked his final NASCAR victory. Among the notable people watching the race at Daytona International Speedway that day was U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Petty is an inaugural inductee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Dozier Mobley/Getty Images

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

To the readers, The NASCAR Hall of Fame has been an exciting project from the outset, when the concept for the hall was introduced. The excitement continued to build with the decision that the hall would be located in Charlotte, and then with the announcement of the inaugural class of inductees. And now, the long-awaited opening of the fan-friendly NASCAR Hall of Fame is a reality. This yearbook commemorates the opening and honors our ﬁrst ﬁve inductees – Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson. This is a great keepsake of a true milestone in our sport’s rich history. Enjoy. Best regards, Brian France Chairman and CEO NASCAR

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Dear Fans, Welcome to the NASCAR Hall of Fame! On behalf of the entire staff and incredible team who designed and built this iconic facility, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the most exciting and technologically advanced hall of fame in the world. Enjoy the unique opportunity to see behind the scenes of NASCAR past and present, make memories with family and friends and celebrate the NASCAR heroes of yesterday and today. Join us as you are immersed in the journey with more than 50 hands-on interactive exhibits, revel in the larger-than-life inductees showcased in the Hall of Honor, learn about the tracks and some of the sport’s most iconic cars on Glory Road, feel the energy in the Belk High Octane Theatre and revisit history in Heritage Speedway that takes you through the phenomenal 62-year history of NASCAR. Visit Food Lion Race Week and while there, test your skill with one of the many state-of-the-art interactive exhibits including the incredible racing simulators. As two-time Cup series champion Terry Labonte described it, “it is as close to reality as you can get without actually being in a race car.” Experience how pit crews service a car in less than 13 seconds, how race teams prepare for a race, how the cars are inspected and much, much more. See why the NASCAR Hall of Fame has been described as the place where race enthusiasts and novices alike can come to have fun, interact, learn and become a part of this legendary sport. And don’t be surprised if you run into your favorite driver while you’re there … after all, they are just as excited as you! And if you need anything at all while you are here, please talk with one of our crew members. It is our pleasure to serve you. Welcome … and enjoy! Best regards, Winston Kelley Executive Director NASCAR Hall of Fame

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Dear friends and guests, To say that 2010 is a big year for Charlotte could be the understatement of the century. We are welcoming an unprecedented culmination of new landmarks, attractions, hotels and entertainment venues that have been produced through years of smart development. Whether it’s a never-before-seen masterpiece or exciting nightlife, the possibilities are endless. Combine the Southern hospitality for which we are so well known with the new – as well as the tried and true – destination amenities and visitors will discover why Charlotte is quickly becoming the number one choice for leisure visitors and meeting planners alike. Welcome to our most thrilling new asset, the NASCAR Hall of Fame. You’ll soon discover exactly why ‘Charlotte’s got a lot!’ Best regards, Tim Newman Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority

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NASCAR Hall of Fame Staff Executive

Winston Kelley Carol Weeks

Exhibits

Kevin Schlesier Michele Leopold Albert â&#x20AC;&#x153;Buzâ&#x20AC;? McKim

Executive Director Executive Assistant

Exhibits Manager Registrar and Collections Manager Historian

External Relations and Education Kimberly Meesters Joelle Lapsley Natividad Lewis Teresa Robertson Imani Clenance

Facilities

George Hite Barbara Bates Charles Elwood Scott Honeycutt Lola Norman Miguel Ramos Fred Weed

Operations & Guest Services Steve Burrell Cathy Buchhofer Seth Denton Kirsty Hall Chris Manley Matt McLean

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

NASCAR Hall of Fame Advisory Board Tim Newman, Chairman John Tate, Vice Chairman Cathy Bessant Paul Brooks Blake Davidson Ron Kimble Ted Lewis Jim Schumacher

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking, Wachovia Corporation Global Technology & Operations Executive, Bank of America President, NASCAR Media Group Senior Vice President, NASCAR Managing Director of Licensed Products, NASCAR Deputy City Manager, City of Charlotte General Manager, Charlotte Convention Center Assistant City Manager, City of Charlotte

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is owned by the City of Charlotte, licensed by NASCAR and operated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.

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Contributing Writers Van Cox, Cary Estes, Andrew Giangola, Mike Hembree, Ron Koch, Godwin Kelly, Ron Lemasters, Ken Willis. Photo Contributors Getty Images, Goodyear, Getty Images for NASCAR, Toriano Gray, Andrew Giangola, Mark Little, Tony Martin, Bill “Couchman” Montgomery, NASCAR, Melody Sink, Debby Robinson, Sunoco. NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends Yearbook is published by FX Marketing Group, Inc., with its ofﬁces located at 315 Plant Avenue South, Tampa, Florida 33606. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, by means electronically, mechanically, photocopying, or otherwise, and no article or photography can be printed without the written consent of www.NASCARHall.com

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NASCAR Hall of Fame Winston Kelley Executive Director Kimberly Meesters Manager, External Relations & Education Leslie Horne Manager, Sales & Marketing 13

Table of Contents Welcome to the NASCAR Hall of Fame 7

NASCAR Welcome Letter Brian France, Chairman and CEO, NASCAR

NASCAR Hall of Fame Welcome Letter Winston Kelley, Executive Director, NASCAR Hall of Fame

City of Charlotte Welcome Letter Tim Newman, CEO, Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority

NASCAR Hall of Fame Staff

NASCAR Hall of Fame Advisory Board

The Inaugural Class of Inductees and Nominees 18

Prestigious Nominees, Legendary Choices NASCAR Includes Unprecedented Fan Vote in Selection of Inaugural Inductees

Dale Earnhardt – The Intimidator

William H.G. France – Big Bill

William C. France – Bill Jr.

Junior Johnson – American Hero

Richard Petty – The King

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominees

The Stories of NASCAR

The Road to Racing Glory NASCAR Roars from Carolina Roots, Grows to National Sensation

102

Evolution in Revolution NASCAR Shepherds Metamorphosis of Racing ‘Showroom Cars’

116

Great Racing … Great Stories NASCAR Maintains Grip on Success Through Years of Twists and Turns

130

Racing’s Tale-gaters NASCAR’s Happy Campers Develop Storied Friendships 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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Table of Contents Inside the NASCAR Hall of Fame 142

Roaring into Racing History Charlotte Wins the Race for the NASCAR Hall of Fame

156

Bank of America Instrumental in Creating Opportunity for Charlotte to Be Home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame

158

Motor Racing Network Ofﬁcial Radio Partner of Inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

162

Join the Colorful Fun with M&M’s

164

SPEED Woven into Fabric of NASCAR

167

Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk Sum of Winston Kelley’s Life’s Work Leads Him to NASCAR Hall of Fame

170

NASCAR Performance Partners In Gear and On Exhibit in NASCAR Hall of Fame

172

Lowe’s Builds History with NASCAR

Spotlight on the Sport 177

Legendary Times When NASCAR Greats Get Away, They Call on the Great Outdoors

182

Ladies First NASCAR Holds Long History of Women with Drive to Achieve Success

187

Compound Success Race-Car Drivers Hoping for Good Year Turn to Goodyear for Tires

191

All Pumped Up Sunoco Fuels NASCAR’s Roar

193

Networking NASCAR Major Players Dot Charlotte Landscape

208

Students Race Through Learning Curve to Motorsports Careers

Around the NASCAR Hall of Fame

197

Ryan’s Hope Commemorative Brick Tells Family’s Story of Love, Loss and Friendship

202

Tracking the Artifacts Historian Buz McKim Finds, Safeguards NASCAR Memories

204

Sponsor Recognition

205

Member Recognition

206

Charter Membership Information 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Prestigious Nominees, Legendary Choices NASCAR Includes Unprecedented Fan Vote in Selection of Inaugural Inductees Achievement. Character. Excellence. Performance. Longevity. All of those words and more describe the 25 nominees for the first class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The list gets even longer in describing those five chosen for induction. The NASCAR personalities constituting the 2010 Class of Inductees are undisputable legends of the sport â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dale Earnhardt, Big Bill France, Bill France Jr., Junior Johnson and Richard Petty.

Left: Former NASCAR driver and car owner Junior Johnson (left) and NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter take a break to catch up on things during the voting panel meeting on October 14, 2009 in Charlotte, N.C. Later that day, Junior was announced as one of the five inaugural inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR Right: NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France watches a presentation about his father, Bill France Jr., after announcing him as one of the five chosen as the NASCAR Hall of Fameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inaugural class of inductees. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

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The NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel gathers on stage during the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class voting meeting. The voting panel had the difficult task of selecting only five inaugural inductees out of a group of 25 nominees who were are all worthy of enshrinement. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Their names echoing through the NASCAR Hall of Fame during celebrations and ceremonies serve as a tribute to untold of hours of work, thought and deliberation that brought them here. The criteria that make a person eligible for NASCAR Hall of Fame induction are surprisingly simple. A person’s NASCAR accomplishments and contributions to the sport are the main focus of the nomination and selection process. From there, these guidelines will be followed every year: Former drivers must have competed 10 years in NASCAR and be retired from racing for a minimum of three years. Non-drivers must have worked at least 10 years in the industry. Potential candidates with shorter careers may be considered if there are special circumstances. NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France is proud that his sport includes an element in the selection process that isn’t as common in other sports. “We have established an orderly induction process that is inclusive, involving various industry constituencies — most importantly, the fans,” France said. Ultimately, it can be said, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a physical manifestation of the brightest memories

of NASCAR fans, because their support goes so far in developing the success that builds the sport’s legends. Those legends, in turn, are selected for nomination to the NASCAR Hall of Fame by a committee comprised of a renowned list of 21 people who hold the sport’s history in proper reverence. For 2010, the nominees were Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Bill France Jr., Bill France Sr., Rick Hendrick, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Fireball Roberts, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough. Once the committee announced those names, 29 others joined the committee to form the voting panel that joined the fans’ vote in selecting the inaugural class of inductees. Those voters included:

The Nominating Committee

NASCAR Hall of Fame: Executive Director Winston Kelley; Historian Buz McKim. NASCAR Officials: Chairman/CEO Brian France; Vice Chairman Jim France; President Mike Helton; Senior Vice President Paul Brooks; Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton; Vice President of Communications Jim Hunter; Competition Administrator Jerry Cook; former Vice President Ken Clapp.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

NASCAR legend Richard Petty speaks to the media after being named one of the five inaugural inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC. John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Track Owners/Operators: International Speedway Corporation CEO Lesa Kennedy; Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell; Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Bruton Smith; Atlanta Motor Speedway President Ed Clark; Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George; Dover Motorsports CEO Denis McGlynn; Pocono Raceway owner Joe “Doc” Mattioli; Bowman Gray Stadium operator Dale Pinilis; Greenville-Pickens Speedway operator Tom Blackwell; Riverhead Raceway operators Jim and Barbara Cromarty (one vote); and Toyota Speedway at Irwindale operator Jim Williams.

The Voting Panel

National Motorsports Press Association: Kenny Bruce, SceneDaily.com; Dustin Long, Landmark Newspapers and NMPA President; Mike Harris, Associated Press; Nate Ryan, USA Today; Jim Pedley, RacinToday.com; Duane Cross, NASCAR.com. Eastern Motorsports Press Association: Ernie Saxton, EMPA President. American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association: Dusty Brandel, AARWBA President. Broadcasters: Mike Joy, FOX; Jerry Punch, ESPN; Barney Hall, MRN; Doug Rice, PRN; Rick Allen, SPEED. Manufacturers: Chevrolet – Brent Dewer, Vice President/ General Manager North America; Ford – Edsel B. Ford

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II, Board of Directors; Dodge – Mike Accavitti, Director of Dodge Brand Global Marketing, Motorsports; Toyota – Lee White, President/General Manager, Toyota Racing Development USA. Retired Drivers: Ricky Rudd; Harry Gant; Ned Jarrett. Retired Car Owners: Bud Moore; Cotton Owens; Junior Johnson. Retired Crew Chiefs: Barry Dodson; Waddell Wilson; Buddy Parrott. Industry Leaders: Former Charlotte Motor Speedway President Humpy Wheeler; motorsports broadcast Ken Squier; and former motorsports journalist Tom Higgins. During the announcement of the five inductees, NASCAR did not release the voting totals and said the order in which they were announced did not reflect the results. The accounting firm of Ernst & Young presided over the tabulation of the votes. As part of the inclusive voting process, more than 670,000 NASCAR fans submitted votes online at NASCAR.com. Demonstrating the passion and knowledge of the sport and its heritage, the fans voted Petty, Earnhardt, Big Bill France, Yarborough and Allison as their top five. “We wanted to make it a small enough group where it was special,” said Brian France, son of Bill Jr. “There were 25 that were nominated. The fans got a vote in this. ... It is a great day for the sport.”

The InTIMIDATOR Dale Earnhardt By Ron Koch

In famed tales of the Wild West, the good guys wore white hats, rode pale horses and gratefully accepted what folks gave them in due time. People loved them. The other side of the story told of men wearing black, riding horses the color of midnight and taking what they wanted, when they wanted it. People feared them. From the day he climbed behind the wheel of a race car, Dale Earnhardt knew which color hat he’d wear on the race track – nothing stood between him and success. Now, nothing stands between him and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On his way to winning 76 races in NASCAR’s brightest spotlights and developing into an icon forever known as “The Intimidator,” Earnhardt transcended every attempt to afﬁx an absolute characterization. He related to the fans in

Dale Earnhardt saw a lot of checkered ﬂags during his remarkable career, including the ones reﬂected in his glasses in 1997 at Daytona International Speedway after a qualifying race for the Daytona 500. Tony Ranze/AFP/Getty Images

the grandstands as easily as the sponsors in the boardrooms. NASCAR drivers relished their time around him in the garage, while wincing at the thought of dealing with him on the race track.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Dale Earnhardt won the Rookie of the Year award at NASCAR’s top level in 1979. A year later, he won the ﬁrst of his seven series championships. ISC Archives via Getty Images

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His fans loved him unconditionally – other drivers’ fans loved the idea of beating him. That dichotomy took on a living, breathing form in 1998, in one of NASCAR’s defining moments. Two-thirds of the way through lap 199, the yellow flag waved with “The Man in Black” leading the Great American Race. In those days, drivers raced back to the start-finish line to set the scoring. Earnhardt’s No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet beat Bobby Labonte to the line as the white and yellow flags waved. Drivers are told to slow the pace during caution periods, but Earnhardt barely took his foot off the throttle, wanting to ensure the gremlins of races past couldn’t catch him this time. After 20 years, 4,000 laps, 10,000 miles and more than a few heartbreaks at Daytona International Speedway, Earnhardt won the Daytona 500. With more than a couple hundred thousand people at the race track and millions watching on television, Earnhardt took the checkered flag. Then the magic began to unveil itself. Nearly every driver in the field rolled up to congratulate him during the two-and-a-half mile ride to Victory Lane to celebrate with his team. First, however, every team on pit road formed a receiving line fit for a regal coronation. Hundreds of people, who moments before wanted nothing more than to snatch glory for themselves, stood in unison to hail the champion. They wanted it, but Dale took it – and he’d have it no other way. “This one tops them all, buddy. This one tops ’em all,” Earnhardt said. “It puts the icing on the cake.” For a man who had won seven NASCAR championships, 70 races (at that point in his career) and needed nothing to cement his legacy, the Harley J. Earl Trophy awarded to Daytona 500 champions gave Earnhardt his just desserts. To understand what drove Dale Earnhardt, folks need to know where he started. He grew up in Kannapolis, N.C., the son of a mill worker who despite meager means had built himself into a racing legend on the dirt tracks of the Southeast. Ralph Earnhardt set a standard for work ethic that few could match. The elder Earnhardt pioneered the use of tire stagger and became renowned for racing harder and building more durable cars than others.

Young Dale Earnhardt, against his father’s wishes, left school early to concentrate on racing. He worked in the mills, scraping together enough money to build his own race cars, with little more than hints, advice and criticism from Ralph. Legendary NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip said those humble beginnings provided the roots for Dale Earnhardt’s success. “Dale grew up racing on those little dirt race tracks in North Carolina, and he never changed his style, even though he was driving 180 mph instead of 80,” said Waltrip, who posted his final top-10 finish in the NASCAR premier series driving a car owned by Earnhardt in 1998. “A lot of times you would work real hard to pass him, you’d finally get around him, you’d look in the mirror, and he’d be bumping up against you. You’d be better off behind him than in front of him.” The statistics are mind boggling: Seven NASCAR championships in the premier series, a mark matched only by fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Richard Petty. He totaled 76 victories in NASCAR’s premier series, where he posted 428 top-10 finishes in 676 races. In baseball terms, Earnhardt hit .633 with regard to finishing races in the top 10. He finished second 70 times, meaning that in 22 percent of his races in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he either won or finished as the runner-up. He also won the 1979 Rookie of the Year award and claimed 22 Pole Awards. In NASCAR’s second-tier series, now known as the NASCAR Nationwide Series, he took 21 checkered flags. He’s the all-time leading race winner in NASCAR’s premier series at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. He also has the most victories in Daytona International Speedway with 34, including winning his Daytona 500 qualifying race 10 consecutive years, the Budweiser Shootout six times, seven races in NASCAR’s second-tier series and the International Race of Champions event six times. Through the years, Earnhardt became the voice of the garage to NASCAR’s management. His concerns became NASCAR’s concerns, and Earnhardt carried NASCAR’s concerns to the garage and race track.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

CURB RECORDS

SALUTES THE NASCAR HALL OF FAME ON ITS GRAND OPENING

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Dale Earnhardt with his Curb Records NASCAR Championship Car

Bobby Allison and Mike Curb next to the Moore/Curb Records Car 4 Victories Including Daytona and Richmond

Johnny Sauter - Winner at Richmond Curb/Agajanian

Kevin Swindell - 2009 Top 10 New Hampshire 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series, East

Bill France Sr. Celebrating Richard Petty’s Historic 200th Victory at Daytona

Dale Jarrett with his Curb NASCAR Grand National Car Top 5/NASCAR Grand National Championship

Jay Sauter - Top 5 Daytona Nationwide Series Curb/Agajanian

Greg Biffle - 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Runner-up at California - Baker/Curb

Richard Petty’s Curb/STP Pontiac Winner at Daytona

Jason Keller - 2009 Top 10 Nationwide Series Baker/Curb

Johnny Sauter - 2009 Winner at Las Vegas Top 10 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Thorsport/Curb/Agajanian

Paulie Harraka - Top 5 NASCAR Camping World West Series Winner at Colorado & California - 2009 2010 K&N Pro Series, West

Dale Earnhardt (right) chats with Bobby Allison before a race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania in 1980. Racing Photo Archives via Getty Images

In addition to setting the standard of excellence in NASCAR’s premier series for more than 20 years, Dale Earnhardt won 21 races in what today is called the NASCAR Nationwide Series. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Kyle Petty, Richard’s son who raced in the NASCAR premier series for the better part of 30 years, credits Earnhardt as the man who changed the sport much like his father and others did in the 1960s and 1970s. While the elder Petty, David Pearson and Cale Yarborough took NASCAR from the short and dirt tracks to the paved superspeedways, Earnhardt helped tug the sport through its move to chassisbuilt cars, rather than stock-type, Detroit-based frames, as well as NASCAR’s second marketing evolution. While Bill France Jr. brought in sponsors eager to capitalize on growing recognition of the sport through series and race-day sponsorships, Earnhardt himself evolved into a marketing brand that rivaled any in sports. Petty believes that as “The Intimidator,” some of Earnhardt’s most important contributions to the sport can’t be measured by the statistics. “Dale was the right guy, at the right place and the right time,” Petty said. “He took the sport from the Richard

To grab the first of 10 victories at Talladega Superspeedway in NASCAR’s premier series, Dale Earnhardt (No. 3) beat Buddy Baker (No. 21) in July 1984 by a little more than a second and a half. The checkered flag also marked Earnhardt’s first win for team owner Richard Childress. Racing Photo Archives via Getty Images

Pettys, the Bobby Allisons and the David Pearsons to the Jeff Gordons and the Jimmie Johnsons. “Richard Petty and David Pearson never cared about being a brand or cultivating and image – they just cared about racing.” While Petty freely admits that drivers gained fame before Earnhardt arrived, his point is that Earnhardt’s peak of success arrived at a time when fans were ready to accessorize themselves with the memorabilia and attire of their favorite driver. In a way, he became to NASCAR what Elvis Presley became to rock ’n’ roll. “What Dale Earnhardt did away from the race track changed the sport,” Petty said. “He was a throwback to those guys on the race track – he drove old school. He didn’t mind laying a fender to you, and he didn’t mind having a fender laid to him. “At the same time, he was able to take the business side and parley it into who he became and the brand he became. Now, so many drivers want to be a brand before they show they can drive a race car.” Richard Childress, who in a deal brokered by Junior Johnson, replaced himself in the driver’s seat with

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Dale Earnhardt’s persona as the “Intimidator” drove the black No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet. In 1990 at Talladega Superspeedway, Earnhardt beat Greg Sacks (No. 18) and Ken Schrader (No. 25.) ISC Archives via Getty Images

Earnhardt midway through the 1981 season, certainly agrees that Earnhardt carried a special quality that can’t be duplicated. “Not only was Dale a great race-car driver and a great champion for the sport, but he was an ambassador,” said Childress, who won six championships in NASCAR’s premier series with Earnhardt behind the wheel. “He carried the sport to a complete different level – from Wall Street to the guy in the factory.” Earnhardt also recognized that his racing legacy, like that of Childress, would extend beyond his days chasing checkered ﬂags. From the tiny company he formed in 1980 to build cars for his races at NASCAR’s second tier, Earnhardt launched a team alongside Childress in the newly formed NASCAR SuperTruck Series in 1995. The series – and the teams – proved to be an instant success. Childress won the ﬁrst series championship in 1995 with Mike Skinner behind the wheel, setting the stage for Skinner’s jump to NASCAR’s top level in 1996. “Dale remains a NASCAR icon – one of the most amazing people that our sport will ever see,” Skinner said.

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In his 20th attempt at the Great American Race, Dale Earnhardt won the 1998 Daytona 500. Having won seven championships at NASCAR’s top level, Earnhardt called the victory as the icing on the cake of his career. David Taylor/Getty Images

Earnhardt’s team won the 1996 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship with Ron Hornaday Jr. at the controls, a feat the team repeated in 1998. That success led to the formation of a full-time team in what today is the NASCAR Nationwide Series. In 1998, Dale Earnhardt Jr. arrived to drive the No. 3 AC Delco Chevrolet to consecutive series championships before moving into NASCAR’s top series to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet, a number campaigned years ago by his grandfather and later his father in NASCAR’s second-tier series. Being the first person on the Dale Earnhardt Inc. payroll nearly 20 years ago, Teresa Earnhardt certainly remembers the humble beginnings and is able to appreciate the finer points of what made her husband a member of the inaugural class for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “Of the many legendary accomplishments and accolades of his career – from the seven championships to the win in the Daytona 500 to the founding of Dale Earnhardt Inc. – this is another defining moment,” Teresa Earnhardt said. “It is the achievement of a lifetime and is celebrated by the millions of Dale Earnhardt fans around the world.”

In his 20th attempt at the Great American Race, a victorious Dale Earnhardt rolls past hundreds of rival crew members who lined pit road to congratulate him after he won the Daytona 500 in February 1998 at Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt is an inaugural inductee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. ISC Archives via Getty Images

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Cheers

Coca-Cola salutes the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame® class: Bill France, Sr. Richard Petty Bill France, Jr. Junior Johnson Dale Earnhardt

No artificial flavors, no added preservatives. Since 1886. ©2010 The Coca-Cola Company. “Coca-Cola,” “open happiness” and the Contour Bottle are registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company. NASCAR® is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.

Known as one of the best restrictor-plate drivers in NASCAR history, Dale Earnhardt (left) shares his secrets of the Talladega Superspeedway draft with his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. These days, Earnhardt Jr. is known as one of the most skilled drivers in the draft. ISC Archives via Getty Images

One of the more recognizable faces from those championship-winning Richard Childress Racing teams is Danny “Chocolate” Myers, who joined Childress’ team in 1969, long before anyone had heard of Dale Earnhardt. As the gas man on Earnhardt’s pit crew, Myers shared in six NASCAR championships and became part of what he’s proud to call his family. “Knowing that Dale is in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the ﬁrst go-round brings a tear to my eye. The fact that all the people at Richard Childress Racing and I had a part in that makes it very emotional,” Myers said. “I’m absolutely certain that Dale Earnhardt would have made it to the NASCAR Hall of Fame regardless of the team around him – he was that special – but I feel blessed to have been part of it.” One of Myers’ favorite recollections is of a race in Richmond, Va., in the early 1980s, when Earnhardt took crew-member duties into his own hands – on the race track. Because heavy rain covered the track earlier in the week, things got messy after a wreck that sent their car through some mud puddles.

Earnhardt wanted to pit to clean the windshield, but Childress nixed the idea, wanting to preserve track position late in the race. That’s when Earnhardt advised everyone that he would be away from the radio for a bit – he unbuckled his seat belt on the track and leaned out the window to clean the windshield with his sleeve. “We didn’t make a pit stop because he did that,” Myers said. “That is the kind of determination we had. We never left the shop thinking that we couldn’t win a race.” Stories like that, as well as many that chronicle the kindness that “The Intimidator” showed – but about which he rarely spoke or allowed to be made public – will be told by fans, teammates and family members for years to come. It ensures his enduring legacy of excellence and refusal to settle for anything less – all part of what made him the “Man in Black” who became loved by all. “For what my dad achieved in this sport – both on and off the track – he certainly earned his place in history and deserves to be distinguished in this inaugural class of NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “It means a lot to the Earnhardt family, and it means a lot to my dad’s fans, of which I am one. He was the man, plain and simple.”

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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Dale Earnhardt’s

NASCAR Hall of Fame Career Driver in NASCAR’s Premier Series Year

Races/Season

Wins

1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 27 Seasons

1/30 2/30 1/30 5/30 27/31 31/31 31/31 30/30 30/30 30/30 28/28 29/29 29/29 29/29 29/29 29/29 29/29 29/29 30/30 31/31 31/31 31/31 32/32 33/33 34/34 34/34 1/36 676

0 0 0 0 1 5 0 1 2 2 4 5 11 3 5 9 4 1 6 4 5 2 0 1 3 2 0 76

Top Fives 0 0 0 1 11 19 9 7 9 12 10 16 21 13 14 18 14 6 17 20 19 13 7 5 7 13 0 281

Top 10s 0 0 0 2 17 24 17 12 14 22 16 23 24 19 19 23 21 15 21 25 23 17 16 13 21 24 0 428

Pole Awards 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 4 0 1 2 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 22

Total Laps 355 416 25 1,359 8,340 9,615 8,134 7,208 7,701 9,584 8,231 9,212 9,043 9,561 9,112 9,162 9,541 8,694 9,787 9,546 9,625 9,530 9,693 9,45 9 9,75 1 10,005 199 202,888

Laps Led 0 0 0 0 605 1,185 300 1,062 1,030 446 1,237 2,126 3,357 1,778 2,735 2,438 1,133 483 1,475 1,013 1,573 614 220 273 230 353 17 25,683

Series Ranking –– 104 118 44 7 1 7 12 8 4 8 1 1 3 2 1 1 12 1 1 2 4 5 8 7 2 57 ––

Average Start 33 20.5 36 21.4 7.7 9 8 10.6 9.2 10.8 9.5 6.9 7.3 10.2 8 5.9 11.1 14.7 9.7 15.3 13.8 14.6 20 26.5 24.8 21.1 7 12.9

Average Finish 22 25 38 11.2 10.7 8.2 13.5 18.8 15.3 9.6 14.7 74. 5.9 8.8 10.3 8 8.6 14.9 8.2 8 9.2 10.6 12.1 16.2 12 9.4 12 11.1

Driver in the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series Year 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 13 Seasons

Races/ Season 9/29 5/35 6/29 6/27 11/31 10/27 14/30 14/29 14/31 13/31 13/31 9/28 12/28 136

Wins 2 2 0 1 5 1 1 0 2 3 1 2 1 21

Top Fives 4 4 2 2 9 4 5 7 8 7 6 4 3 65

Top 10s 4 4 2 2 9 4 7 9 10 9 6 4 5 75

Pole Awards 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 7

Total Laps 909 861 509 795 1756 1168 2000 2028 2651 2142 1990 1097 1300 19,206

Laps Led 42 208 26 138 697 555 294 135 229 540 240 128 78 3,310

Series Ranking 21 31 39 47 25 33 25 25 26 27 23 37 34

Average Start 7.7 4 5.7 4.3 5.5 4.5 11.4 12.6 15.9 12.5 11.5 19.7 17.8 11.3

Average Finish 12.8 5.8 22 18.7 4.9 19 17.1 13.1 10.6 11.2 13.5 20 22.7 14.5

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Driver in the International Race of Champions (Representing NASCAR’s Premier Series) Year

Races/ Season

Wins

Top Fives

Top 10s

Total Laps

Laps Led

Series Ranking

Average Start

Average Finish

1980 1984 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 17 Seasons

1/5 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 3/3 4/4 4/4 3/4 4/4 4/4 3/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 1/4 59

0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 3 1 0 11

0 1 1 2 3 3 1 4 3 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 0 34

1 3 2 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 1 53

50 164 111 130 194 118 129 178 148 174 105 53 207 170 168 168 40 2,307

0 4 0 0 29 60 7 21 44 19 26 3 2 2 26 32 15 290

–– 9 10 5 4 1 9 2

7 4.5 8.2 7 7 7.7 3.2 10 8 8.8 8.5 9.3 6.2 7.2 10.2 9.2 1 7.5

7 7.8 8.5 5.8 4.2 2.3 8.5 3.2 3.3 4.2 5.2 6.7 6.8 6.5 2.8 2.2 7 5.3

4 1 8 7 7 1 1 –– ––

Car Owner in NASCAR’s Premier Series Races

Wins

Top Fives

Top 10s

Pole Awards

Total Laps

Robby Gordon

206

Jeff Green

38.5

Steve Park

1,037

30.5

Steve Park

4,596

29.8

28.4

1998

Darrell Waltrip

3,597

25.6

18.8

1999

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

1,363

14.4

21.4

1999

Steve Park

9,5 75

166

20.6

2000

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

9,645

426

14.6

20.9

2000

Steve Park

9,925

289

17.1

2001

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

200

––

Year

Driver

1996 1996 1997 1998

Laps Led

Series Rank

Average Start

Average Finish

2001

Steve Park

177

––

2001

Kenny Wallace

184

––

2001

Michael Waltrip

6 Years

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200

––

148

40,796

939

––

20.9

21.1

Car Owner in the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series Year

Driver

Races

Wins

1984 1985 1985 1986 1987 1988 1988 1989 1989 1990 1991 1992 1992 1993 1993 1994 1994 1994 1995 1996 1996 1996 1997 1997 1998 1999 1999 2000 17 Years

Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt Jody Ridley Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt Kenny Wallace Dale Earnhardt Michael Waltrip Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt David Bonnett Dale Earnhardt Neil Bonnett Dale Earnhardt Dale Earnhardt Andy Petree Michael Waltrip Jeff Green Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Green Steve Park Dale Earnhardt Jr. Steve Park Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ron Hornaday Jr. Ron Hornaday Jr.

3 6 1 11 10 14 1 13 1 14 13 1 12 1 9 12 1 2 26 1 26 1 6 30 31 32 3 32 282

0 1 0 5 1 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 6 0 2 35

Top Fives 1 2 0 9 4 5 0 6 0 8 7 0 6 0 4 3 0 1 6 0 5 0 0 12 16 18 0 6 119

Top 10s 1 2 0 9 4 7 0 8 1 10 9 1 6 0 4 5 0 1 12 0 13 0 1 20 22 22 1 13 172

Pole Awards 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 3 0 0 15

Total Laps 331 795 91 1,756 1,168 2,000 149 1,828 197 2,651 2,142 200 1,690 84 1,097 1,300 295 219 4,691 249 4,557 117 662 5,839 6,055 6,231 475 6,251 53,120

Laps Led 23 138 0 654 555 293 0 127 0 229 540 0 150 0 128 78 0 1 345 0 112 0 0 477 1,615 725 98 246 6,534

Series Rank 39 47 86 25 33 25 74 25 23 26 27 76 23 106 37 34 79 41 5 77 4 91 47 3 1 1 68 5 ––

Average Start 5.3 4.3 12 5.5 4.5 11.4 26 13.2 13 15.9 12.5 12 12.3 4 19.7 17.8 27 15.5 12.2 7 16 13 17 13.7 10.1 8.7 23.3 17.9 12.8

Average Finish 20.3 18.7 29 4.9 19 17.1 11 13.8 7 10.6 11.2 9 13.6 35 20 22.7 16 21.5 14.5 14 16.2 29 25.3 11 10.1 9.9 17.3 15 4. 14

Car Owner in the NASCAR Craftsman (now Camping World) Truck Series

Year

Driver

Races

Wins

1995 1995 1995 1996 1996 1997 1997 1998 1999 5 Years

Dennis Dyer David Green Ron Hornaday Jr. Ron Hornaday Jr. Steve Park Ron Hornaday Jr. Steve Park Ron Hornaday Jr. Ron Hornaday Jr.

1 1 20 24 1 26 1 27 25 126

0 0 6 4 0 7 0 6 2 25

Top Fives 0 0 10 18 0 13 0 16 7 64

Top 10s 0 1 14 23 0 17 0 22 16 93

Pole Awards 0 0 4 3 0 3 0 2 0 12

Total Laps 0 124 2,985 4,534 175 4,436 184 4,902 4,169 21,509

Laps Led 0 0 944 833 0 1,213 0 882 943 4,815

Series Rank 94 74 3 1 50 5 111 1 7 ––

Average Start 26 8 6 7.3 28 7.9 4 8.1 8.2 7.9

Average Finish 26 9 74. 4.5 15 11.3 25 7.2 10.9 8.7

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Big Bill William H.G. France By Ken Willis

Contrary to what some may think, stock-car racing wasn’t invented by William Henry Getty France. No, what “Big Bill” did was much more difﬁcult: He organized stock-car racing. Anyone thinking that sounds like little more than bookkeeping and scheduling has no recollection of just how messy things were in the sport before December 1947. Even for a man standing 6-foot-5, it proved to be a tall order. Convincing a gaggle of Carolina farmers,

The business card Bill France carried in the 1940s shows the humble beginnings of a man who became the visionary who founded NASCAR in Daytona Beach in 1948. ISC Archives via Getty Images Standing 6-foot 5-inches tall, Bill France convinced drivers more than 60 years ago that the sport needed a guiding force to ensure long-term success. Today, millions of fans enjoy the spectacle that is NASCAR at race tracks across America. AP Photo/Pete Wright

mill workers and ridge runners that deals would be honored and rules would be enforced took a lot more than simple talk — the racers had heard all that from others.

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Bill France surveys Daytona International Speedway in 1965, six years after building the two-and-a-half-mile marvel that includes 31-degree banking in the turns – standing at the bottom, Daytona’s banked turns reach two stories high. Walter Looss Jr./Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

Bill France, shown in the driver’s seat of a Model T-based sprinter at a track in Maryland in 1931, raced early open-wheel cars long before he embraced the future with full-bodied stock cars. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Bill France sits at the head of the table as NASCAR’s early leaders meet in the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach to discuss details of what would become the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Those seated include (from left to right): Bob Richards, Freddie Horton, Jack Peters, Ed Bruce, Chick DiNatale, Harvey Tattersall Jr., Tom Galan, Alvin Hawkins, Bill Tuthill, Bill France, Mildred Ayres, Joe Littlejohn, Jimmy Cox, Eddie Bland, Joe Ross, Sam Packard, Bill Streeter, Lucky Sauer. Standing (from left to right) are: Larry Roller, Fred Dagavar, Bob Osiecki, Jimmy Quisenberry, Ed Samples and Marshall Teague. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Wherever someone could cobble together a race track (sometimes literally), as well as a group of heavy-footed hot-rodders who believed he and his car were faster than all comers, they could put together a race. The lack of organization might have had its charms, but much of the fun would be forgotten when the haphazard nature of the adventure began draining wallets. It was one thing to be willing to race for small amounts of cash, but quite another to look up at day’s end and realize that even those few bucks had disappeared along with the latest fly-bynight promoter. When “Big Bill” France brought together a cross-section of the racing population in late 1947, and gathered them in the top-floor lounge of Daytona Beach’s Streamline Hotel on A1A, it didn’t take long before talk turned to above-board accounting.

“What we discussed was getting money put in the bank before a race, so the promoter couldn’t skip out on us,” a Rhode Island racer named Sam Packard once recalled. “That seemed to be one of the main problems we were having. We’d get done running somewhere, and the promoter would skip town with the money. It happened to me several times.” When those meetings ended, the seeds of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing were planted. And, one thing was obvious: Bill France, the large man with the large plan — equal parts mechanic, race-car driver and dreamer — stood at the helm of the racing co-op. And, he cultivated his NASCAR crop toward growth that no one else could have imagined. These days, it’s easy to see with even a brief look around at a modern speedway on a NASCAR weekend. The bright colors, sparkling facilities and large crowds are the ﬁrst clues to Big Bill’s vision. The details are found in observing the choreography of a pre-race show, organized

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to the very second when, exactly on time, the command is given to start the engines. The drama is witnessed as the race cars turn lap after lap after lap, bumper-to-bumper, and often times, side-by-side. None of it happened by accident or dumb luck. Big Bill France had a deep belief that he knew what race fans wanted — loud, fast and, most of all, close competition. He also knew, first-hand, what race-car drivers wanted — an organized race with a guaranteed prize purse. Beginning in 1948, he spent the next two-plus decades pointing NASCAR in a direction that tested and proved his beliefs. “He had a very broad understanding of our business,” said Chris Economaki, the dean of American motorsports journalism. “He really had wide-angle perception. He could see when something looked good in the middle but was bad on the sides. He was also very convinced of his plans, that they were correct. He was an outstanding guy, no two ways about that.” For all his vision and energy, there was no way France could’ve made it happen without help, and if you have a conversation of any length with one of Bill France’s old confidants, it never takes long before you hear about the contributions of his wife, Anne Bledsoe France — “Annie B.” She kept the books and, perhaps just as importantly, provided a steadying influence. They were the perfect combination for such a tall task. “She was more on the conservative side, from an administration standpoint and day-to-day operation,” the couple’s first-born son, Bill Jr., once said. “On the other hand, as far as vision, I put him up against anybody.” Banking on the Future As for that famous vision, it may have best been put to use on a winter day in 1953, when Big Bill met a couple of fellow Daytona Beach men on the west side of town, alongside the airport, where they stood on ragged swampland. It was there that a city engineer named Charlie Moneypenny told Bill

France: “I think you should build your track here.” France knew, in order to keep NASCAR’s headquarters and its marquee event — the annual February series of races — in Daytona Beach, a new race track was a must. It didn’t exactly take a visionary to see that the future was limited for automobile races that employed a combination of beach and A1A blacktop. And that’s when Big Bill France began developing the other half of his life’s equation, a speedwayowning and speedway-operating business that became the International Speedway Corporation. It began with Daytona International Speedway, which, without Bill France’s boundless energy and enthusiasm, wouldn’t have begun at all. Dan Warren, a longtime Daytona Beach attorney, was a city commissioner in the 1950s, during the early stages of France’s attempt to get the speedway built. He was assigned to work as the city’s liaison for the effort, and it didn’t take long before he realized he was riding shotgun with a very unique individual. “The most amazing man I ever met in my life,” says Warren, who also labeled Big Bill the “most unusual person” he’d ever encountered. “...He used to say, ‘Everything is gonna be all right.’ He was an extreme optimist. He had the drive and patience and intelligence to do it.” It helped tremendously that France was the epitome of a “people person.” “He was a lot of fun to be around,” says Jim Hunter, a longtime NASCAR lieutenant and current vice president in charge of the organization’s communications. “People liked being around him. He’d sing; he was a great storyteller. He could be the life of the party, and he was the life of the party.” The personality and manner that acted as a magnet for good times in social settings also served France well in business discussions and negotiations. He also had a knack for making everyone around him believe they were having the most important conversations in the world. “There was never any class distinctions in his view,” Economaki said. “Big and small, heavy and light, he had time for you.” France and Warren criss-crossed the country, mostly looking for funding. France barked up many trees until, ﬁnally, it

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

NASCAR founder and President Bill France strolls down pit road before a race at Daytona International Speedway in 1968. Eric Schweikardt

became obvious he’d have to do it the hard way. He secured a $600,000 loan from Texas oilman Clint Murchison. He formed the International Speedway Corporation and sold enough shares (most at $1 apiece) to net $300,000. Finally, he and Anne added $100,000 from their own savings. A speedway that today would cost in the hundreds of millions would be built for “just” $1 million. France succeeded where most wouldn’t have— then the hard part began: building a two-and-a-half mile race track with high-banked turns of 31 degrees. “He worked a deal with the county to let him use their earth-moving equipment,” Warren said. “He’d use their equipment to do the land-clearing stuff. It was a community project, even though it would be built with private funds.” Track construction became an all-consuming effort in 1958. Big Bill had committed to leaving the beach and staging Daytona International Speedway’s inaugural “Speedweeks”

in February 1959, so although it looked totally impossible at times, he had no choice but to make it happen. Some days, as the money was running out, were worse than others. “There were many days when we couldn’t meet payroll,” Bill France Jr., who served on the construction crew, once recalled. “He figured it out, got some cash from somewhere. He was like a bulldog as far as getting something done. If he hit one dead end, he’d go down another alley.” Perseverance may have been the key ingredient in getting the famous track built, but other factors arose to make the first Daytona 500 successful. First, there was the meteorological magic that came to be known as “Bill France Weather.” “Now, the big day arrives in 1959,” Warren remembers, “and Bill told me, ‘If the race had been rained out, we were bankrupt.’ That’s how close it was.” Then came the checkered flag to end all checkered flags. In future years, such things would come to be known as the “typical Daytona finish.” In 1959, however, it was mostly

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After more than 20 years as the guiding inﬂuence of NASCAR, “Big Bill” France hands over the reins of leadership to his son, Bill France Jr., in 1972. ISC Archives via Getty Images

known as chaos. And Big Bill, to no one’s surprise, took full advantage of it. Johnny Beauchamp was awarded the trophy after that first Daytona 500, having arrived at the finish line a whisker ahead of Lee Petty. Or did he? Before long, the whole thing was very much in question, and in a move that, alone, would get Bill France notice as a promoter, Big Bill put out a nationwide call for anyone with definitive photographic proof of who arrived first at the checkers. Three days later, after playing it for all it was worth, Big Bill had a winner — Lee Petty — and years before the moniker became a household phrase, the “Great American Race” was born. Landing the Big Three With a great new race track and a growing NASCAR organization that had worked through its growing pains, the 1960s became the decade during which Big Bill France’s young racing circuit became a full-fledged player on the national auto racing stage. It helped to have stars, of course, and men like Red Byron, Fireball Roberts and, by mid-decade, Richard Petty, fit the bill. But a potentially powerful ship is little more than an empty shell without a capable and, when necessary, imaginative helmsman. Through his nurturing of the competition and promoting of events, France had the groundwork, but the sport never would’ve taken off and become a viable commercial enterprise without Big Bill’s successful courting of Detroit’s big automakers. The budding relationship between Bill France and Detroit was necessary from a business standpoint, but according to some in the garage, a “necessary evil” at times. In years to come, it became routine for some to wonder where the business interests overlapped into the competitive interests, and it all started with Bill Sr. “I have to be honest, I know people who bumped heads with him,” said Dr. Joe Mattioli, longtime owner of Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, just off Interstate 80 about 85 miles west of New York City.

Mattioli, you soon discover, isn’t one of those people. The Bill France fan club will never disappear as long as Joe Mattioli is around. “What do they say? ‘There’s a time to live and a time to die?’” Mattioli said. “I think Big Bill’s time was to get this thing started. He was the typical John Wayne-type guy. Go to the races, count the money … a backroom guy. I know people who have bumped heads with him, who had different ideas... I know there are people who had business controversies, but I never met anyone who didn’t like him. There are some around who are of that ilk.” Some three decades ago, Mattioli met with France to discuss troubles he was having with his big Pocono track. They met at a New York City cocktail lounge and, though they may not have saved the world’s troubles, they sure solved Mattioli’s. “He saved my tail,” says Mattioli. “I told him my problem, and he told me how to cure it. I told him another problem, and he told me how to solve that, too. He set up a meeting for me with the Secretary of Transportation in Washington, because I had a problem in that area... Some of the things he told me didn’t work, but most of them did. We started getting big crowds, and it worked.” As they sat there that day, Big Bill took out a business card, ﬂipped it over and scribbled a verse he’d long found inspiring. This was one of Big Bill’s favorite sayings: On the plains of hesitation bleach the bones of countless millions … Who, at the Dawn of Victory, sat and waited. And waiting, died. “The only secret to his success I can tell you is, he was a beautiful man,” Mattioli says. “When a man calls another man beautiful, that tells you something. He was great in everything he did, whether he was talking to the shoeshine man on a street or the President of the United States. He was just one man — Bill France.” Ken Willis is a longtime sports reporter and columnist for The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

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BILL JR. William C. France By Ken Willis

Your father is the leader of a successful venture, and you’re handed the keys in your late-30s. Imagine how easy it would be to simply take the baton, fall into a prescribed pace and maintain the straight and narrow. If William Clifton France had been what so many ﬁgured him to be, that’s how it would’ve played out. Instead, “Bill Jr.,” as he was called (though, technically, he was not junior – the man known as “Big Bill” was named William Henry Getty France), certainly blazed a whole new trail. If his father took stock-car racing

Bill France Jr.’s insights into what would please fans is what set him apart from the top men in nearly every other sport. ISC Archives via Getty Images

from dirt to asphalt, Bill Jr. took it to the superhighways and beyond.

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Shown with a walkie-talkie in 1972, Bill France Jr. became the commander of race day for NASCAR. People say his ability to react when things didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go quite as planned was unrivaled â&#x20AC;&#x201C; he knew what to do, how to do it and made sure people followed instructions. ISC Archives via Getty Images

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When it came time to work, Bill France Jr. literally dug right in whenever needed, including driving a grader during construction of Daytona International Speedway in 1958. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Bill Jr. often quoted his father when asked why he and his team never seemed to take a break to rest on assorted laurels. “Nothing stays the same,” he said. “You either get bigger or you get smaller. Our aim is to get bigger. The alternative isn’t attractive.” From as far back as Bill Jr. could remember, NASCAR was growing – though, in his youth, at a slower pace and through humble means. “A bootstrap operation,” he called the early NASCAR. But, it was growing nonetheless. He was 14 when his pioneering father first began forming the organization. Bill Jr. held every job imaginable (and every job that became necessary) through his teenage and young-adult years, and eventually became part of the construction crew that laid out his father’s showcase race track, Daytona International Speedway. He continued in various facets of the operation through the 1960s and, in January 1972, at a relatively young age of 38, he became president of NASCAR as his father left day-to-day oversight to focus on the budding International Speedway Corporation.

There were plenty who had their doubts. “Big Bill” was such an imposing figure, it would have been difficult for anybody this side of John Wayne to enter that job with the requisite amount of respect. But, for the son of the boss, a guy who few really knew, it truly seemed like “Big Bill” had thrown the “kid” in the deep spot of a pond and simply hoped he wouldn’t drown. Many had their doubts. “Very definitely,” veteran driver Donnie Allison said. “There was a lot of skepticism, mainly because Bill Jr. never said anything. He was visible, but not vocal. But we learned quick that he was capable.” “Capable” may be one of the great understatements in the history of American business, and certainly in the world of sports. “He blazed so many trails for our sport,” said Mike Helton, who Bill Jr. appointed as NASCAR’s third president in 2000. “He was determined to follow the vision of his father, while also expanding on that vision. Over nearly four decades, he did a masterful job.” Bill France Jr. not only proved capable, he was in many ways the model of corporate foresight. No, he wasn’t his father. In so many ways, he actually surpassed Big

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Bill France Jr. (second from right) stands for a photo with Dale Earnhardt (to France’s right) and the silver No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet that Earnhardt drove in the 1996 NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. With them are T. Wayne Robertson (left) and Richard Childress. Dozier Mobley/Getty Images

Bill. Unlike his father, who would often get things done through sheer force of will and personality, Bill Jr. was more calculated – not only worried about the immediate ramiﬁcations, but always deciphering how today’s decision would affect tomorrow’s and the next day’s. But always, without fail, willing and able to solve a problem in the most economical manner. “The most pragmatic man I ever met,” is how longtime NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter always describes him. The Original Ticket Master “Little Bill,” as many knew him, was a mere infant when his parents packed up their belongings and moved to Daytona Beach in 1934. His father’s infatuation with cars and speed made the hard-packed sands of Daytona Beach a natural destination. Throughout Bill Jr.’s youth, his father was ﬁxing cars at his garage, racing cars here and there, and eventually working to

make the whole “hobby” into a worthwhile organization. And, once the organizing took place, Bill Jr. became part of the team. It wasn’t necessarily glamorous. One of Bill Jr.’s first NASCAR duties began with the very first NASCAR “Strickly Stock” race, at an old threequarter-mile dirt track in Charlotte in 1949. Bill Jr. was given the job of parking cars and guarding the fences, making sure no one got in without first passing by the ticket booth. “I remember we had a big crowd that day, and a lot of people trying to climb the fence,” he once said. Later in life, one of his main goals involved getting as many people into a race track as possible. Much different than long ago, when he was trying to keep them out – unless they’d first paid for a ticket, of course. “There were two or three of us out there, holding on to their legs, pulling them back down from the fence,” he said. A short while later, Harold Brasington formed Darlington Raceway with more than a mile of asphalt and a wedge

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Bill France Jr. had a knack for communicating with people. From the captains of U.S. industry to the camper in the inﬁeld at a race track, he was able to exchange ideas with people. ISC Archives via Getty Images

of land. Already well versed in parking and security details, Bill Jr. moved into the concession business at Darlington during the first running of the Southern 500 in 1950 – selling snow cones to the scorching fans in the Darlington infield. At another Carolina track during this same period, France learned an early lesson about pragmatism. It was another hot day, and France and a friend were selling ice in the infield. Then they ran out. “We ran out of ice, so we started selling water,” he said. “There was a spring not far away, and we had this 5-gallon milk bucket we’d dip down in the spring. We sold it for 15 cents, all you can drink. We were on the ‘cutting edge.’” After his “career in concessions,” Bill Jr. became a key part of a very rudimentary marketing team for NASCAR. No, it wasn’t anything resembling what modern advertising corporations might consider a marketing campaign, but it was marketing nonetheless.

Well known for getting around the NASCAR garages to chat, NASCAR President Bill France Jr. spends a little time in 1973 with drivers at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. ISC Archives via Getty Images

“We couldn’t get anything in the newspapers, and there wasn’t any television,” France recalled several years ago. “Our main source of advertising was billboards. We’d have a race in Orlando, and we’d go over and put posters in the gas-station windows, use bumper strips, put cards on the telephone poles. The power company would go crazy, because they didn’t want us putting staples in the poles. “In the Carolinas, we would put sheets up on tobacco barns. We’d use three or four sheets, with some water and paste. If the wind wasn’t blowing too hard, I could put one up in three or four minutes. Let it dry for an hour, and it’d be on there, damn near forever. “Sometimes,” he continued, “I think it was a lot more fun back then. This sport has been bootstrapped up to where it is now – a lot of work, a lot of private capital. (But) it’s like anything else, you don’t want to go back.” Minding His Business Bill Jr. only used “yesterday” when necessary to draw on

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President Ronald Reagan (left) joined Richard Petty (center) and NASCAR President Bill France Jr. for festivities at Daytona International Speedway leading up to Petty’s 200th career victory on Independence Day. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Bill France Jr. smiles at passing fans as he participates in pre-season events at Daytona International Speedway in 1998. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Bill France Jr. is remembered as a master of making his point, as well as instructions, in a way other leaders envy. Photo by George Tiedemann/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

experience or prove a point. Helton always said it was like working with a walking, talking Library of Congress – if you ever needed to know how something in the racing business reached a certain point, Bill Jr. could walk you through the issue from its very beginning. But without a doubt, his main focus was always “today,” and how decisions made today affect things that have to be decided tomorrow. That soon became clear after he took over the reins of NASCAR from his father in 1972. Regardless of how it is characterized in the annals of motorsports, Bill Jr.’s guidance and leadership drove NASCAR to become the undisputed king of North American auto racing. In what would’ve seemed extremely far-fetched when Big Bill gathered together a group atop the Streamline Hotel in 1947, the head of NASCAR would become the most powerful and important man in American motorsports.

To hear Bill Jr. explain the business model, however, you’d sometimes think you were talking to a guy from a downtown manufacturing plant. “Anybody that lets their product get away from them, it affects them on the business side,” he said. “If you quit making good widgets, there will come a time when you’re not selling any widgets. It may not happen the ﬁrst month, but it’ll eventually catch you.” Of course, NASCAR wasn’t selling “widgets,” it sells competition. Still, the product is key, and although he passed away in 2007, his words resonate today. Perhaps, those words are more relevant today than ever in light of rules changes NASCAR announced in January. They focus on increasing competition and allowing the drivers on the race track to sort out things themselves – to a point, of course. “In the end, what drives NASCAR is the competition end,” he said. “The competition side has to drive it. So, if there’s a conﬂict between the business side and the competition side, the competition side will win.”

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That is not to say that he simply ensured great racing and relied on the masses to inch their way toward him. As the drivers and teams took care of the competition on the track, Bill Jr. and the front-office team he assembled were also quite competitive on the playing fields of corporate America. The picture at the top was often one of contrast. Bill Jr. was often found at lunchtime wheeling down the road to a favorite grill-and-pub, where he’d have his all-time favorite meal: A hot dog. Over lunch, he might recount a recent joke or tell a story involving current events, occasionally employing the type of colorful vocabulary that could be found on loading docks and pool halls. That same Bill Jr. was up every morning before daybreak, reading at least three newspapers before reporting to the office, preparing himself for a day of conversations with everyone from concessionaires and airport attendants to reporters and the most powerful businessmen in the country. Even as he got deep into his 60s and, in 2000, stepped aside as NASCAR president, he always remained up on the newest technology, including just about every pocket gadget that came along during the cyber-information age. And, when it came to the give-and-take of the corporate

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world, he was savvy enough to gather as much leverage as possible, and competitive enough to use it. That became clear during the last major maneuver of his tenure – the securing of a network television contract that began in 2001. Some were upset that longtime NASCAR partners were left out of the new deal. “A lot of the people, when you’re negotiating a new deal with them, they’ll say, ‘This is it, we can’t make any money if we go beyond that,’” he once explained. “Then, two weeks later, you read that they just did a new baseball deal or hockey deal. What are we supposed to do, just sit around? When we’ve had the ratings to justify where we’re at? “The dollar-and-cent world, for better or worse … the fact you’ve been there for 30 years doesn’t make a difference any more,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. We didn’t write those rules. But, by the same token, we can’t sit there with our heads in the sand and get our ass kicked every time we turn around.” Ken Willis is a longtime sports reporter and columnist for The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

AMERICAN HERO Junior Johnson By Godwin Kelly

More than 45 years ago, renowned writer Tom Wolfe crafted a timeless truth in a piece of “New Journalism” for Esquire magazine: “Junior Johnson is a modern hero, all involved with car culture and car symbolism in the South. A wild new thing.” Fully comprehending the contributions of a “hero” or legend is an exercise founded in the details – discovering the essence of a man that most observers overlook. It was the early 1980s and a NASCAR car owner, Robert Glenn Johnson Jr., or Junior for short, begged his sponsor to let him hire a driver with special talents, not only a gift for

Junior Johnson climbs into a race car to drive in a Legends UARA Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2009. John Harrelson/Getty Images Junior Johnson, shown in a 1965 photo, made only 313 starts as a driver at NASCAR’s top level. He won 50 of those races. Walter Looss Jr./Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

wheeling a stock car, but the ﬁre and enthusiasm to be one of the sport’s all-time greats. Dale Earnhardt, who had won the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 1980 a year after winning the series

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Rookie of the Year award, needed a new opportunity to finish out the 1981 season. Johnson very much wanted him as a driver, but it never happened. “(My sponsor) did not particularly like Dale’s profile,” Johnson said. “He was outspoken. And, they kind of shied away from him.” So Johnson did some horse-trading and helped match Earnhardt with struggling young car owner, Richard Childress. “Richard was having a lot of problems, you know, financially, and mechanical people and stuff of that nature,” Johnson said. “So I asked Earnhardt, I says, ‘If I go get Richard to quit driving and put you in his car, will you accept it? And, I’ll help you.’ That’s how the whole thing evolved from that point on.” The “whole thing” was that Earnhardt and Childress reunited in 1984 – after Earnhardt spent two years driving the No. 15 Ford for Bud Moore – and their No. 3 Chevrolet quickly became a stock-car juggernaut. As Earnhardt developed into the bigger-than-life sports hero (“The Intimidator”), they won six championships between 1986 and 1994. “It was good for Richard, and it was good for me because I did great with my drivers, Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip,” Johnson said. “Richard won six championships and I won my six, so nobody got hurt in the deal. Both of us were successful at what we did.” Throughout an amazing career as a driver then car owner, some of Johnson’s most stealthy but ultra-significant contributions to the sport are overlooked like in 1971 helping bring R.J. Reynolds Tobacco as title sponsor to what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. When Johnson heard that RJR could not advertise its Winston or Camel cigarette brands on television or radio, he went to Winston-Salem, N.C., looking for sponsorship dollars. He met with marketing director Ralph Seagraves. “He came to me about sponsoring his car,” Seagraves told The Daytona Beach News-Journal in 1997. “Back then, it was something like $1,000 to sponsor a car. I thought we should do something bigger, get more involved. We wanted to sponsor a whole series.”

Seagraves passed away the following year, but his legacies – and ties with Johnson – remain to this day. From 1971 until 2003, RJR provided millions of marketing dollars in NASCAR, and the sport became a national pastime. “Dad was always so proud of where NASCAR came from to what it became,” said Colbert Seagraves, Ralph’s son. “He and the Frances (NASCAR founder “Big Bill” France and son Bill France Jr.) saw the vision.” This innovation and creative thinking started when Junior Johnson, who grew up in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and learned to drive fast on the back roads of Wilkes County, N.C., discovered the “draft” at Daytona International Speedway. It helped him win the 1960 Daytona 500 in a car Johnson admitted was slower than the frontrunners. Johnson realized if you stay close enough behind a faster car, your slower car could keep up. Car builder and engine wizard Ray Fox built a ride for Johnson in less than 10 days. Johnson won the race by dogging the leaders lap after lap and using the “sling-shot pass,” which allowed Johnson to take advantage of horsepower the frontrunners had to expend to punch a whole in clean air. Aerodynamics ruling NASCAR garages to this day are the result of an innovative strategy used then. Johnson developed his driving skills by helping his father avoid meetings with local lawmen. The passenger cars driven by Johnson and others of the era were reengineered passenger cars with super-tuned engines and trick suspensions that allowed them to cover a lot of ground in a real hurry. It was these men of unusual skill who helped develop the stock-car racing concept. They raced each other to see who had the fastest sedan. The losers would go look for more horsepower and fabricate better suspension parts. Some of these ridge runners, like Johnson, eventually made their way into organized races. Junior Johnson made his first NASCAR Grand National start in 1953, finishing 38th at Darlington Raceway. Just two years later, at 24 years old, Johnson competed in 36 of 45 races, won five times and finished sixth in the season-ending standings. Unfortunately, the law caught up to Johnson in 1956, so he spent time away from NASCAR

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Junior Johnson waves from the driver’s seat of his race car before a race. Johnson was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. ISC Archives via Getty Images)

Junior Johnson (right) and car owner Ray Fox celebrate winning the 1960 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Johnson admits to this day that he didn’t have the fastest race car that day, but he ﬁgured out how to use the draft to slingshot past other cars after following closely behind them and decreasing wind resistance. ISC Archives via Getty Images

until late 1957. President Ronald Reagan pardoned Johnson in 1986 for those indiscretions. Johnson roared back to competition in 1958, winning six times in 27 starts. The following year, he won ﬁve more races. Despite 16 career victories, Johnson had little or no name recognition because his triumphs were at small dirt tracks that didn’t attract much national press. All that changed in February 1960, when the owner of the Daytona Beach Kennel Club, John Masoni, pushed a pile of cash toward Fox, who built a Chevrolet stock car from a 1959 passenger car in seven days. Masoni wanted a car in the Daytona 500 ﬁeld to advertise his venture and entice gaming patrons. In his biography, Fox says Masoni initially offered him $7,000. “I said ‘No’ and hung up the phone.” The dog track owner called back. “They said, ‘Whatever you usually charge, we’ll double it.’ And they did. And I took the offer.”

Junior Johnson poses on Daytona Beach with his No. 55 B&L Motors 1955 Oldsmobile before a race along the Atlantic shoreline. The clutch in the car failed that day, relegating him to a 35th-place ﬁnish. Don O’Reilly/Dozier Mobley/Getty Images

Despite Fox’s skill as a mechanic, he admits the rush job to ﬁeld an entry for the second annual Daytona Beach 500 left him with an empty feeling. As he says in his biography, “The morning of the race, I was thinking we didn’t have a chance in hell to win.” After accepting the hurried deal to enter the Great American Race, Fox had to sweet talk Johnson into taking the ride. In two previous outings at Daytona Beach, on the famed Beach-Road Course along the Atlantic Ocean, Johnson had not faired well. Johnson got to know Fox when he would bring his Carolina ridge-running cars to Florida so Fox could tweak the engines and tune the carburetors. “He was a fast driver,” Fox said about Johnson in his book. “I knew he could make the car do the best it could.” After ﬁguring out how to ride in the draft, Johnson’s tactic actually sucked the back window out of the race leader –

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After winning his ﬁrst NASCAR premier series championship in 1981, his ﬁrst year with Junior Johnson’s Mountain Dew team, Darrell Waltrip (right) repeated the next year with a late-season rally. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Junior Johnson, shown with his headset on during the 1981 season, became a famous car owner after ending his career as a driver in 1966. His posture on pit road with one foot propped up on the wall is legend. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Smokey Yunick’s No. 3 Pontiac driven by Bobby Johns. After Johns lost his rear glass panel, Johnson led the last nine laps of the 1960 Daytona 500. The margin of victory was a whopping 23 seconds. That race marked the first anecdote in the legend of Junior Johnson, and it grew like a Macy’s helium-filled parade balloon on Thanksgiving Day. By the middle of the 1960s, Johnson had become a nationally known sports figure and a certified southern icon. As Wolfe wrote in 1965, “...the hardest of all the hard chargers, one of the fastest automobile racing drivers in history – yes! Junior Johnson. “The legend of Junior Johnson! In this legend, here is a country boy, Junior Johnson … grows up to be a famous stock-car racing driver... respected, solid, idolized in his hometown and throughout the rural South, for that matter.” A year later, Johnson retired as a race-car driver. He was only 35. Johnson won 50 races in NASCAR’s premier series, but never a championship. Johnson wasn’t done racing,

Car owner Junior Johnson holds the trophy for Darrell Watrip’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the inaugural running of the NASCAR All-Star Race in 1985. ISC Archives via Getty Images

just done driving race cars. He took all that engineering knowledge that he learned from Fox and others and started his own race team. The shop was near his house in Ronda, North Carolina. The one lesson he learned as a driver was pretty simple: As a general rule, the driver can’t win a race unless he has a fast, dependable race car under him. When Johnson started building cars, he strived for perfection. “A driver cannot drive a bad car,” Johnson said. “He’s got to have a fast car, a good car, then a good driver. If you have that, it’s a success. A driver can’t carry that car.” The standing joke about Johnson was that he helped write the NASCAR rule book year after year, because as an innovative mechanical genius, he would define the gray areas of NASCAR’s guidelines. In other words, he would find ways to make his race cars better that were not necessarily against the rules. Legend has it that NASCAR officials then tweaked the rules to stop whatever Johnson did to make his cars faster than everybody else’s.

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Junior Johnson awaits the start of his Legends UARA Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2009. John Harrelson/Getty Images

During the voting meeting to select the inaugural class of inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Junior Johnson believed that every one of the 25 nominees deserved the distinction. Getty Images for NASCAR

It took a few years for Junior Johnson Racing to become a force in stock-car racing, but once it got there, it rolled like a boulder down a hill. The Johnson era began in 1969 when his driver, LeeRoy Yarbrough, won seven superspeedway races, including a sweep of Daytona International Speedway’s races. Johnson’s team hit full stride in 1976 when driver Cale Yarborough became unstoppable. From that season through 1978, Yarborough won 28 of 90 races and three consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup championships. When Yarborough left the team, Johnson hired Darrell Waltrip to wheel his No. 11 car, and they had the same mountain of success. Waltrip captured three NASCAR championships between the 1981 and 1985. Johnson left racing after the 1995 season to spend time on his farm and with his family. Fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural Inductee Richard Petty explained the move. “Time moves on,” Petty said. “Basically time has moved on from Petty, Earnhardt, the Wood Brothers, Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, you name it. They came in, they did their thing and they went on their way.” The Johnson Racing totals are impressive. His cars made 1,049 starts and produced 132 victories. His drivers also

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During the celebration of the 50th Daytona 500, Junior Johnson poses with the special golden Harley J. Earl Trophy given to the winner of the race – Ryan Newman won it in 2008. The trophy is normally silver. Marc Serota/Getty Images for NASCAR

posted 577 top-10 ﬁnishes. “You either win or lose, and I didn’t like to lose,” said Johnson, who was notorious for his Monday morning team meetings if his team lost Sunday. “I was pretty furious when it came to business.” Johnson may have thought he was done with racing, but racing isn’t quite done with him. There’s a teenage kid getting a lot of buzz in the racing community in western North Carolina. His name is Robert Glenn Johnson III – some might call him Junior’s Junior. “Junior called me about a month ago. He said, ‘You gotta come up. You gotta come up Tuesday night and see Robert,’” said Humpy Wheeler, the former president of Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Well, I never thought a Robert Johnson would ever be in a race car again. I went up to Friendship Speedway in Elkin (N.C.) to watch Robert, and I thought, ‘Well, here we go again.’” Godwin Kelly has been the Motorsports Editor at The Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal in Florida since 1982.

Junior Johnson’s

NASCAR Hall of Fame Career Driver in NASCAR Grand National Year

Races/ Season

Wins

Top Fives

Top 10s

Pole Awards

Total Laps

Laps Led

Series Ranking

Average Start

Average Finish

1953

1/37

222

––

1954

4/37

535

1955

36/45

4,620

790

74.

12.2

1956

13/56

1,131

10.8

21.1

1957

1/53

102

154

1958

27/51

4,244

317

8.7

1959

28/44

4,433

166

13.1

10.9

1960

34/44

5,096

320

9.6

14.2

1961

41/52

7,016

2,373

6.8

12.1

1962

23/53

3,663

648

6.1

17.6

1963

33/55

5,671

2,396

4.2

14.4

1964

29/62

6,298

1,116

5.3

12.1

1965

36/55

7,144

3,998

3.3

11.4

1966

7/49

1,813

467

5.7

14 Seasons

313

121

148

51,988

12,651

––

7.2

13.5

Car Owner in NASCAR’s Premier Series

Year

Driver

Races

Wins

Top Fives

Top 10s

Pole Awards

Total Laps

Laps Led

Series Rank

Average Start

Average Finish

1953

Junior Johnson

222

––

1965

Bobby Isaac

299

172

1965

Junior Johnson

7,144

3,998

3.3

11.4

1965

Curtis Turner

101

1966

Darel Dieringer

798

7.5

1966

A.J. Foyt

129

––

14.7

1966

Bobby Isaac

1,094

8.9

18.9

1966

Gordon Johncock

709

––

2.5

15.5

1966

Junior Johnson

1,813

467

5.7

1966

Fred Lorenzen

139

1966

Curtis Turner

662

154

11.3

1967

Darel Dieringer

3,952

730

4.1

13.5

1967

Lloyd Ruby

––

1967

LeeRoy Yarbrough

825

14.7

1968

LeeRoy Yarbrough

5,554

1,300

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Car Owner in NASCAR’s Premier Series Continued 1969

LeeRoy Yarbrough

1970

Donnie Allison

1970

Fred Lorenzen

7,678

1,098

5.4

8.8

399

209

1970

David Pearson

375

1970

LeeRoy Yarbrough

4,126

232

6.4

12.2

1971

LeeRoy Yarbrough

778

12.5

1974

Earl Ross

4,431

121

9.3

11.1

1974

Cale Yarborough

4,337

1,739

4.5

7.9

1975

Cale Yarborough

7,353

2,542

6.5

14.8

1976

Cale Yarborough

9,269

3,777

5.1

8.2

1977

Cale Yarborough

9,747

3,218

4.5

1978

Cale Yarborough

9,758

3,587

3.6

1979

Cale Yarborough

9,677

1,320

5.3

8.6

1980

Cale Yarborough

9,440

2,810

3.1

1981

Richard Childress

1981

Darrell Waltrip

9,575

2,517

5.3

7.2

1982

J.D. McDufﬁe

574

20.5

1982

Bill Schmitt

109

1982

Darrell Waltrip

9,455

3,028

3.8

9.1

1983

Darrell Waltrip

9,403

2,363

7.1

7.7

1984

Neil Bonnett

9,126

641

9.3

13.7

1984

Darrell Waltrip

9,464

2,030

5.9

11.2

1985

Neil Bonnett

8,675

619

10.5

10.6

1985

Darrell Waltrip

8,933

969

8.2

7.3

1986

Davey Allison

188

1986

Neil Bonnett

7,691

323

12.3

16.1

1986

Darrell Waltrip

8,327

573

8.6

1987

Terry Labonte

8,609

592

7.1

11.1

1988

Terry Labonte

9,206

237

12.8

10.8

1989

Terry Labonte

8,306

105

13.2

15.1

1990

Geoff Bodine

8,852

976

8.1

11.4

1991

Geoff Bodine

7,997

152

10.4

15.7

1991

Tommy Ellis

887

18.5

1991

Sterling Marlin

9,205

211

14.3

11.8

1992

Bill Elliott

9,115

1,273

9.7

10.9

1992

Sterling Marlin

8,462

218

14.4

1992

Hut Stricklin

305

1993

Bill Elliott

9,329

12.9

13.5

1993

Hut Stricklin

8,356

22.8

1994

Bill Elliott

9,172

15.7

16.8

1994

Jeff Green

321

1994

Tommy Kendall

1994

Jimmy Spencer

6,904

21.5

25.1

1995

Loy Allen Jr.

1,459

31.8

20.4

1995

Brett Bodine

9,159

21.2

22.3

1995

Jimmy Horton

192

1995

Greg Sacks

160

1995

Elton Sawyer

4,573

28.3

29.4

1,049

132

436

577

115

303,296

44,444

––

9.8

12.8

30 years

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KING Richard Petty By Van Cox

Eighteen years after climbing from the cockpit for the ﬁnal time, Richard Petty’s list of NASCAR accomplishments is longer than anyone else’s and includes records that are not likely to be topped – ever. His contributions to stock-car racing, however, extend far beyond any list or record book. His biggest gift to NASCAR is impossible to quantify. No single driver has done more to draw attention – and fans – to NASCAR than the man appropriately dubbed “The King.” Petty has been a part of the sport from its very infancy. As a

Richard Petty poses with the No. 43 Plymouth he drove to a sixth-place ﬁnish in the 1960 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. ISC Archives via Getty Images Richard Petty’s signature cowboy hat and sunglasses make him one of the more recognizable ﬁgures in the NASCAR garage. He signs thousands of autographs every year as his way of thanking the fans for allowing him to do what he loves for a living. Jonathan Ferrey/Allsport

12-year-old boy, he cheered from the grandstands as his father, Lee, jostled with the 33 drivers to take the green ﬂag for the very ﬁrst NASCAR “Strictly Stock” race (today it’s the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) way back in 1949. Sixty years later, his trademark cowboy

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hat and sunglasses are as much a part of stock-car racing as checkered ﬂags

appreciated that so much, and it stuck with me that he made us a priority,”

and the “donuts” carved in the doors of ornate paint schemes after a long day

Hendrick said. “The other drivers got the message that it was important,

at the track.

and that’s been passed down over the years.

“I’ve been at it a long time,” the 72-year-old Petty says with the ready smile that has endeared him to millions of NASCAR fans. “Racing has been my life for as far back as I can remember.”

The world needs more

Richard Pettys.” To this day, Petty commands a following that rivals that of virtually every active driver. Nobody gets a more rousing ovation during introductions, and

Statistically, Petty has compiled the most pristine resume in the history of motorsports, reigning as NASCAR’s franchise player for 35

his magical connection with fans isn’t contrived. It isn’t some well-thoughtout public-relations strategy.

seasons. Every stock-car driver – from the very moment he ﬁrst climbs

It is purely genuine, and millions know Richard Petty is the real deal.

behind the wheel – dreams of two things: winning the Daytona 500

“My relationship with the fans just came natural,” says Petty, voted

and the championship in the NASCAR premier series. Petty did both

NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver nine times through the years. “When we

with amazing regularity. Only fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural

ﬁrst started racing, there were no sponsors. They didn’t give you a deal to

inductee Dale Earnhardt has matched his seven championships, and no

come to the race track. So the people in the grandstands were paying for

one has come close to his seven victories in Daytona’s Great American Race.

everything. From that standpoint, every time I signed an autograph, it was

Petty still holds a ﬁrm grip on a good portion of the series’ all-time

my way of saying, ‘Thank you for coming out and letting me to do what I

records. Career victories: 200 … Career pole awards: 123 … Victories in a

love to do.’ That’s how it all started, and the fans have always meant an awful

single season: 27 … Consecutive victories: 10 … Laps led: 51,695 … Top-5

lot to me.”

finishes: 555 … Top-10 finishes: 712 … Autographs signed: 200,437,743. The last one certainly isn’t official, but there is no denying that he is among the most charismatic race-car drivers of all time – who could argue he isn’t? To generations of devoted race fans, Richard Petty’s name is synonymous with NASCAR and racing success. His on-track performance and down-home demeanor combined never seen.

He quickly emerged as NASCAR’s unofﬁcial goodwill

ambassador,

hang

around

the

race

track

working-class until

hero

fulﬁlled

who the

would

very

last

autograph request.

many great legends. Even though he was the son of NASCAR’s ﬁrst three-time champion, him, because his father, Lee, was a no-nonsense sort who took an all-business approach to racing. “In my opinion, daddy was the ﬁrst real professional race-car driver NASCAR ever had,” Petty said. “He owned the car. He built the car. He drove the car. He was his own crew chief. He even pulled the car to and from the track. He did it all.”

“Richard has always been more than willing to spend time with the fans.

picturesque, blink-and-you-miss-it rural communities that have produced so

young Richard isn’t a product of privilege. He never had anything handed to

to build a fan base the likes of which the sports world had quintessential,

Petty was born and raised in tiny Randleman, N.C. – one of those

Richard spent his teen years traveling with the race team, learning every

That’s the type of person he is,” notes two-time NASCAR

aspect of the racing game while working on the cars that his father drove to a

champion Ned Jarrett, himself one of the sport’s most popular

then-record 54 career victories. He soon realized that he’d like to try his hand

legends.

at driving also, but Lee matter-of-factly informed him he’d have to wait until

values.

“He’s friendly and down-to-earth, and he has solid family All of those qualities appeal to fans.

That positive image

did a lot to establish the family atmosphere that has made NASCAR so popular.” Team owner Rick Hendrick totally agrees, sharing ﬁrsthand knowledge of Petty’s graciousness toward the people who came out to see him race.

after he turned 21. In the meantime, Richard became a great student of the era’s top drivers. “I had some great teachers: Tim Flock, Curtis Turner, Junior Johnson, Herb Thomas, and, of course, my daddy,” Petty recalls. “I got to see them all do their thing. I watched how they drove and picked things up from each of them

“When we were growing up in Virginia, my dad would take my brother

that I thought might help me when the day came that I’d be driving myself.”

and me to tracks around the Southeast, and I can remember getting Richard

That day came on July 12, 1958 – 10 days after Petty’s 21st birthday.

Petty’s autograph through the fence at Martinsville. As a race fan, I

Driving a “slightly used” 1957 Oldsmobile that he had rescued from the

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Richard Petty, shown with the 1967 NASCAR championship trophy, enjoyed his best season that year, winning not only his second national title, but also 27 of his 48 races, including 10 races in a row. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Richard Petty captured his first Daytona 500 in 1964. He went on to win the Great American Race six more times, as well as grab seven championships in NASCAR’s premier series. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Richard Petty took his 200th checkered ﬂag in NASCAR’s premiere series in July 1984 at Daytona International Speedway. With President Ronald Reagan watching, it proved to be his ﬁnal victory in the series. ISC Archives via Getty Images

far corner of the family race shop, he made his long-awaited debut in a

triumph in NASCAR’s premier series came a few months later on

200-lap NASCAR Convertible Division event on the half-mile dirt track

February 28, 1960 at Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte.

at Columbia, S.C.

“That was a really big deal to me,” Petty said. “It gave me a lot of

“I qualified 13th and finished sixth,” Petty said. “That was my first race of any kind – my first time on the race track. I’d seen hundreds of races

conﬁdence that I could really do this and be successful at it. I think that’s true for every driver once he wins his ﬁrst race.”

from the pits, but it was a lot different actually being on the track driving

The Petty Blue No. 43 found its way to Victory Lane a total of 36 times

the race car. It didn’t take me long to decide that driving a race car was

over the next ﬁve seasons, with the budding superstar capturing both his ﬁrst

what I wanted to do for a living.”

championship in NASCAR’s premier series and ﬁrst Daytona 500 victory in

Only six days later, Petty launched the most storied career in NASCAR history, making the ﬁrst of 1,185 starts in stock-car racing’s most

1964. In those days, glory didn’t come without a lot of sacriﬁce.

The

celebrated series. Oddly, that milestone in motorsports took place at

NASCAR schedule consisted of as many as 62 races per season, which

Canadian National Exposition Speedway in Toronto. Far removed from

sometimes meant racing two or even three times per week. And as the

what was then the hotbed of NASCAR. It was an inauspicious outing

patriarch’s driving career ended in the early 1960s, the eldest son emerged

for Petty. He wound up 17 out of 19 cars after crashing on lap 55. He

as the new face of Petty Enterprises.

was being lapped by the leaders when a tap from the eventual winner – a fellow named Lee Petty – sent him into a spin. Undaunted, Richard went on to claim top rookie honors in 1959 and stayed hot on the trail of his first victory until finally claiming the checkered flag in another Convertible race at Columbia. His first

As he continued to rack up victories, Petty’s popularity grew exponentially. He earned a reputation as a patient, smoothly-aggressive driver who knew just how to pick and choose his moves on the race track. “Richard Petty was one of the smartest drivers I ever raced against,” says former Daytona 500 champion Fred Lorenzen, winner of 26 races

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President Ronald Reagan (center) is ﬂanked by NASCAR legends Richard Petty (left) and Bobby Allison during a picnic lunch at Daytona International Speedway in 1984. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Richard Petty (right) enjoys a light moment with fellow NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt before a race at Daytona International Speedway in 1980. Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

in NASCAR’s premier series and one of Petty’s chief rivals during the 1960s. “Richard always had good equipment, and he knew how to get the most out of it. He was really good at figuring out a way to work himself into contention for the win.” The Petty gameplan was a simple philosophy that his father had perfected: To finish first, you first have to finish. “The fastest car doesn’t always win,” Petty explained. “We won a lot of races where we didn’t have the fastest car. You can run behind for 199 laps of a 200-lap race. That last lap is the one that counts. If we couldn’t win, we tried to get the best finish we could.” Petty’s prowess behind the wheel thrust NASCAR into the national spotlight in 1967, as he built the most phenomenal season on record. With his brother, Maurice, building the engines and cousin, Dale Inman, calling the shots on pit road, the immensely talented race-car driver amassed a staggering 27 victories in 48 starts – including an unprecedented streak of 10 consecutive victories. Needless to say, he claimed his second championship in NASCAR’s premier series by a wide margin. Along the way, he eclipsed the record for most career victories previously held by his father.

Seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty (left) and his longtime crew chief, Dale Inman, show off one of their classic race cars during an event in 2008. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

“Everything just went our way that year,” Petty said. “That whole thing was huge, because we were dominating so much that people who had never heard of NASCAR were hearing about us now. They were covering it in the New York Times. They were covering it in Los Angeles. They were covering it in Canada. It was an incredible year for the sport from the standpoint of how much publicity we got out of that whole deal.” Refreshingly modest, he has always been quick to credit his team for his success. “We were always trying to make our cars better. Not just faster— better,” Petty said. “If we broke a piece, we didn’t just replace it; we replaced it with a stronger piece. You have to have a good team to win races and championships, and we always had really good people working on our cars. People who were just as dedicated to winning as I was.” Change is constant in any sport, and the 180-mph pressure cooker known as NASCAR is no different. Sometimes a driver’s greatest asset is his ability to adapt to the shifting sands of the racing landscape. No one was better at rolling with the punches than “The King,” not when dusty red clay gave way to pavement; not when sprawling superspeedways replaced hard-scrabble short tracks, not when advanced technology made seat-of-the-pants engineering

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obsolete; not when the rules or schedules changed. Richard Petty never missed a beat. “Nothing stays the same forever,” Petty explains. “You have to be able to adjust to it. It doesn’t do any good to complain. You have to figure out how to make the best of it – be the cat that makes it work for you.” Petty’s ability to adapt is best evidenced by the fact that NASCAR changed its points system several times during his career, and the most prolific points chaser of all time won championships under five different formats. In the early 1970s, as corporate America began to recognize NASCAR as a viable marketing tool, the sport’s most popular personality was once again ahead of the curve. Sure, major sponsors had sporadically bounced in and out of stock-car racing for years. But, when Petty signed STP as backer of the most famous stock car in the world, it essentially opened the door for big business to become a vital part of the nation’s fastest growing sport. Soon, every top team raced while being underwritten by sponsors from every avenue of the corporate world. Meanwhile, the perennial title contender continued to dominate the competition on the race track, establishing a Modern Era record (since tied by Jeff Gordon) of 13 victories during the 1975 campaign. During a fiveyear stretch, Petty steamrolled his way to four more championships and added three more Daytona 500 victories. He concedes that his success in the Daytona 500 did as much as anything to perpetuate his legend. “In a way, if you look at it, the Daytona 500 made Richard Petty,” he said. “It was the first major race of the season in any series. It was NASCAR’s biggest race, so you had all this media attention. Every team worked all winter long just to get ready for that one race. All these cats had their best stuff there. Our cars were usually real competitive at Daytona, so I just concentrated on getting to the end of the race and getting in a position where we had a chance to win. A lot of times circumstances played out in our favor.” Petty was involved in two of the Daytona 500’s most dramatic finishes. One he won, one he didn’t. In 1976, he and David Pearson crashed coming to the checkered flag. Pearson nursed his mangled Mercury across the finish line first as Petty took second place. Three years later, Petty won the 1979 edition of the February classic, an event that ended with a tussle in Daytona International Speedway’s Turn 3 between Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers after Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed while battling for the lead on the last lap. Petty’s final victory was arguably his most celebrated triumph and set a once unthinkable benchmark for NASCAR’s premier series. On July

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4, 1984, the sport’s all-time leader in victories bested the legendary Cale Yarborough in a fender-to-fender finishing duel to take the checkered flag in Daytona’s July Fourth race. It was the 200th of Petty’s stellar career. “It was an unreal feeling,” Petty said. “To be able to win my 200th race at Daytona on the Fourth of July with the President of the United States (Ronald Reagan) watching, well, if you’d tried to sell it as a movie, nobody would have bought it because it was so far-fetched. But, we had a good car and the way things unfolded, we wound up in Victory Lane.” The King had already rocked the racing world at the beginning of 1984 by leaving Petty Enterprises to drive for car owner Mike Curb, but he returned to the organization founded by his father in 1986 and competed for seven more seasons before hanging up his helmet at the end of 1992. “I didn’t retire; I just stopped driving,” Petty says. “I’m still as busy as ever.” After climbing from the cockpit for the final time, he continued to play a major role in Petty Enterprises until it merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2009 to form the renamed Richard Petty Motorsports. Through the years he has remained one NASCAR’s most visible celebrities, serving as spokesman for any number of sponsors and charitable causes, most notably, Victory Junction in North Carolina built in honor of his grandson, Adam. To fans and fellow race-car drivers, he is still held in the utmost reverence. When the concept of the NASCAR Hall of Fame first came to light, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Petty would be among the first enshrined. “I believe Richard Petty has had the greatest impact on our sport,” says four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon, who actually made his series debut on the same day Petty hung up his helmet. “He was dominant during his prime, became a household name and had the respect of the competitors, the media and the fans.” A larger-than-life figure who personifies the small-town boy who made good, Petty is understandably humbled by his inclusion in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “It’s hard to put into words just what an honor it is to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, especially to be in the first class to go in,” he said. “When I started out, there wasn’t any Hall of Fame. So, to have people recognize the things you’ve accomplished over all those years, it’s extra special to me. It means a lot to be remembered.”

Richard Petty’s

NASCAR Hall of Fame Career Driver in NASCAR’s Premier Series Year 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 35 Seasons

Races/ Season 9/51 21/44 40/44 42/52 52/53 54/55 61/62 15/55 39/49 48/49 49/49 50/54 40/48 46/48 31/31 28/28 30/30 30/30 30/30 30/30 30/30 31/31 31/31 31/31 30/30 30/30 30/30 28/28 29/29 29/29 29/29 25/29 29/29 29/29 29/29 1,185

Wins 0 0 3 2 8 14 9 4 8 27 16 10 18 21 8 6 10 13 3 5 0 5 2 3 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 200

Top Fives 0 6 16 18 32 30 37 10 20 38 31 31 27 38 25 15 22 21 19 20 11 23 15 12 9 9 5 1 4 9 1 0 0 0 0 555

Top 10s 1 9 30 23 39 39 43 10 22 40 35 38 31 41 28 17 23 24 22 23 17 27 19 16 16 21 13 13 11 14 5 0 1 1 0 712

Pole Awards 0 0 2 2 4 8 8 7 15 18 12 6 9 9 3 3 7 3 1 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 123

Total Laps 977 3,648 8,189 7,866 11,544 12,183 14,041 3,697 8,737 12,739 12,254 12,589 10,536 13,739 10,282 8,644 9,097 9,082 8,941 8,840 8,904 9,367 9,314 7,276 7,834 9,439 8,835 7,767 7,639 8,306 6,207 5,567 74 , 38 8,341 7,977 307,836

Laps Led 0 7 447 703 1,396 2,122 3,534 852 2,924 5,537 4,242 3,057 5,016 4,967 2,085 1,815 3,099 3,158 1,269 1,403 417 1,149 714 546 355 279 275 105 153 38 11 9 5 1 5 51,695

Series Ranking 37 15 2 8 2 2 1 38 3 1 3 2 4 1 1 5 1 1 2 2 6 1 4 8 5 4 10 14 14 8 22 29 26 24 26 ––

Average Start 14.4 11 74. 8.9 6.7 6.5 4.2 2.1 3.6 2.4 3.5 4.1 4.4 3.8 4.1 4.9 4 4.1 6.1 4.4 8.9 7.6 9.1 10.6 13.4 14.6 14.8 17 15.5 20.2 23.8 27.6 26.3 26.6 22.6 9.5

Average Finish 20.4 15.4 8.2 11 6.9 7.5 7.3 8.8 11 5 8.4 7.9 6.8 4.2 4.7 10.9 6.8 6.6 9 7.5 12.8 6.4 11.7 15.4 14.4 10.7 15.2 17.9 174. 13.3 24.4 25.8 25 22 23 11.3

Pole Awards 0 0 0

Total Laps 495 2,022 2,517

Laps Led 0 2 2

Series Ranking 33 4 ––

Average Start 13.7 10.1 10.8

Average Finish 5.3 8.9 8.2

Driver in NASCAR Convertible Series Year 1958 1959 2 Seasons

Races/ Season 3/19 12/15 15

Wins 0 1 1

Top Fives 2 6 8

Top 10s 3 7 10

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Driver in the International Race of Champions (Representing NASCAR’s Premier Series) Year 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1989 6 Seasons

Races/ Season 3/4 3/4 3/4 4/4 4/4 4/4 21

Wins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Top Fives 0 1 0 2 3 0 6

Top 10s 3 3 2 4 4 1 17

Total Laps 78 97 102 149 133 180 739

Laps Led 0 0 0 0 0 4 4

Series Ranking 10 10 10 6 5 12 ––

Average Start 5.7 7 7.7 7.5 5 5 6.2

Average Finish 9 8.3 7.7 5.5 4.8 11 7.6

Car Owner in NASCAR’s Premier Series

Year

Driver

Races

1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1953 1954 1954 1955 1956 1957 1957 1957 1957 1957 1957 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1958 1959 1959 1960 1960 1960 1960 1960 1961 1961 1961 1961 1961 1961 1961 1962 1962 1962 1962 1962 1962 1963 1963 1963 1963 1963

Lee Petty Lee Petty Lee Petty Lee Petty Jimmie Lewallen Lee Petty Lee Petty Bob Welborn Lee Petty Lee Petty Johnny Dodson Ralph Earnhardt Tiny Lund Bill Lutz Bobby Myers Lee Petty Jim Linke Lee Petty Richard Petty Jim Reed Jimmy Thompson Joe Weatherly Bob Welborn Lee Petty Richard Petty Bobby Johns Jim Paschal Lee Petty Maurice Petty Richard Petty Darel Dieringer Art Malone Marvin Panch Jim Paschal Lee Petty Maurice Petty Richard Petty Bunkie Blackburn Jim Paschal Lee Petty Maurice Petty Richard Petty Speedy Thompson Jim Hurtubise Bob James Jimmy Massey Jim Paschal Lee Petty

6 17 32 32 1 36 33 2 41 46 1 8 5 1 1 41 2 50 9 1 1 1 1 42 21 1 8 39 2 40 1 1 1 1 3 9 42 6 9 1 5 52 1 3 4 2 29 3

Top Wins 1 1 1 3 0 5 7 0 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 5 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 5 0

Top Fives 3 9 11 21 1 26 23 0 20 17 0 0 1 0 0 20 0 28 0 0 1 0 0 27 6 1 3 21 0 16 0 0 0 0 2 2 18 0 5 1 2 32 0 0 0 0 15 1

Pole 10s 5 13 19 27 1 32 31 0 30 28 0 3 2 1 0 33 0 43 1 0 1 1 1 35 9 1 7 30 2 30 1 1 0 0 2 4 23 2 8 1 3 39 1 0 0 0 18 2

Total Awards 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 0

Laps Laps 890 1,558 1,248 5,094 198 3,021 5,707 209 6,212 7,167 244 1,301 335 0 27 74 , 66 219 9,173 977 207 198 489 341 8,278 3,648 394 2,559 7,518 375 8,189 263 484 94 25 433 1,207 7,866 1,424 3,486 499 800 11,544 258 441 589 78 6,652 291

Series Led 1 43 99 191 0 209 595 0 769 246 0 0 0 0 1 449 0 439 0 0 0 0 0 1010 7 0 11 514 0 447 0 0 0 0 126 0 703 0 730 0 0 1396 0 0 0 0 392 0

Average Rank 2 3 4 3 9 2 1 51 3 4 121 37 11 75 126 4 80 1 37 10 23 28 149 1 15 3 9 6 94 2 35 100 18 9 104 59 8 25 6 73 57 2 42 35 38 19 82

Average Start 14 24.5 21.1 11.7 9 16.4 6.5 8.8 8.3 6 9.4 11.2 27 2 7.5 32 5.5 14.4 16 31 14 13 74. 11 6 8 7.7 9 74. 29 15 8 3 9.7 14.9 8.9 18.8 9.1 5 13.4 6.7 23 23.3 16.8 12.5 9.9 10.7

Finish 6.3 7.7 10.9 6.6 2 4.8 5.7 15.5 7.9 10 11 12.5 17.6 6 43 7.8 38.5 6.3 20.4 32 4 8 8 6.2 15.4 3 7.9 8.6 8.5 8.2 6 8 31 13 6.3 11.3 11 15.3 5.3 5 12 6.9 9 22.3 24.8 30.5 11.4 9.3

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Car Owner in NASCARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Premier Series Continued 1963 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1964 1964 1964 1965 1965 1965 1966 1966 1966 1966 1966 1967 1967 1967 1968 1969 1970 1970 1970 1970 1971 1971 1972 1972 1973 1974 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1979 1980 1980 1981 1981 1982 1982 1983 1983 1984 1985 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1993 1994 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1999 2000 2000 2000 2000 2001

Maurice Petty Richard Petty Joe Weatherly Bob Welborn Buck Baker Jim Paschal Lee Petty Maurice Petty Richard Petty Jim Paschal Richard Petty LeeRoy Yarbrough Darel Dieringer Paul Lewis Marvin Panch Jim Paschal Richard Petty Tiny Lund Richard Petty G.C. Spencer Richard Petty Richard Petty Dan Gurney Pete Hamilton Jim Paschal Richard Petty Buddy Baker Richard Petty Buddy Baker Richard Petty Richard Petty Hershel McGriff Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Kyle Petty Richard Petty Kyle Petty Richard Petty Kyle Petty Richard Petty Kyle Petty Richard Petty Kyle Petty Richard Petty Kyle Petty Dick Brooks Morgan Shepherd Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Richard Petty Jimmy Hensley Rick Wilson John Andretti Wally Dallenbach Jr Bobby Hamilton Bobby Hamilton Bobby Hamilton John Andretti John Andretti Kyle Petty John Andretti Steve Grissom Adam Petty Kyle Petty John Andretti

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4 54 1 4 6 13 2 6 61 3 15 1 1 1 4 1 39 4 48 3 49 50 1 15 1 38 18 46 10 31 28 4 30 30 30 30 30 5 31 14 31 31 31 23 30 30 30 30 3 1 28 29 29 25 29 29 29 1 29 11 14 31 31 32 33 34 32 34 5 1 18 35

0 14 0 0 0 1 0 0 9 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 8 0 27 0 16 10 0 3 0 16 1 21 1 8 6 0 10 13 3 5 0 0 5 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 30 1 3 3 7 0 2 37 3 10 0 0 0 2 0 20 3 38 2 31 31 0 9 0 25 12 38 3 25 15 0 22 21 19 20 11 0 23 0 15 1 12 2 9 0 9 1 0 0 4 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 3 6 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 1

2 39 1 3 4 8 0 5 43 3 10 0 0 0 3 0 22 3 40 2 35 38 1 11 0 29 15 41 4 28 17 1 23 24 22 23 17 1 27 6 19 10 16 4 16 2 21 6 0 0 11 14 5 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 10 11 8 10 10 9 2 0 0 1 2

0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 18 0 12 6 1 1 0 9 1 9 0 3 3 0 7 3 1 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

654 12,183 296 837 1,462 3,725 28 1,130 14,041 892 3,697 81 52 308 1,187 281 8,737 879 12,739 743 12,254 12,589 180 3,770 325 10,136 4,614 13,739 1,838 10,282 8,644 558 9,097 9,082 8,941 8,840 8,904 1,069 9,367 3,306 9,314 74 , 02 7,276 5,440 7,834 8,345 9,439 8,400 683 345 7,516 8,306 6,207 5,567 74 , 38 8,341 7,977 292 8,117 3,722 3,568 9,421 9,153 9,535 9,181 8,526 8,708 9,217 1,569 215 4,830 9,994

0 2,122 0 0 21 155 0 0 3534 90 852 0 0 0 113 0 2924 1 5537 0 4242 3057 0 338 11 4800 693 4967 146 2085 1815 0 3099 3158 1269 1403 417 0 1149 0 714 20 546 13 355 13 279 2 0 0 153 38 11 9 5 1 5 0 1 40 1 130 648 411 137 238 11 11 0 0 8 53

74 2a 1 40 9 7 109 61 1 35 38 37 12 16 17 14 3 19 1 21 3 2 21 4 15 1 24 1 5 50 1 1 2 2 6 37 1 28 4 12 8 15 5 13 4 16 53 31 14 8 22 29 26 24 26 32 28 32 38 14 9 16 11 17 26 23 52 68 41 31

8.8 6.5 9 11 9.2 6.2 18.5 8.7 4.2 5.7 2.1 18 11 15 10 4 3.6 9.2 2.4 14 3.5 4.1 1 6.3 11 4.3 4.7 3.8 7.8 4.1 4.9 10.2 4 4.1 6.1 4.4 8.9 30.4 7.6 24 9.1 16.9 10.6 18.4 13.4 19.7 14.6 22.4 23 24 14.7 20.2 23.8 27.6 26.3 26.6 22.6 8 20.3 17.5 20.9 16.6 19.9 23.2 15.9 16.6 24.8 23.6 38.4 33 28.6 22.5

11.2 7.5 4 8.8 9.7 10.4 19.5 8.5 7.3 4 8.8 34 35 29 9.8 20 11 8.5 5 15 8.4 7.9 6 8.5 20 7.1 7.3 4.2 17.8 4.7 10.9 23.2 6.8 6.6 9 7.5 12.8 17.2 6.4 16.8 11.7 19.1 15.4 18.8 14.4 18.5 10.7 19.5 26.7 18 16.7 13.3 24.4 25.8 25 22 23 34 24 22 19.2 16.8 16.5 19.6 17.9 22.1 22.5 23.6 26.4 40 29.1 26.6

Car Owner in NASCAR’s Premier Series Continued 2001 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 61 Years

Buckshot Jones Kyle Petty John Andretti Greg Bifﬂe Christian Fittipaldi Steve Grissom Buckshot Jones Ted Musgrave Jerry Nadeau Kyle Petty John Andretti Christian Fittipaldi Jeff Green Kyle Petty Jeff Green Kyle Petty Jeff Green Kyle Petty Bobby Labonte Kyle Petty John Andretti Bobby Labonte Chad McCumbee Kyle Petty Kenny Wallace Bobby Labonte Terry Labonte Chad McCumbee Kyle Petty Boris Said Kasey Kahne Elliott Sadler AJ Allmendinger Reed Sorenson

30 24 36 2 1 10 7 1 13 36 14 14 8 33 36 35 36 36 36 36 4 36 2 29 1 36 9 6 15 1 36 36 36 36 2,962

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 268

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 1 0 902

0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 8 2 0 3 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 14 5 6 1 1,284

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 155

7,819 5,026 9,743 657 252 3,070 2,218 246 2,771 10,423 4,093 2,638 2,420 9,224 9,884 9,088 10,174 10,320 9,954 10,160 734 10,109 240 8,237 496 10,617 1,769 1,807 4,759 90 9,419 10,122 10,208 9,823 731,651

2 1 22 0 0 0 0 0 20 22 4 1 0 3 1 6 8 14 63 4 0 17 0 13 0 4 0 0 0 0 691 49 0 5 61,179

41 43 28 48 81 44 49 50 37 22 38 44 34 37 30 33 29 27 21 32 48 18 61 35 46 21 46 52 44 58 13 26 24 29 ––

31.6 27.5 24.3 9 17 35.9 27.1 39 28.5 25.8 28.6 33.6 27.2 33.2 24.1 31.2 26.8 32.9 21.6 31 30 20.2 38.5 34.1 32 24.6 31.8 37.7 34.7 40 13.6 28.7 22.8 26.3 15.7

32.9 31.2 25.3 25 41 28.8 27.7 28 28.8 22.1 27.6 35.4 26 29.8 26.1 27.7 24.7 24.5 22 274. 28.8 22.2 33 28.3 32 22.6 26.8 32.3 34.8 24 16.7 23.9 22.4 25.3 15.8

Car Owner in the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series Year

Driver

Races

Wins

1994 1994 1994 1995 1996 3 Years

Rodney Combs Robert Pressley Dick Trickle Rodney Combs Rodney Combs

23 1 1 26 24 75

0 0 0 0 0 0

Top Fives 0 0 0 0 0 0

Top 10s 3 1 0 3 2 9

Pole Awards 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total Laps 3,419 197 37 4,836 4,395 12,884

Laps Led 11 0 0 5 25 41

Series Rank 21 12 53 11 18 ––

Average Start 23.9 33 3 22.7 20.7 22.3

Average Finish 23.5 10 35 18.8 21.8 21.3

Car Owner in the NASCAR Craftsman (now Camping World) Truck Series

Year

Driver

Races

Wins

1995 1996 1997 1997 1997 1998 1999 1999 2000 2001 2002 2002 2002 8 Years

Rodney Combs Rich Bickle Ken Bouchard Jimmy Hensley Kyle Petty Jimmy Hensley Jimmy Hensley Adam Petty Steve Grissom Carlos Contreras Adam Clarke Carlos Contreras Joe Ruttman

5 24 1 26 1 27 25 2 24 24 2 22 1 184

0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2

Top Fives 1 5 0 4 0 9 7 0 6 0 0 0 0 32

Top 10s 2 9 1 13 0 15 14 1 11 2 0 1 0 69

Pole Awards 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5

Total Laps 722 3,989 167 4,744 100 4,704 4,078 320 3,961 3,857 448 3,430 148 30,668

Laps Led 0 180 0 219 0 220 287 0 61 0 0 3 0 97

Series Rank 34 11 99 8 100 6 10 58 10 14 82 16 40 ––

Average Start 14.8 9.9 21 13.6 26 16.9 10.8 24 17.5 15.5 15.5 20.3 13 15

Average Finish 11 14.7 10 11.9 11 11.8 12.2 13 12.2 18.5 21.5 19.1 17 14.2

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominees The ballot of nominees for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s inaugural class included the names of 25 stock-car racing legends. With a maximum of five to be chosen, everyone knew that 20 would be left out of the first induction ceremony. The voters had very tough choices to make, and they all knew it. One story that flowed from the voting chamber told of a prominent voter saying something similar to, “Let’s just NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee and voting panel member Ned Jarrett speaks with Mike Joy, a veteran motorsports broadcaster, during the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel meeting in 2009. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

draw five names from a hat, and that’s it. They all deserve to go in.” The accomplishments of the 20 nominees who were not chosen are not diminished by not being included in the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s inaugural class of inductees. On the contrary, they serve to accentuate the difficulty in choosing the first five — many of the names here are sure to be inducted in the coming years.

Jim Hunter, NASCAR Vice President of Communications, presents nominees during the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class voting panel meeting in 2009. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Bobby Allison

Hueytown, Ala.

Richie Evans

NASCAR premier series

Rome, N.Y. NASCAR Whelen Modiﬁed Tour

1983 NASCAR premier series champion.

Nine-time NASCAR Whelen Modiﬁed Tour champion — 1973 and 1978 through 1985.

Won 84 NASCAR premier series races, including the Daytona 500 three times.

Buck Baker

Charlotte, N.C.

Won 478 feature races in NASCAR Whelen Modiﬁed Tour competition.

Tim Flock

Fort Payne, Ala.

NASCAR premier series

Red Byron

NASCAR premier series

Two-time and ﬁrst consecutive NASCAR premier series champion — 1956 and 1957.

Two-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1952 and 1955.

Won 46 NASCAR premier series races in 636 career starts.

Won 39 NASCAR premier series races in 187 career starts.

Anniston, Ala.

Rick Hendrick

NASCAR premier series

NASCAR premier series Owner of Hendrick Motorsports, nine-time NASCAR premier series championship team.

First NASCAR premier series champion in 1949. Wounded in World War II, he drove with a special brace on his left leg.

Richard Childress

Winston-Salem, N.C.

NASCAR premier series

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Palmer Springs, VA.

Team entered 2010 with 188 NASCAR premier series race victories.

Ned Jarrett

Newton, N.C. NASCAR premier series

Owner of Richard Childress Racing, winner of 89 NASCAR premier series races.

Two-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1961 and 1965.

Dale Earnhardt drove RCR’s famed No. 3 to six NASCAR premier series championships.

Won 50 NASCAR premier series races from 1959 to 1965.

“Let’s just draw ﬁve names from a hat, and that’s it. They all deserve to go in.” Bud Moore

Spartanburg, S.C.

David Pearson

NASCAR premier series

Two-time championship-winning car owner in NASCAR premier series — 1962 and 1963.

Three-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1966, 1968 and 1969.

Won 63 NASCAR premier series races as an owner, including the

Won 105 NASCAR premier series races, second on the all-time list.

1978 Daytona 500.

Raymond Parks

Dawson County, Ga.

NASCAR premier series NASCAR’s ﬁrst championshipwining car owner in 1949. Served in World War II during the famous Battle of the Bulge in Belgium.

Benny Parsons

Detroit, Mich.

NASCAR premier series 1973 NASCAR premier series champion. Won 21 NASCAR premier series races, including the 1975 Daytona 500.

Spartanburg, S.C.

Lee Petty

Randleman, N.C. NASCAR premier series Three-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1954, 1958 and 1959. Won 54 NASCAR premier series races, including the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959.

Glenn “Fireball” Roberts

Daytona Beach, Fla.

NASCAR premier series Won 33 NASCAR premier series races, including the 1962 Daytona 500. Received the nickname “Fireball” as a young pitcher playing baseball.

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“Many of the names here are sure to be inducted in the coming years.” Herb Thomas

Joe Weatherly

Olivia, N.C.

NASCAR premier series

Curtis Turner

NASCAR premier series

First two-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1951 and 1953.

Two-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1962 and 1963.

Drove the “Fabulous Hudson Hornet” and inspired “Doc Hudson” character in movie Cars.

Won 25 NASCAR premier series races in 229 career starts.

Glen Wood

Roanoke, Va. NASCAR premier series Won 17 NASCAR premier series races. Sports Illustrated called him the “Babe Ruth of stock-car racing” in NASCAR’s early days.

Founded Wood Brothers Racing, providing a schematic for modern NASCAR teams. Won 97 NASCAR premier series races as an owner, including the Daytona 500 four times.

Cale Yarborough

Owensboro, Ky.

NASCAR premier series

Stuart, Va. NASCAR premier series

NASCAR premier series

Darrell Waltrip

Norfolk, Va.

Timmonsville, S.C.

NASCAR premier series

Three-time NASCAR premier series champion — 1981, 1982 and 1985.

Three-time NASCAR premier series champion - 1976, 1977, and 1978.

Won 84 races in the NASCAR premier series, including the 1989 Daytona 500.

Won 83 NASCAR premier series races, including the Daytona 500 four times.

–– One story that ﬂowed from the voting chamber

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NASCAR Roars from Carolina Roots, Grows to National Sensation By Mike Hembree

It is no coincidence that three of the ﬁve inductees in the ﬁrst class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame – Dale Earnhardt, Junior Johnson and Richard Petty – have deep roots in North Carolina. Stock-car racing sprouted and grew from the very same soil on its way to becoming a national – and international – phenomenon. NASCAR’s foundation is an agreeable mix of Carolina red clay and Florida sand. In the years immediately before and after World War II, young men in hopped-up Fords and Chevrolets challenged each other’s skill and daring on rudimentary dirt tracks carved out of Southeastern cattle pastures and backwoods bottomlands. Essentially, there were only two rules: 1. Go fast. 2. Turn left.

Above: Bob Flock leads the way out of the south turn in his No. 7 1949 Oldsmobile at the Beach-Road Course in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1950. The races attracted thousands of fans, who often encountered signs reading “Beware of Rattlesnakes.” NASCAR founder Bill France and his crew placed the signs to encourage folks to pay their way into spectator areas. Don O’Reilly/Dozier Mobley/Getty Images Left: In a race that pre-dates NASCAR by a few months, Red Byron won the ﬁrst race at the now historic Martinsville Speedway in September 1947. Though it looks a lot different these days, the track is the only facility to have hosted NASCAR’s top series every year since it was founded. ISC Archives via Getty Images Middle: The Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, which still stands today along State Road A1A, is where everything in NASCAR began. Preliminary meetings for the formation of NASCAR took place there in 1947, with incorporation the following year. ISC Archives via Getty Images Right: Race promotions in Daytona Beach, Fla., struggled to survive until Big Bill France organized everything that became NASCAR in 1947. Shown is the ofﬁcial pace car used in 1941. ISC Archives via Getty Images

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Left: Stock-car racing pioneer Red Byron, who won NASCAR’s first championship, took the checkered flag in the grueling first race at Martinsville Speedway, a modified event. Byron also won the first NASCAR sanctioned race in 1948 in Charlotte. ISC Archives via Getty Images Middle: Ralph DePalma points to his 1919 speed mark on the chart denoting Measured Mile records in Ormond Beach, Florida. ISC Archives via Getty Images Bottom: Charlotte Motor Speedway begins to take shape as a brand new paved superspeedway for 1960. NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Curtis Turner was a partner in the venture. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Where did these early “racers” learn the ins and outs of going ridiculously fast into the ﬁrst corner? Some had been driving even before they reached their teenage years, bouncing around farmlands in the family’s beatup pickup truck or old sedan. Others were more or less self-educated in the driving arts, having learned how to go fast to evade the authorities. They were the delivery boys for the Appalachian Mountain-based whiskey business, making fast night runs from the hills and hollows of the Carolinas and Georgia to cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, hauling booze by the case and outrunning – usually – law enforcement agents along the way. Junior Johnson is the most famous of the moonshine runners-turned-racers and a true icon of the sport. He grew up on a farm in western North Carolina and became a driver for his family’s whiskey operation. While plowing a ﬁeld behind a mule on the Johnson farm in his bare feet and dirty overalls, he was invited to tag along to a nearby race, got in a race car and began his drive into history. Johnson has often said that winning stock-car races was a breeze in comparison to evading authorities on moonlit mountain backroads with a load of ’shine in his car’s trunk.

Although Johnson is perhaps Exhibit A in this chapter of racing history, more than a few pioneer drivers in NASCAR’s early years had ties to the moonshine “industry.” Although it was illegal – Johnson and others got prison time for their involvement – the “likker” business was a monetary lifeline for many poor mountain families with limited income possibilities. As men who fought in World War II returned home in the mid- to late 1940s and began to rebuild lives for themselves and their families, the automobile became an outlet. In the same way that sandlot baseball became a rallying point for some communities, tinkering with and competing in souped-up Detroit steel became a pastime for small-town and country-boy speedsters. As their fast cars got faster and their friends and neighbors began to debate one driver’s talents against another’s at informal races, there arose the need for some sort of organization for a ﬂedgling “sport” that was showing promise but cried out for structure. Small dirt tracks were sprouting up around the South, and a variety of competing “sanctioning bodies” with names like the National Stock Car Racing Association, the National

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Left: Well-known as the right-hand man of Big Bill France, Joe Epton served as NASCAR’s ﬁrst chief timer and scorer, staying with the company for more than 40 years. He pioneered the use of electronic scoring and kept NASCAR at the forefront of scoring technology. ISC Archives via Getty Images Below: With the main grandstands as a backdrop of the transition from sand to pavement of A1A on Daytona’s Beach and Road Course, NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Curtis Turner’s 1957 Ford convertible heads out of the North Turn in 1957. Two years later, racing moved a few miles west to the 31-degree banking at Daytona International Speedway. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Championship Stock Car Circuit and the United Stock Car Racing Association were being formed by men who saw the possibility of something greater beyond the crude and primitive landscape of stock-car racing’s formative years. Of those adventurous souls roaming the byways of those early racing years, one stood out. His name was William H.G. “Big Bill” France. He stood 6-feet-5-inches tall, and he had a vision that stretched far beyond rinky-dink race tracks and battered race cars. His view of the future included a stable organization to add structure to a sport that, in its uneven youth, clearly needed discipline. In a word, stockcar racing was scruffy, and France wanted it to have polished shoes and pants that fit. France and his wife, Anne, relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla., from their home in Washington, D.C., in 1934. He had $25 in his pocket. A mechanic, he also had a couple of boxes of tools. With an interest in cars and what made them go fast, he eventually opened a service station on Main Street in Daytona Beach, and he quickly gravitated to the long beachfront of the small ocean town, where he joined other automobile aficionados who were burning up the hard-packed sand of the shore with their modified street

cars. A devoted car culture had existed along the central Florida beachfront since the early years of the 20th century, and organized stock-car races ran on the sand adjacent to the Atlantic beginning in 1936. For Bill France, this was a little bit of heaven. After a hiatus during the war, beach racing resumed, and France returned to driving in and, occasionally, organizing events. Spurred by his deep interest in fast cars and competition, and recognizing the need for an authority organization, he called a meeting of other race organizers, drivers and enthusiasts at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach in December 1947. The “smoke-ﬁlled room” in the Streamline’s rooftop Ebony Bar hosted a series of meetings over four days that month. Among those present in the group of about 35 were Red Byron, Ed Samples and Marshall Teague, all of whom eventually would make names for themselves in NASCAR circles. Promoters from up and down the East Coast attended, and also involved was legendary Atlanta garage owner and race-car builder Louis “Red” Vogt, famous for building fast cars both for whiskey trippers and the cops who pursued them. It was a diverse group.

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“You were dealing with Yankees and Southerners and bootleggers,” said meeting participant Sam Packard, a driver and a France acquaintance. “But everybody went along pretty good with what needed to be done. We had been racing around the Carolinas and other places, and the promoters had been taking off with the money and leaving us stranded. But with this organization, the promoter had to put money in escrow before we ever ran, so you were sure to get paid.” Bill Tuthill, a promoter from New York, ran the meetings, but, years later, participants said France clearly was the dominant force. He guided the tone of the discussions and eventually was elected president of the newly formed organization – the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. The name, suggested by Vogt, was cumbersome, true, but its catchy acronym provided a solid start. NASCAR was established as a privately owned corporation on February 21, 1948. The ﬁrst two major milepost markers for the new sport were put in the ground, quite logically, in Florida and North

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Carolina. NASCAR held its first official race February 15, 1948 – about a week before the “sanctioning body” was incorporated – on the beach-road course at Daytona Beach. A unique race course in international motorsports, the temporary Daytona track was created by combining the hard-packed sand of the beach and the asphalt surface of Highway A1A, which ran parallel to the oceanfront. Drivers ran north on the beach, turned onto A1A to go south, then returned to the beach. For obvious reasons, race times always avoided high tide. Red Byron, among the attendees at the NASCAR organizational meetings, won that first race, which was for so-called modified cars, essentially jalopies fashioned from 1930s American-built cars. Fifty-two races ran under NASCAR sanction in its first year, but 1949 brought the arrival of France’s core idea – the concept that would put Big Bill and his sport in the fast lane to success. France said he believed that stock-car racing would flourish at a national level only if its drivers raced in modern cars similar to those everyday Americans drove on

city streets and country roads. As automobile travel became more and more popular in the post-World War II years, people were becoming extremely attached to their cars – and to the accompanying promise of freedom to travel and experience new places. It was only logical that there would develop a collective interest in competition involving those automobiles – and involving the Detroit-based companies that built them. France’s design came together on June 19, 1949 at the three-quarter-mile Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway outside Charlotte, N.C., about 100 miles east of prime moonshine country and a few miles from the NASCAR Hall of Fame location in North Carolina’s biggest city. Although no one knew what the response – from potential competitors or spectators – would be when France announced the race date, the result was impressive. The field for France’s first Strictly Stock (defined as being showroom sedans with minor modifications) race included a superb list of drivers, many of whom would populate future racing halls of fame. On the list were Lee Petty, Jim Paschal, Herb Thomas, Red Byron, Buck Baker, Curtis Turner and the three Flock brothers – Tim, Fonty and Bob.

The race’s conclusion set a sort of precedent for NASCAR. The finish was controversial. Glenn Dunnaway, a race-car driver from nearby Gastonia, N.C., finished the event three laps in front of second-place Jim Roper, who had driven his 1949 Lincoln from Kansas for the race. But NASCAR officials ruled that Dunnaway’s 1947 Ford was illegal. The car previously had been used to transport whiskey, and its rear springs had been enhanced to support heavy loads in its trunk. That modification violated the rules, and NASCAR awarded the victory to Roper, who would go home to Kansas with his only NASCAR win. Hubert Westmoreland, owner of Dunnaway’s car, sued NASCAR for $10,000 after losing the $2,000 first prize, but the suit was dismissed, establishing the important precedent that NASCAR could develop and enforce the rules for its events. As for the event itself, drivers and spectators were cloaked in the unsettled dust of NASCAR’s first major outing. “It was so dusty that day that you would run by the grandstand, go all the way around the track and come back and run through the dust you had stirred up the lap before,” driver Tim Flock remembered during an interview 40 years

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Left: Johnny Mantz (holding the trophy) won the first Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in 1950 by a margin of nine laps. The race marked NASCAR’s first 500-mile event and first on a paved superspeedway. NASCAR official Bill Tuthill interviews track owner Harold Brasington and NASCAR Commissioner Cannonball Baker (right). ISC Archives via Getty Images Center Left: Tim Flock won the Daytona Beach convertible race in 1957, driving Bill Stroppe’s 1957 Mercury. The NASCAR Convertible Series raced only four years, 1956 through 1959. ISC Archives via Getty Images Center Right: With his movie-star-like good looks, NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Curtis Turner became one of the pioneering superstars of the sport’s rough and tumble early years. ISC Archives via Getty Images Right: Marshall Teague brought the first factory involvement to NASCAR with Hudson Motor Car Company in 1951. His “Fabulous Hudson Hornet” team, which included NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Herb Thomas as the driver, ruled from 1952-1954, posting 66 victories and claiming the manufacturer’s championship each of those three years. ISC Archives via Getty Images

later. “We took masking tape, probably a hundred rolls, and taped the bumpers and all the chrome, trying to keep the rocks from really beating up the cars. But when the race was over the front end was all beat up.” Protecting the cars was important because most of them would be driven on the street in the days that followed. For much of NASCAR’s first decade, many “race” cars were the same passenger cars race-car drivers drove on the street. Many – like Roper’s winning Lincoln – were actually driven to the track for the race, some carrying the car numbers and other identification used in competition. Perhaps more important than the on-track results of that first Charlotte event was the fact that it was a spectacular success from a promoter’s point of view. There are no reliable records of the actual attendance that day, but estimates ranged from 10,000 to 22,000, more than enough to offer legitimacy to France’s idea that this was the sort of racing Americans would embrace. Among the spectators that June day was an 11-year-old boy from Randleman, N.C. His name was Richard Petty. His father, Lee, competed in the race (he finished 17th after dramatically crashing his 1946 Buick). Neither knew it at the

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time, but the Petty clan was destined to be one of the ﬁrst families of NASCAR competition. Lee Petty, a farmer and truck driver, jumped into auto racing because it seemed a fun thing to do – and just maybe a way to make a dollar or two. He started turning street cars into race cars in a small reaper shed on his farm property. As matters progressed, farming became a forgotten art for the Pettys, and racing became a business. One of the most successful operations in international motorsports evolved from that farm shed, the result being championship after championship for Lee and Richard and a team – Petty Enterprises – that set the standard for the ﬁrst two decades of NASCAR competition. The Petty experience formed a template of sorts for NASCAR as it evolved. Expanding their race-shop space dramatically through the 1950s and 1960s, the Petty team involved family members in its operations – Richard’s brother, Maurice, built engines, and their cousin, Dale Inman, became the team’s solid crew chief – and made running a stock-car racing team more of a profession and less of an under-theshade-tree pastime. The Petty name also transformed NASCAR in another way. It provided personality. Although Lee Petty was a

Right: Ethel Flock-Mobley was one of the pioneer women drivers of the sport. She is shown here with her brothers, NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural nominee Tim Flock (left) and Fonty Flock. ISC Archives via Getty Images Below: NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson poses with his No. 55 B&L Motors Oldsmobile before a race in 1955. Don O’Reilly/Dozier Mobley/Getty Images

great organizer and an accomplished driver (he won three championships at NASCAR’s top level), it was his son, Richard, who would become the torchbearer during the sport’s first period of substantial growth – the 1960s. Richard had a natural smile, a winning way with fans and the ability to understand that his job did not end when he drove off the race track – winner or not. He would sit for hours on a pit wall after races signing autographs and chatting with fans, and his star rose quickly. Although there had been other dynamic drivers before him, like Curtis Turner and Fireball Roberts, Petty elevated the possibilities for individual stardom in the sport and redefined what winning meant. As he carried the sport on his back through the 1960s, he fine-tuned a career that would result in 200 race victories and seven national championships – records that remain firmly in place today. As the face of the sport changed from the pioneer drivers of the 1950s like Buck Baker and Herb Thomas to the more visible winners of the 1960s like Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison, so did the landscape upon which they raced. Although track builder Harold Brasington succeeded with a wild gamble to build a big asphalt stock-car track – Darlington Raceway – in South Carolina farm country in

1950, competition for most of the sport’s early years was on short (quarter- and half-mile) dirt tracks in obscure, out-ofthe-way locations. As the Fifties turned to the Sixties and racing grew along with the national economy, the so-called superspeedway era gave NASCAR a new and bold look. It actually began in 1959 with the opening of what was then – and is still – the sport’s jewel, Daytona International Speedway. The 2.5-mile track, dream child of Big Bill France, replaced the Beach-Road Course and immediately elevated the scope of what stock car racing could become. Speeds at Daytona were stunningly fast, so much so that the cars’ wheels lifted off the track in the turns. It was a new experience requiring new focus and endurance from drivers. It was the chill of adventure. Big tracks followed near Charlotte; Atlanta, GA.; Hanford, Calif.; Rockingham, N.C.; Talladega, Ala.; Brooklyn, Mich.; Dover, Del.; and College Station, Texas, as NASCAR moved into what many called its modern era. And, in a portent of the future, television took notice, airing the ﬁrst live (although abbreviated) network production of NASCAR’s top series from Daytona in 1960. Richard Petty and David Pearson were dominant driving

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forces in the 1960s, Pearson winning three championships in NASCAR’s premier series, then known as the Grand National Division, and Petty claiming two. In 1967, the year of his second title, Petty established a pair of records likely to live forever. He won 10 straight races from August into October and totaled 27 victories for the season. The 1971 season brought one of the biggest decisions in NASCAR history. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., based in Winston-Salem, N.C., became the primary sponsor (through its Winston brand) of NASCAR’s top series, which was renamed the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Division (and, later, simply NASCAR Winston Cup Series). RJR brought publicity, marketing power, executive expertise and money to its partnership with NASCAR, and the impact was both immediate and long term. Among the major changes was a severe reduction in the NASCAR Grand National schedule as NASCAR and RJR sought to spotlight longer races at bigger tracks and to put a new emphasis on the season-long race for the driving championship. RJR also opened the door for the concept of non-automotive sponsors playing major roles in NASCAR. At about the same time (and probably not coincidentally), television became a much bigger factor in the NASCAR

world. On April 10, 1971, the first start-to-finish coverage of a NASCAR race by network television occurred near Greenville, S.C., at the half-mile Greenville-Pickens Speedway, long a NASCAR affiliate. The race was shown as part of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” anthology program. Unusual planning went into the event in order to give the network virtual assurance that it would be completed within the allotted 90-minute time period. For example, NASCAR trimmed the size of the field from 30 cars to 26 with the goal of reducing time-consuming caution flags. Perhaps not surprisingly, Richard Petty won the race, which was completed in one hour and 16 minutes. Later in the decade of the Seventies, two of the biggest moments in NASCAR history were captured by live television, and both events elevated the sport’s status to significant new levels. ABC Sports televised the closing laps of the 1976 Daytona 500 and happened upon history. The battle for the win came down to Petty and Pearson, the two giants of the era. Racing side-by-side out of the fourth turn on the final lap, their cars crashed and spun onto the apron grass. Pearson alertly depressed his clutch and kept his engine running despite the mayhem, and he chugged across the finish line at a relative

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Left: Everything changed for NASCAR and its fans in 1989. For the first time, every race in NASCAR’s top series made its way to homes across the nation via television. ISC Archives via Getty Images Center Left: With a snow storm keeping folks at home in the Northeast, 1979 Daytona 500 became the first live NASCAR race to be televised in its entirety. In the final lap, Donnie Allison and NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Cale Yarborough made contact and crashed, allowing NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Richard Petty to win the race. After it ended, Donnie’s NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee brother, Bobby, joined the fight. ISC Archives via Getty Images

turtle’s pace to win the race. Three years later, the 1979 Daytona 500 resulted in an even wilder finish and one of the seminal moments of NASCAR history. NASCAR’s landmark race was being televised live from start to finish, and CBS Sports could not have picked a better day to have its cameras on hand – a snowstorm in the Northeast kept millions of TV viewers indoors. Racing for the win on the last lap, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed hard in the third turn, and Richard Petty raced past their battered cars to claim a surprise win. The most famous fight in the sport’s history followed as Yarborough and Donnie Allison and Bobby Allison, Donnie’s brother, wrestled in the infield grass at the site of the crash. Many consider that moment the one that fueled NASCAR’s growth over the following decades. Also ultimately critical to that growth was the arrival, also in 1979, of a young, rough-hewn race-car driver named Dale Earnhardt, a son of the textile-mill village of Kannapolis, N.C., and the very definition of the good ol’ Southern boy gone racin’. Earnhardt, who sank into considerable debt while trying to ignite his racing career, was the NASCAR premier series’ Rookie of the Year in 1979, and he followed up on that promise by stunning the rest of the sport and winning the

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Center Right: Alan Kulwicki was the last NASCAR premier series car owner to have driven his own car to the season championship. He clinched in the final lap of the 1992 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway. ISC Archives via Getty Images Below: NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Cale Yarborough won the first two races in which CBS mounted an in-car camera, one being the Daytona 500. Yarborough later proclaimed, “CBS can put a camera in my car any time.” ISC Archives via Getty Images

series championship in 1980. With a take-no-prisoners style and the courage to take the next corner just a little faster than the competition, Earnhardt quickly built a strong reputation and an enormous fan following, and he ultimately would tie Richard Petty, his classmate in this first NASCAR Hall of Fame class, with seven national championships. The 1980s also put drivers like Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott in the national spotlight as they raced Earnhardt, Bobby Allison and two other young stars, Tim Richmond and Rusty Wallace, for the sport’s high ground. The old guard was involved in what was perhaps the decade’s highlight, however, as Richard Petty outgunned Cale Yarborough in a tight finish in the 1984 Daytona summer race to score his 200th – and last – career victory. From the suites high above the track, President Ronald Reagan, the first sitting president to see a NASCAR race live, watched in amazement. The go-go 1990s brought speedway expansion, record attendance, a landmark television deal and the sport’s most significant changing of the guard. On the same day (in the November 15, 1992 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway) that Richard Petty ended his remarkable driving career, there arrived a youngster named Jeff Gordon, starting his first race. A sprint-car phenom trained to race

NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Richard Petty waves to fans at Atlanta Motor Speedway after finishing the final race of his 35-year NASCAR career. In all, he made 1,185 starts at NASCAR’s top level, winning 200 races and posting an amazing 712 top-10 finishes. Jim Gund/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

from the age of 5, Gordon’s star would rise quickly in the ’90s, and he and crew chief Ray Evernham would join the sport’s championship royalty. More importantly, Gordon’s youth and magnetism brought a new group of fans into the sport. In 1994, NASCAR raced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the ﬁrst time, beginning a successful partnership that elevated the sport to new levels and produced NASCAR’s biggest crowds. In 1999, NASCAR solidiﬁed its position in the national sports landscape by signing a major television deal that put the sport front and center with other major sports organizations. That status continued as the calendar turned into the 21st century and ushered in more new stars, particularly a young Californian who would follow Jeff Gordon into the shops at Hendrick Motorsports and turn the sport upsidedown. Jimmie Johnson won four straight championships

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to end the decade of the 2000s, becoming the ﬁrst driver in the sport’s history to realize that achievement and further magnifying the status of team owner Rick Hendrick, whose multi-team approach had revolutionized NASCAR racing. The Hendrick Motorsports team, a 500-employee organization that built the base for Johnson’s record-making runs, is headquartered a few miles north on Interstate 85 from the new NASCAR Hall of Fame and along the same multi-lane highway that now runs through the site of the long-defunct Charlotte Speedway, site of the ﬁrst NASCAR premier series race in 1949. A few miles from Hendrick Motorsports, and just off I-85, is Charlotte Motor Speedway, “home” track for most NASCAR drivers. Interstate 85, then, is a very real road to NASCAR glory. Mike Hembree is a veteran Motorsports journalist based in North Carolina.

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NASCAR Shepherds Metamorphosis of Racing ‘Showroom Cars’ By Mike Hembree

At the heart of Bill France’s 1947 plan to organize, improve and ultimately embellish stock-car racing was the modern assembly-line showroom automobile. For more than a decade, men like France – daredevils, backwoods ridge runners, city slickers with fast hot rods and shade-tree mechanics with smarts for speed – had raced what might be generously classiﬁed as jalopies. They generally were 1930s-era Americanmade coupes rebuilt with the art and science of speed in mind. Usually, they ran better than they looked – especially after they had a few laps of dust, dirttrack rocks and rivals’ fender paint pockmarking their exteriors.

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NASCARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s days on the dirt tracks ended long ago, but the fenderbending action is as exciting today as it was in 1949 with Buck Baker and Curtis Turner. ISC Archives via Getty Images / Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

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Right: Vintage race cars line pit road during the Darlington Historic Racing Festival in 2009 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images Bottom Right: Race cars from the 1940s, like this one at the 2009 Legends UARA Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, didn’t vary too much on the outside from what folks saw at dealers’ showrooms. They also did not carry much advertising, unlike this one that promotes Junior Johnson’s legally marketed “Midnight Moon” moonshine. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images Below: Underneath the hood, car builders and mechanics in the 1940s and 1950s took advantage of every angle NASCAR allowed to make the cars run faster. NASCAR rules continue to evolve with changing technology and creative engineering of race teams. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

This sort of racing was fun, but France had bigger and better ideas. First, he wanted to corral the wild mixture of drivers, mechanics and ne’er-do-wells who populated the sport in the early days. Then he wanted to organize them into a racing group that could be defined by a set of rules and a manageable schedule. Finally, with a vision that has proven to be perfect, he wanted them to race street cars – not modified junkyard refugees but genuine Fords, Chevrolets and Chryslers off the showroom floor. He wanted the same cars in competition that Americans parked in their driveways and drove on their parkways. This, France reasoned, would pave the road to success for this fledgling sport. During the past 60-plus years, as the sport France spun into orbit grew, changed and accelerated onto new paths, his basic premise has survived, even though the car of those long-ago yesterdays has been replaced by the highly engineered machines fans see today. From the bulky Pontiacs and Hudsons of the early days to the super-sleek Chevrolets and Toyotas of the new century, the NASCAR race car has evolved along a timeline of speed and need. The Beginnings Although Bill France wanted to move on from the 1930s and 1940s jalopy racing that had defined stock-car racing, particularly in the Southeast, it is clear that the way those first stock-car racing vehicles were built had influences over the type of cars that NASCAR allowed

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when its Strictly Stock (later NASCAR Sprint Cup) series began in 1949. The modified jalopies that raced on short tracks generally were 1930s Fords (typically 1934, 1937 and 1939 models with flathead V8 engines) with various modifications. Speed Age, a popular racing magazine during the sport’s early years, zeroed in on the 1939 Ford Coupe and its preparation for racing. Remove the inside door handles and window cranks, the magazine’s editors suggested, because “all of these items are aimed directly at you when you are flipping, so they cannot harm you if they are not there.” Many of the race cars of those days were rescued from junkyards and refitted for competition. But, when France unveiled his Strictly Stock series before a huge crowd at North Carolina’s Charlotte Speedway on June 19, 1949, American-made sedans that appeared to be fresh from dealer showrooms graced the field. The 33-driver lineup started the 150-mile race in Buick Roadmasters, Oldsmobile 88s, Lincolns, Chryslers and Fords – nine makes in all. In many ways, the cars were very similar to the vehicles fans had driven to the track to see this new spectacle – with a few exceptions. The race cars had crudely painted or taped numbers, and their headlights and grilles were taped over in mostly futile attempts to protect the cars’ bodies against rocks flying from the rutted racing surface. Inside the cars, the drivers sat on the same bench seats installed by the factory. In some cases, the radios and cigarette

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lighters still worked, and drivers were known to make use of both during races. Virtually everything in the interior was stock, although some drivers made passing attempts at safety enhancements by installing airplane safety belts or cheap cords they placed across their laps. “There were guys in that ﬁrst race who didn’t have safety belts,” said legendary driver Tim Flock, one of the participants. “One guy had a truck inner tube around him. Another guy had a rope. The cars were just like they came from the dealer inside. No roll bars, nothing.” Jim Roper, driving a 1949 Lincoln, won the race after NASCAR disqualiﬁed another driver for altering the suspension of the car. The race to be faster and test the limits of what NASCAR allows endures to this day. All ‘Tired’ Out Occasional advancements were made in the cars during the 1950s, but France’s baseline idea of racing factory models like those sold to the general public held fast. The “strictly stock” cars faced one of their most imposing early tests September 4, 1950, at the newly opened Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. The track, built on a wing and a prayer by Darlington resident and racing enthusiast Harold

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Brasington, was NASCAR’s first asphalt facility, and it was to open with a 500-mile race, an unheard-of endurance challenge for the stock-cars and their drivers. The day held a certain amount of wonder. Could stock-cars last for 500 miles at high speeds? Would drivers collapse from heat and exhaustion? “The cars had to be really strictly stock, just about like they came off the street,” said longtime NASCAR car owner and mechanic Bud Moore, who entered the first Southern 500. “Most of us were running street-type tires, mostly the best high-performance tires you could get. I changed so many tires with a four-way lug wrench I wore myself out. Red Byron was driving a Cadillac for Red Vogt. They said they used 75 tires. “To be frank, we were all a little on the dumb side as far as the weight of the car and the tires we had and the speeds we were running.” As matters developed, the day’s two biggest problems were exploding tires and engine overheating. The passenger-car tires used on most of the race cars simply couldn’t handle the speeds and the abrasive surface, and lap after lap punished the engines. Johnny Mantz, the slowest qualifier in the 75car field, won the event by pacing himself and preserving his tires and car. Some of his competitors ran out of tires in

At the first NASCAR Strictly Stock race in Charlotte, N.C., Otis Martin’s 1948 Ford (19) leads Red Byron’s 1949 Oldsmobile (22) toward Turn 1 at the threequarter-mile dirt track. Jim Roper won the race after NASCAR officials disqualified Glenn Dunnaway for using illegal rear springs. ISC Archives via Getty Images Buck Baker, shown in the No. 89 Hudson he raced in 1952, drove a bus before trying his hand at racecar driving in 1939. He became the first driver to win consecutive championships in NASCAR’s premier series – 1956 and 1957. ISC Archives via Getty Images

the early going, and team members ran out into the track’s infield and removed tires from spectator vehicles to mount on the race cars’ wheels. From Street to Track Some of the first race cars weren’t changed radically for a practical reason – they also were the cars that their owners drove on the street. Most of the cars that raced in the first NASCAR Strictly Stock event in Charlotte were driven to the track. One was literally plucked out of the spectator parking lot adjacent to the track and used in the race. Among the first on-track vehicle-related problems to be addressed by NASCAR officials was trouble with wheels. The stock units often could not withstand the pressures of high-speed racing into the turns on washboard-like dirt tracks, and they popped like popcorn. Early on, series inspectors allowed reinforced wheels. “The wheels got better after a few races,” said trailblazing driver Buck Baker, one of NASCAR’s early stars. “We had to make double-plated wheels. I used to cut the center out of one and put it in another one to strengthen it. Everybody did things like that.” Particularly in NASCAR’s early years, improvisation was a major tool. During a race at Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway in the 1950s, Baker broke his car’s steering wheel.

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“I drove with a pair of Vise-Grips the rest of the race,” he said. “I already had them in the car, so I just clamped down on the column and turned it with the grips. It didn’t go as fast as normal, but I ﬁnished the race.” Specially built steering wheels came along much later. Wrestling the steering wheels of the 1950s race cars on bumpy dirt tracks resulted in bloody hands for many drivers. Some drivers taped parts of the steering wheels with electrical tape to cut down on friction. After it became evident that this new sort of racing was going to be successful, car companies began jumping on board, sometimes with high-performance or heavy-duty parts (sometimes called, in something of an understatement, “severe usage” kits). Hudson had success in the early 1950s with its Hornets and became the ﬁrst car manufacturer to offer drivers and teams substantial support. “The factories got involved and started trying to make their cars faster and safer,” said driver Russ Truelove. “They supplied some of the hardware – usually stronger parts – necessary to change your car to make it more effective racing. Almost every race there was new stuff that came out to allow you to have that edge. Everybody was after that edge.” Roll bars, designed to protect the driver in case of a rollover or side impact, were added to some cars early in the 1950s, but other drivers simply ignored the advancement.

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Left: Bill Elliott ran the fastest qualifying lap in NASCAR history – 212.809 mph – in 1987 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. A few months later at Daytona International Speedway, smaller carburetors limited horsepower in the cars, and when the 1988 season opened, NASCAR mandated the use of restrictor plates at the two race tracks. ISC Archives via Getty Images Below: Buddy Baker, shown at Daytona International Speedway, became the ﬁrst NASCAR driver to race over 200 mph on a closed course at Talladega Superspeedway in the winged Chrysler factory car. His speed reached 200.447 mph in 1970. ISC Archives via Getty Images

They didn’t want the extra weight in the cars. Eventually, NASCAR made the bars mandatory. They soon became high-tech, quite different from the ones driver David Pearson installed in one of his cars in the 1950s. His roll bars were made from a metal bed frame his mother had discarded. Goodyear, a dependable NASCAR partner, arrived on the scene in 1954 and conducted numerous tests on potential racing tires before officially joining the sport in 1958. A Big New World Nothing changed NASCAR racing in its first 10 years more than the opening, in 1959, of Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5-mile, high-banked track that was a virtual frontier. When drivers and team members entered the sparkling new track before the 1959 Daytona 500, they were staggered by its size. When drivers left the infield and hit the track for the first time, they were astonished at the way the vehicles reacted. The speeds were so high that front tires lifted off the ground in the turns. Suddenly, aerodynamics became a very important part of stock-car racing, and teams quickly discovered that their cars cut through the Daytona wind better if they were closer to the ground. “I guess you could call that the beginning of the beginning,” driver and team owner Cotton Owens said. “It was a crazy

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feeling when the front wheels started lifting. Nobody likes that feeling when you’ve got no feel of the steering wheel. Everybody started lowering the nose, trying to get a feel of the car. And we raised the rears. We learned a lot in that first year at Daytona.” Thus began the task of modifying cars to adjust to high speeds and long-distance races. Along the way, the concept of aerodynamics became more refined, and teams toyed with the shape of the fenders, hoods and rear decks of cars to make better use of air currents. Ultimately, this would bring the wind tunnel into NASCAR racing, allowing teams to check the results of body changes without actually putting their cars on racing surfaces. The mid-’60s also brought dramatic change as racecar drivers began moving away from the idea of turning passenger cars into race cars and began the process of assembling purpose-built race cars, or vehicles designed from the floor up strictly for competition. Thus, the cars became less “stock” and more “special,” particularly in the chassis and frame areas. The punishment of the race track required stronger and better designed chassis parts and steering systems, and a number of specialty race shops opened their doors to supply race teams with bare chassis. Upon delivery to the team shops, the chassis would be outfitted with body sheet metal, an engine and other parts and pieces.

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Speed for Sale Holman Moody’s shop in Charlotte, for many years the hub of Ford Motor Company’s stock-car racing operations, played a key role in the development of the tube-frame, purpose-built chassis platform upon which rested thousands of race cars over the years. Car builders like Banjo Matthews, Mike Laughlin and Dick Hutcherson jumped in with variations of the original and built successful operations supplying teams with everything from bare-bones chassis to virtually complete race cars. “The Sixties brought on big changes,” said driver Ned Jarrett, who won two NASCAR championships in the premier series during the decade. “In the Fifties, the cars were pretty stock. We had just the basic roll bar coming over the driver’s head. In the early Sixties, we started adding more roll bars and eventually got to the concept of the roll cage. The Sixties also was the time when we started making special chassis parts as opposed to welding to strengthen what was already there. Before, it was a matter of just welding a piece of metal onto the car’s A-frame to make it more durable. But people started making special, stronger A-frames for racing and special spindles that were larger and stronger.” As the vehicles NASCAR drivers raced got stronger, many parts evolved with them, including pieces to increase protection of the drivers and crews. Those years saw the development and widespread use of the rubber fuel cell, a “bladder” device placed inside the fuel tank to lessen the possibility of gas spillage in crashes, as well as driver uniforms with flameproof material and an in-car fire-suppression system. As bigger, longer tracks were added to the NASCAR landscape in the mid-’60s and faster speeds logically followed, the sport went through an engine war of sorts as manufacturers attempted to put more and more powerful motors in their race cars. In 1964, Chrysler rolled out its huge and powerful Hemi engine, and its cars dominated the Daytona 500 as speeds climbed dramatically. Richard Petty qualified his car at 174.418 for the race (which he won) after turning a time-trial lap at only 154.785 the previous year. Team owner Cotton Owens called the Hemi “the cheapest horsepower engine there’s ever been.” Increased speeds also put new pressure on tiremakers. Responding to one of the sport’s biggest needs, Goodyear in 1965 introduced its Lifesaver Inner Tire, a major safety advance that introduced a “tire within a tire,” an inner liner that served as a backup in the event of a blown tire. That technology lasted until 1991, when Goodyear developed a tubeless inner liner. The 1968 season began a grand run for Goodyear. Since that year, every NASCAR champion in the premier series has raced on Goodyear tires.

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Above: NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson makes a pit stop in the No. 27 Chevrolet during his winning run in the 1960 Daytona 500. Legendary chief mechanic Ray Fox and his crew tended to the vehicle. ISC Archives via Getty Images Right: NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Bud Moore (right) built Bud Moore Engineering in Spartanburg, S.C., and became a legend for his knack at making what looked like showroom cars into NASCAR champions. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Finding Rare Air In the mid-’60s, aerodynamic development included the arrival of the rear spoiler, a metal strip across the back of the rear deck. Over time, the spoiler became one of the most important car-control devices in the history of the sport. It was designed to “catch” the wind flowing over the back of the car, thus assisting in “planting” the car to the surface of the track with downforce. By increasing the spoiler’s size and/or angle, car builders (and NASCAR rules makers) could have a major impact on how cars reacted. The ultimate “spoiler” appeared in 1969 with the arrival of cars like the Dodge Daytona and (later) the Plymouth SuperBird, sleek race cars with mounted wings soaring above the rear decks. It was a period of dramatically accelerating speeds as Buddy Baker recorded the first official 200-mphplus lap in a test session at Talladega Superspeedway in March 1970. Driver Cale Yarborough said speeds at NASCAR’s fastest tracks had reached the point that, “You don’t drive, you aim.” The 1970 season produced another significant safety development, one sparked by a crash involving Richard Petty at Darlington Raceway. During the track’s spring race, Petty lost control exiting Turn Four, hit the outside and inside walls and barrel-rolled down the frontstretch. As the car flipped, Petty’s left arm could be seen popping through the driver-side window. Within two months,

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NASCAR had mandated the use of window nets, a rather simple device with a profound impact. In 1973, Goodyear moved away from treaded racing tires and introduced the “slick” to NASCAR racing. The switch was made as Goodyear was involved in one of a series of “tire wars” between tire manufacturers in the racing arena, and the basic idea behind the development of the slick tire was that more rubber in contact with the racing surface would provide more grip and, thus, more speed. The slick has been around ever since. ‘Down-sizing’ Begins Adapting to shifting consumer demand and increasing gasoline prices, the Detroit, Michigan-based auto manufacturers made dramatic changes in the late 1970s and early 1980s that soon brought major changes in the appearance of cars at race tracks. For the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the rules “down-sized” cars, shortening the wheelbase of its cars from 115 to 110 inches, largely because higher fuel prices had made smaller cars more popular with the general public. NASCAR chose to follow suit, and the days of the muscle car and the beefy race car ended. In 1982, relative newcomer Geoff Bodine introduced to NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing something that was then considered revolutionary but now is used every day – power

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steering. When Bodine showed up for a race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina with power steering in his car that spring, many along pit road chuckled. Soon, however, Bodine’s innovation became standard. Although rampant speeds, particularly at NASCAR’s two monster tracks – Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway, had a certain attraction for both drivers and fans, they had a glaring downside. Cars moving close to 200 mph sometimes thought they could fly, and the phenomenon of cars lifting off the ground reached a troubling level in May 1987 at Talladega when Bobby Allison’s car sailed into the frontstretch grandstand fence. This prompted NASCAR to start controlling speeds at Talladega and Daytona, first with smaller carburetors (July 1987) and later (January 1988) with a one-inch carburetor restrictor plate, designed to impede the flow of fuel and air to the engine and thus trim speeds. The plates, actually introduced in 1970 at Michigan International Speedway, remain a major speed-control device in modern NASCAR. The Age of The Flapper Although restrictor-plate speeds dropped dramatically from Bill Elliott’s all-time record run of 212.809 mph at Talladega in April 1987, NASCAR continued to wrestle with the problem of airborne race cars. Another part of

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the solution – roof flaps – arrived in 1994 after years of development. Now standard in all cars and trucks in NASCAR’s three national series, the flaps are designed to “pop up” as a car spins, thus disrupting air flow, slowing the car and assisting in keeping it on the ground. Goodyear set the sport on the road to major change in 1989 as it introduced radial tires to NASCAR’s premier series at a race in North Wilkesboro. Radials, replacing the traditional bias-ply tires, were used at short tracks in 1990 and soon became mandatory on all tracks. The change was a weighty one for drivers, because the “feel” of the tires was quite different and past conclusions about tread wear and endurance went out the window. Goodyear reached another milestone in 1997 as treaded rain tires – as opposed to the “slick” tires normally used in NASCAR events – debuted on a NASCAR exhibition race weekend in Japan. Teams practiced and qualified in the rain without serious incident, and the information gained proved valuable as Goodyear engineers continued development on rain tires for road-course use. NASCAR Nationwide Series cars raced in the rain in Montreal in 2008 using Goodyear’s treaded racing tires. In the past decade, Goodyear has made numerous changes to tire construction and compounds to keep 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Far Left: By 1990, NASCAR’s stock cars had taken on a look that set the cars apart from the showroom. Driver Brett Bodine rolled to the green ﬂag in the No. 26 Quaker State Buick at Charlotte Motor Speedway with Sterling Marlin in the No. 94 Sunoco Oldsmobile. Dozier Mobley/Getty Images Center Left: Known as the “Winged Warriors,” the storied wings of the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Road Runner Superbird rolled to NASCAR superspeedways in 1969 and 1970. Shown racing in 1970, Bobby Isaac’s No. 71 K&K Insurance Dodge, NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Bobby Allison’s No. 22 Coca-Cola Dodge and James Hylton’s No. 48 Ford roar three wide through the 33-degree banked turns at the track known then as Alabama International Motor Speedway. ISC Archives via Getty Images Left: NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Dale Earnhardt’s No. 2 Wrangler Pontiac leads the pack through Turn 4 during the 1981 Daytona 500. The Intimidator led four laps that day, but fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Richard Petty won the race. Dozier Mobley/Getty Images

pace with changes in racing: new, redesigned and resurfaced tracks, changes in horsepower and modiﬁcations in car design. “We stay in tune with all the changes,” said Stu Grant, who manages Goodyear’s worldwide racing efforts. “Over the years, we’ll typically change 90 percent of our racing compounds from one year to the next.” In the 1990s and 2000s, the idea that car performance could be improved dramatically through aerodynamics became more and more of a force in NASCAR. For much of the sport’s ﬁrst quarter-century, the underside of the car – its chassis and steering systems – had been the focus in the search for speed. On pit stops, crew members added or subtracted “wedge” from the car by using wrenches to change spring pressure, thus impacting the balance. Although that approach is still used, much of the focus of speed gain now is on the car’s visible surface, and extensive wind-tunnel testing and computer simulations are used to trim fractions of a second off lap speeds. One thing hasn’t changed – teams still dance right on the edge of the rulebook and sometimes over it – in attempts to get an extra edge through aero, engine or other advantages. NASCAR’s inspection process – a giant template grid is lowered on top of the car to determine if its measurements

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ﬁt – is designed to thwart such efforts. For a number of years, NASCAR actually brought “street” models of competing makes to race tracks so that their lines could be compared to submitted race cars. If the lines weren’t the same, the race car wasn’t “stock” enough. The process of squeezing every inch of performance from each car resulted in the introduction of high-level engineering to NASCAR, a wave of building momentum that began in the mid-1980s. Hendrick Motorsports, now one of NASCAR’s leading Chevrolet teams, employed its ﬁrst engineer in 1986. At the start of the 2010 season, the team had 42. On the Ford side, Roush Fenway Racing employed 36 engineers. Thinking About Tomorrow After a series of tragedies in the early 2000s, NASCAR accelerated its push for safety innovations. Several months later, it made the use of driver head-and-neck restraints mandatory. In August of 2001, NASCAR announced the opening in Concord, N.C., of a research-and-development facility with the major goal of designing a safer, less expensive, more competitive race car. The newly designed car, using some of the most dramatic 114

car-design changes in the sport’s history, debuted at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2007 and ran a partial schedule that season before becoming the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ full-time vehicle in 2008. A dramatic departure from the previous incarnation of race car, it was taller and wider, had a large reardeck wing and was different significantly inside the driver cockpit, where the seat had been moved four inches to the right to lessen the danger of driver-door impacts. NASCAR Sprint Cup cars now are outfitted with various creature comforts, including a driver cooling system, prominent padding and bracing in the cockpit area to protect drivers in crashes, individually molded carbon-fiber seats and “crush” panels that absorb impact in wrecks. NASCAR’s current race car is a far cry from the huge, hulking Hudson Hornets and Buick Roadmasters that roamed stock-car dirt tracks at the dawn of the sport. The evolution has been steady and sometimes extraordinary, but the goals remain much the same: speed, endurance and safety. Mike Hembree is a veteran Motorsports journalist based in North Carolina.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Left: Media members watch NASCAR ofﬁcials explain how they will examine cars at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord. These days, every part and piece of the car is scrutinized for safety and reliability. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR Center: NASCAR’s latest evolution of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car increased the area above the driver’s head and mandated an innovative roll-cage design that helps to absorb energy during an impact and deﬂect it around drivers. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images Below: The templates NASCAR uses to ensure conformity to rules is nearly as high-tech as the cars themselves. In addition to lasers, the system uses radio-frequency tags imbedded within the chassis to ensure teams are doing exactly as NASCAR expects. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

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NASCAR Maintains Grip on Success Through Years of Twist and Turns By Ron Koch The names and technologies surrounding NASCAR have changed, but the excitement and stories remains the same. Plymouths and Mercurys rubbed fenders and doors with Oldsmobiles at makeshift race tracks more than 60 years ago with names like Lee Petty, Tim Flock, Curtis Turner and Fireball Roberts in the driver’s seats. They wrestled cars – and sometimes each other – in dusty battles that thrilled everyone who watched. The dust is gone these days, but not much else has changed with the action on Left: Jimmie Johnson is the only driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history to have won four consecutive championships. The only drivers with more titles than Johnson are NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductees Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, who both won seven. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

the track with a few notable exceptions. First, things happen

Right: Jamie McMurray celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Daytona 500 in February 2010 and surprising nearly everyone in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

with characters like Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Joey

much faster these days. Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota and Dodge sport their models Logano and Kasey Kahne racing inches apart at dizzying speeds the founders could barely imagine. The post-race, garage-area justice that fed legendary tales of long ago have

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Reflecting a vision of what NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Big Bill France planned long ago, fans pack the grandstand at Daytona International Speedway as the starting field approaches the green flag for the start of the 2010 Daytona 500. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

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With four consecutive championships, Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 team has set the current standard of excellence in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

evolved into entertaining volleys of words that instantly hit the airwaves and cyberspace to feed the cravings today’s NASCAR fans have for being behind the scenes. “This is a contact sport,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said shortly before the 2010 season began. “We have the best racing in the world.” Secondly, and most importantly, a lot more people are in the grandstands, as well as watching, listening and reading about NASCAR. That didn’t happen as a fluke or passing fad. When Brian’s grandfather, Big Bill France, founded NASCAR, he had a vision of things others couldn’t see. Everyone at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1947 knew stock-car racing needed structure and stability. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that race-car drivers wanted the money they were promised for putting

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on a show – flighty promoters often took advantage of the drivers and never paid. Drivers and race-car builders also wanted a common set of rules and standards that would ensure everyone entered had something close to an even shot at winning. France knew racing needed more than that to evolve into the sport it deserved to become – fans. Lots and lots of fans. While France courted the support of auto manufacturers years ago with a philosophy of “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday,” he realized more than anyone that people wanted to root for the people driving the cars. France knew that cultivating and promoting the personalities and stories of race-car drivers would get people talking about the sport – and keep them talking about it long after they left the race track.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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Joey Logano, who became the youngest winner in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history in 2009, is a popular target for autograph hunters. Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Fans back then talked about Petty, Allison, Pearson and Yarborough the way fans banter about Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards these days. Millions of fans head to race tracks across the country to attend NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, and one of the guys they talk about these days as much as they did then is a driver named Johnson. Of course, NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson’s ridge-runner approach attracted attention a little more than 50 years ago. With four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships in the record books, Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet team are the talk of the track now. He dominated the early part of the 2010 season, winning three of the ﬁrst ﬁve races and pushing his NASCAR Sprint Cup career victory total to 50 in only 295 races. Only three

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drivers in NASCAR history did it faster: Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and Junior Johnson. Hitting 50 victories put him among the most celebrated drivers in NASCAR history and tied him with Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett for 10th-place on the all-time list. As the achievements, records and accolades accumulate, Jimmie Johnson remains humbled by it all. “I’m just proud of what we continue to do. It’s one thing to have some success, but to continue to do it year after year, to ﬁnd tracks that really are our weakest tracks, focus on them, get stronger and better at them, is a cool thing to experience,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it.” As he tries to climbs the all-time victories list and become only the third driver in history to win ﬁve titles in NASCAR’s premier series, Johnson does not allow himself to get lost in setting and achieving “numbers” goals. “I just want to win races. I want to keep doing what I’m doing.

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Kevin Harvick celebrates in Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia after winning the Kroger 250 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2010. Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

I feel extremely confident in the car, in my race team. The areas that we focus on, I feel like I really understand my weak spots,” Johnson said. During the 1980s, Bill Elliott fans rallied with cries of “Anybody but 3,” meaning they wanted anyone but Dale Earnhardt to win. In the 1990s, Earnhardt’s fans took that to new levels with chants of “Anyone but 24,” referring to Gordon’s phenomenal performances. Johnson is different. He’s modest, affable and difficult not to like. Waltrip describes Johnson’s – and his crew chief Chad Knaus’ – calculating style and late-race patience as the best NASCAR has ever seen. “Put him in the lead – or near the lead – at the end of a race, and I think he’s the best there’s ever been at bringing it home,” Waltrip said. That doesn’t mean Johnson doesn’t have a hunter’s instinct, though. He relishes in dominating the field and believes winning gives him an edge beyond the celebrations in Victory Lane. “I get caught up in that mind-game stuff and find a lot of

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satisfaction in it. I told Chad, ‘I don’t have a number of wins in mind, but I want to win a lot to frustrate the competitors,’” Johnson said. “I think over the last few years, we’ve been able to get in some guys’ heads, and I think it’s been helpful. I don’t want to lose that advantage if we can prevent it.” As a four-time NASCAR champion, Gordon knows what that takes. He’s experienced it and wants to feel that way again. “I feel people that work hard, have the right team behind them and truly deserve it should be able to enjoy wins and championships, and I’ll be happy for him if he does it again,” said Gordon, who is actually listed as Johnson’s car owner on NASCAR entry sheets and owner-point tallies. “But, still, inside of me I’m a competitor. I want to win. It doesn’t matter to me who we’re competing against or who we’re trying to beat that day – or for the championship. We want to win.” Finding and maintaining an advantage is a quest that began

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

When Tony Stewart straps into the No. 14 Chevrolet, no driver wants to win a race more than he does – and few in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series can match his intensity. Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

with NASCAR’s ﬁrst race on the sands of Daytona Beach in 1948. It continues today with drivers like two-time NASCAR premier series champion Tony Stewart, a member of the CocaCola Racing Family of drivers who bought his own team in 2008 and leads Stewart-Haas Racing as a driver and co-owner. Chasing the elements of success that Johnson’s team seems to have in abundance is no easy trick, even with teams of engineers and crew members scouring every piece of a race car for clues leading to speed. “It’s kind of a cool time in the sport,” Stewart said. “It’s not cool if you’re the guy that got your butt kicked by him, but it’s neat to know we have a sport that’s so competitive. There’s one team that’s been able to outperform every team for four straight years. It’s kind of hard to imagine, but it’s kind of cool to be a part of that era. “Like I say, you want to be the guy who’s doing it. It makes you appreciate what they’re doing, how hard they’ve had to work to accomplish their goals. The good thing is I feel like we have a shot at winning the championship this year.”

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Before this season began, NASCAR announced some fanfriendly changes. Officials set standard starting times for the races each week, either 1 p.m., 3 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., Eastern Time. Officials also clarified NASCAR’s position about the interaction between drivers on the track to ensure that colorful personalities and daring driving styles can take center stage. Then came the big news: NASCAR removed the rear-deck wing from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars and replaced it with a modern adaptation of a spoiler. Changes and explanations like that are what make NASCAR the premier motorsports attraction in the country. “Just because they make a decision, they don’t etch that in stone and say, ‘This is the way it’s going to be for eternity.’ They’re always going back and revisiting how they can make things better,” Stewart said. “It’s nice to be a part of something that’s that forward thinking, and that open minded and enough to keep looking at things and trying to figure out, as the times change, how they have to change to go along with them.”

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2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule Month February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Day 14 21 28 7 21 28 10 18 25 1 8 16 22 30 6 13 20 27 3 10 25 1 8 15 21 5 11 19 26 3 10 16 24 31 7 14 21

Location Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla. Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, Calif. Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, Nev. Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga. Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn. Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, Va. Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Ariz. Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Ala. Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Va. Darlington Raceway – Darlington, S.C. Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del. Charlotte Motor Speedway – Charlotte, N.C.* Charlotte Motor Speedway – Charlotte, N.C. Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa. Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich. Inﬁneon Raceway – Sonoma, Calif. New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, N.H. Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla. Chicagoland Speedway – Joliet, Ill. Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, Ind. Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa. Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, N.Y. Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich. Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn. Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga. Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Va. Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, N.H. Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del. Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kan. Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, Calif. Charlotte Motor Speedway – Charlotte, N.C. Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, Va. Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Ala. Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Ariz. Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.

TV Network FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX FOX SPEED FOX TNT TNT TNT TNT TNT TNT ESPN ESPN ESPN ESPN ABC ESPN ABC ESPN ESPN ESPN ESPN ABC ESPN ESPN ESPN ESPN ESPN

The schedules are subject to change. * Non-championship points event.

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2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Schedule Month

Day

Location

TV Network

February

Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla.

ESPN2

Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, Calif.

ESPN2

Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, Nev.

ESPN2

March

Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn.

ABC

April

Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon, Tenn.

ESPN

Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Ariz.

ESPN2

Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas

ESPN2

Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Ala.

ABC

Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Va.

ESPN2

Darlington Raceway – Darlington, S.C.

ESPN2

Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del.

ABC

Charlotte Motor Speedway – Charlotte, N.C.

ABC

Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon, Tenn.

ESPN2

Kentucky Speedway – Sparta, Ky.

ESPN

Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wis.

ESPN2

New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, N.H.

ESPN

Chicagoland Speedway – Joliet, Ill.

ESPN

Gateway International Raceway – Madison, Ill.

ESPN2

O’Reilly Raceway Park – Indianapolis, Ind.

ESPN

Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa

ESPN2

Watkins Glen International – Watkins Glen, N.Y.

ESPN

Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich.

ESPN

Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn.

ESPN

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ESPN2

Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.

ESPN2

Richmond International Raceway – Richmond, Va.

ESPN2

Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del.

ESPN2

Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kan.

ESPN2

Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, Calif.

ESPN2

Charlotte Motor Speedway – Charlotte, N.C.

ESPN2

Gateway International Raceway – Madison, Ill.

ESPN2

Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas

ESPN2

Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Ariz.

ESPN2

Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.

ESPN2

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

The schedules are subject to change.

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2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Schedule Month

Day

Location

TV Network

February

Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla.

SPEED

March

Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Ga.

SPEED

Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, Va.

SPEED

April

Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon, Tenn.

SPEED

May

Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kan.

SPEED

Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del.

SPEED

Charlotte Motor Speedway – Charlotte, N.C.

SPEED

Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas

SPEED

Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Mich.

SPEED

Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa

SPEED

Gateway International Raceway – Madison, Ill.

SPEED

O’Reilly Raceway Park – Indianapolis, Ind.

SPEED

Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa.

SPEED

Nashville Superspeedway – Lebanon, Tenn.

SPEED

Darlington Raceway – Darlington, S.C.

SPEED

Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tenn.

SPEED

Chicagoland Speedway – Joliet, Ill.

SPEED

Kentucky Speedway – Sparta, Ky.

SPEED

New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, N.H.

SPEED

Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, Nev.

SPEED

Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, Va.

SPEED

Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Alabama

SPEED

Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas

SPEED

Phoenix International Raceway – Phoenix, Ariz.

SPEED

Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, Fla.

SPEED

June July

August

September

October November

The schedules are subject to change.

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NASCAR’s Happy Campers Develop Storied Friendships By Cary Estes Richard Petty once proclaimed that the ﬁrst auto race probably happened immediately after the second car was built. If that is a fact, then undoubtedly the ﬁrst race fan soon followed. “Followed” is the appropriate word, because nobody follows their sport quite like race fans. Week after week on the NASCAR circuit, small cities spring up at the track wherever a race is being held. Thousands of colorfully clad people descend upon the site, unload their grills and televisions and chairs, and proceed to settle in for a week or more of fun and camaraderie.

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NASCAR fans’ passion and support of their sport is unrivaled. Thousands show up at the track each week days before a race to camp out, cook out and party with friends. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

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The top of fans’ recreational vehicles become makeshift sports pubs, complete with televisions, radios and frequency scanners so they can listen in on the talk between the drivers on the track, the race spotters high above the suites and the crew chiefs in the pits. Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images

Granted, NASCAR became popular for the action on the track, and the racing remains the common denominator that draws fans together. But, for many, another true appeal of the sport is the action that takes place outside the track, as NASCAR nation unites in a sea of wide smiles. “It is like being thrown into a room of best friends who are strangers,” said Melody Sink, a race fan from Thomasville, N.C., who has been regularly attending the races at Charlotte Motor Speedway with her husband since 1990. “We’ve met so many people. That’s what we like about it. We keep building friends, and some of our friendships have lasted 20 years.”

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Sink is a prime example of the way NASCAR can unexpectedly grab hold of a person and never let go. She and her husband had never been to a race when they went to Charlotte for the ﬁrst time, and Sink admits she originally thought it was simply going to be an interesting way to spend an afternoon. Then the race started – and Sink was hooked. “Our seats were near the flag stand, and when those cars got all wound up coming off the fourth turn on that first lap, the hair was standing up on my arm,” Sink recalled. “I had never seen that many cars that close together going that fast. It was awesome. We were riveted the

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Fans enjoy a snack during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway in 2009. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

whole time, and decided we were going to become more involved.” Sink’s interest reached another level a few years later when she and her husband decided to join the tailgating scene outside the track. Once again, just like what had happened at that ﬁrst race, they quickly realized they had found a new passion. “Everybody has the same interests, so that automatically gives you a feeling of camaraderie even if you don’t pull for the same driver,” Sink said. “If a complete stranger walks by wearing a T-shirt of another driver, you can say something to them and they’ll say something back. It’s just fun.”

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Indeed, the good-natured joking that can take place among NASCAR fans is one of the appeals for the tailgating crowd. Fans will see a supporter of an opposing driver, make a few derisive comments, and then offer them a hamburger and a cold drink. Sometimes these lighthearted rivalries can extend beyond mere words. Sink, who used to work as a police ofﬁcer, discovered this during one of her ﬁrst camping trips at Charlotte Motor Speedway, back when Rusty Wallace was her favorite driver. “We left one time, and when we came back they had wrapped our entire camper in police tape, and they had a

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From the tops of motor homes parked close to the turns, fans get a great view of the action. Brian Cleary/ISC Archives via Getty Images

chalk line on the ground of Rusty Wallace,” Sink said. “They had set up this whole crime scene. And then later we went to downtown Charlotte to eat, and when we came back people had lit candles and set up a vigil. It was hilarious.” Like many tailgaters, Sink and her husband will camp out at the track for several days. For this group of dedicated fans, the race weekend is merely the culmination of a weeklong party. The track becomes their home away from home, with no pesky job or household chores getting in the way. “Campers are without a doubt our best fans,” said Adrian Parker, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s director of communications. “They come early, they stay late. There

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are people who are on our property for up to 20 days during our spring events. Everybody likes to say we always treat fans like family. Well, these people practically are family. If they come back for a week in the fall, that’s a month out of the year they spend with us. “And these are some of the nicest people in the world. I’ll walk around the campgrounds and people will say, ‘Come on over, we’re cooking up some hot dogs.’ The friendly nature, the camaraderie and the environment is second to none. You kind of get that at a college football game, but not for the extended amount of time that you do on a NASCAR weekend. It’s a way of life for these fans.”

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

A fan of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Juan Pablo Montoya shows her colors at Daytona International Speedway. Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR Celebrity chef Mario Batali made the cover of Life magazine in 2006 when he whipped up his favorite tailgating recipes. Batali’s book, Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style is part of the NASCAR Library Collection and is available to fans at online sites like Amazon.com. Brian Finke/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

The appeal is not just local. Fans will travel thousands of miles to attend a race at their favorite track. It is not unusual for tracks to boast that they sell tickets to people in all 50 states. And when fans travel that far, you had better believe that they are going to stay for a while. That certainly is the case for Dallas, native Tony Martin, who has been a tailgating regular at Talladega Superspeedway since 2005. He went to his first race the year before with his father-in-law, and had such a good time that he began inviting friends to make the trip each year for the track’s April race.

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“It’s almost like Mardi Gras out there,” Martin said. “It’s a great atmosphere, and it’s amazing all the people you meet and how far away they come from. It’s just a lot of fun.” Martin’s annual road trip has grown to the point that a total of 10 people make the journey in two motor homes. They arrive at the track on Wednesday and stay until Monday. For ﬁve days, they do not leave the Talladega Superspeedway property. “We go shopping the day before and make sure we have everything we need,” Martin said. “All our grill stuff, our meats – last year our food bill was $1,500. We have several

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100-quart coolers that we bring. We just relax, cook out and meet new people.” Martin said it is the people who make the place so special. During race week at Talladega Superspeedway, a wide crosssection of hardcore racing fans and hardcore tailgating fans mix and mingle with ease. Martin’s group brings along a large ﬂat-screen television and a satellite dish, and they usually watch sports events outside their motor homes on the nights leading up to the weekend races. That is how this group of Texans found themselves one evening sitting outside a race track in Alabama watching a hockey game with some people from Canada.

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“We probably had 50 people around our bus, watching the game and having a great time,” Martin said. With about 3,000 acres, Talladega Superspeedway is an ideal tailgating location. Rick Humphrey, who served as president of Talladega Superspeedway until March and is now a vice president with International Speedway Corp., said he has heard from numerous fans over the years who say that camping out before the race can be as enjoyable as the race itself. “There’s certainly loyalty and passion to the sport, but there’s also a loyalty and passion to the experience,” Humphrey said. “It’s as much about camping beside Joe

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Far Top Left: Young NASCAR fans get in on the action more than ever when they attend the race with their families. Scanners have evolved so that multiple headsets can be attached, allowing all of them to get an insider’s take on what’s happening on the race track. Grant Halverson/Getty Images for NASCAR Far Bottom Left: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series action brings out the best in fans across the country. Jonathan Ferrey/Allsport Concepts/Getty Images Top Center: NASCAR fans, some of whom spend days at the race track camping, get their shares of thrills during the race. Jonathan Ferrey/Allsport Concepts/Getty Images Above: As well as fare prepared by the “Couchman” chef, Bill Montgomery’s deck at Charlotte Motor Speedway has seen a billiards table or two over the years. Courtesy of Bill Montgomery Left: Enduring more than 30 years at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bill “Couchman” Montgomery’s recliner- and sofa-topped deck in the inﬁeld near Turn 1 has become an institution during race weekends. As a guest of the “Coachman,” fans rest on comfortable recliners, many of which carry the colors and logos of their favorite drivers Courtesy of Bill Montgomery

Smith from Tulsa as it is watching Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt Jr. racing around the track. We welcome them with open arms. It’s like when you have somebody over to your house for an evening. That’s kind of what we do here. Except they stay for a week. “It’s just the sheer event of being here and seeing the people and tailgating and camping and staying on the property. People have come here and created relationships with people who they see only once or twice a year, but they met them here 20 years ago and now they share Christmas cards. And they make sure when they get here, they know where these people are and camp by them again.”

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One fan who has taken the camping experience to an ultimate level is Bill “Couchman” Montgomery, who has attended every race at Charlotte Motor Speedway since October 1978. Montgomery does not just attend the events. He has become an event. He gobbles up about a dozen camping spots in the inﬁeld near Turn 1, brings in 50 to 60 people and sets up a virtual couch city, complete with his own chef to do all the cooking. “We call it a twice-a-year time-share,” Montgomery said. “There’s a group right beside me from upstate New York who have also been coming for about 30 years. We see these people twice a year, every year.

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The menu among campers at race tracks across the country is as diverse as the crowd. From crawﬁsh gumbo and cornbread to ﬁlet mignon and shrimp skewers, no sports fan eats better at an event than a camper at a NASCAR event. Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images

“It’s all about the camaraderie. You have people down there who are unemployed and people who are CEOs of companies. And everybody gets along. Everybody has a good time.” Montgomery lives in Lexington, N.C., about an hour’s drive from the track. He said he takes two trucks and two trailers filled with couches, recliners, end tables and lamps, as well as plywood and scrap metal for the deck he constructs once he arrives. “I look like the Beverly Hillbillies going down I-85, with these couches tied up,” Montgomery said. “I need a bobblehead doll of Granny to take with me.” A Vietnam veteran, Montgomery said he always looks for two or three service members each race who he invites to his

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compound. He said those friendships are among the most special to him, and the most long-lasting. “I tell them to come down to the inﬁeld and I’ll take care of them. I furnish them all they want to eat and drink,” Montgomery said. “I’ll get e-mails from guys in Iraq and Afghanistan who I’d met at the track. ‘Hey, Couchman, the race is on. We were thinking about you.’ That means a lot to me. It means a lot to take two or three of these guys each race and still keep in touch with them.” Of course, not every fan turns the races into a week-long celebration. Some merely show up on race day. But they still come early and stay late, and for that one day they are having just as much fun.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

NASCAR fans camping at the race track don’t worry about ﬁghting trafﬁc after the race. Most relax in their motor homes or campers until the roads clear, then head home in comfort. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

“People will walk by and start talking with you, and before you know it you’re exchanging numbers,” said Toriano Gray, who has been a race-day regular at Charlotte Motor Speedway since the mid 1990s. “Then you see these people the next year, and the following year. That’s what has meant the most to me. It’s all walks of life. You have to go to the races to really experience that.” And go they do. By the hundreds of thousands. Year after year after year. They stake out their piece of property, and then they eat, drink and be as absolutely merry as possible. “It’s hard to see anything but a happy face,” Sink said. Finally, come Monday morning, this group of dedicated

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race fans begins to disband. The banners and lights come down, the furniture is stowed away, and the motor homes slowly chug out of the track, blowing their horns like ships leaving the harbor. “It’s like watching the dismantling of a city,” Sink said. “It all pops up, and then people just kind of dissolve and go on about their business.” But they will be back for the next race. Oh yes, they most assuredly will be back. They are NASCAR fans. It’s who they are and what they do. “God bless them,” Parker said. “We’re all a lot better off because of them.”

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Roaring into Racing History Charlotte Wins the Race for the NASCAR Hall of Fame “Racing was built here. Racing belongs here.” The statement ﬁlls the bill in dozens of ways: Point in arguments and counterpoint to others. Marketing slogan and community rallying cry. Description of the past and comment about the future. Simple truth and undeniable fact. A little more than six years ago, NASCAR leaders began to The NASCAR hall of fame is 150,000-square feet with more than 40,000-square feet of exhibits. the facility cost $209 million to build. discuss the possibilities of a NASCAR Hall of Fame – where it would be and what it would become. Hope swelled in the hearts of more than one community across the nation with dreams of enshrining NASCAR legends and welcoming millions of fans each year.

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When talk reached four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon’s ears, his simple, yet eloquent, words effectively ended the discussion. “Racing was built here. Racing belongs here,” Gordon said. Debates continued in board rooms and around water coolers, as did ﬂashy sales and marketing pitches, but those words, in racing terms, put the rest of the ﬁeld a lap behind Charlotte, N.C. The other communities made strong presentations and embraced the possibility of the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a staple of their future development plans. With NASCAR’s new headquarters building planned in Daytona Beach, Fla., just across the street from Daytona International Speedway and only a few miles from the spot where “Big Bill” France led a group that founded NASCAR, the community that prides itself on being “The Birth Place of Speed” proved a worthy competitor.

FUN FACT

By Ron Lemasters Jr. and Ron Koch

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Above: Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory leads the celebration in March 2006 after NASCAR announced it had chosen the city as its partner to host the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

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Below: NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France smiles as “checkered ﬂag” balloons and confetti fall after he announced Charlotte as the host city for the new NASCAR Hall of Fame. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

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Grand Marshals (from left) Tim Newman, Graham Denton, Bob Lauth, Richard Petty, Mayor Pat McCrory, NASCAR President Mike Helton, Rick Hendrick and John Tate celebrate after breaking ground for the NASCAR Hall of Fame on January 25, 2007 in Charlotte, N.C. Davis Turner/Getty Images for NASCAR

The ceremonial plaza in front of the NASCAR hall of fame is approximately 400,000-square feet and serves as the home for patrons’ commemorative bricks. Patrons may purchase bricks with driver images and track logos. burgeoning fan base enthusiastically supported the concept of welcoming the NASCAR Hall of Fame to the Heartland. While those cities embrace facets of NASCAR’s birth, growth, culture and history, only one had the show-stopping

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power of racing righteousness on its side. “Racing was built here. Racing belongs here.” Let there be no doubt: A lot more than words constituted Charlotte’s courting of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The NASCAR fan base here is unrivaled; the history of the sport ﬂows through every back road, ridge, mountain and valley. The people and personalities who built the sport – and make it what it is today – call North Carolina home. The city has its fair share of corporate and ﬁnancial strength, but none of the other candidate cities has the trump card: the NASCAR industry itself. More than 85 percent of all race teams in the top three NASCAR divisions – NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – are based within 30 miles of uptown Charlotte. They bring about 27,000 jobs and an economic impact in the billions of dollars. In the end, it was all that and a very important factor that most race fans did not consider that ended up being

FUN FACT

As the metropolitan queen city of the Old South, Atlanta, Ga., certainly touted its roots in racing, bulging population base, healthy corporate support and position as a transportation hub and destination for millions of travelers. In Richmond, Va., the passion for NASCAR runs as deep as anywhere, and its banking industry provided the marketing muscle to make it a contender. Kansas City, Kan., sits at America’s crossroads with NASCAR’s signature sponsor, Sprint, and the region’s

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (center) shares a light moment with NASCAR President Mike Helton (left) and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Richard Petty during the groundbreaking

A truck with a breaking-news message rolls through Center City in Charlotte after NASCAR announced that the new home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame would be Charlotte, N.C.. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

the key in Charlotte’s successful bid for the NASCAR Hall of Fame: infrastructure and established traffic flow. The city already boasted a large annual tourist flow, with the Convention Center drawing 500,000, Bank of America Stadium at 700,000, Time Warner Cable Arena beckoning 1 million and the Charlotte Motor Speedway in nearby Concord attracting more than 1.2 million annually. That fit with what NASCAR envisioned. Ron Kimble, the deputy city manager in Charlotte and the person then-City Manager Pam Syfert put in charge of the city’s efforts to bolster a communitywide proposal, is credited by many involved with being a key to Charlotte’s success in attracting the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

FUN FACT

“This once again conﬁrms that Charlotte is the undisputed king of public-private partnership planning,” Kimble said. “The City Manager and City Council deserve huge credit in setting reasonable parameters and criteria for the Hall of Fame project and making sure that the team met those criteria.” While Kimble led the city’s work, he credited Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority CEO Tim Newman as the “crew chief” who led the effort to make it all happen – and it all began with Newman’s lunchtime conversation in 2004 with longtime Duke Power executive Winston Kelley about expanding Charlotte’s possibilities with NASCAR. As a veteran race broadcaster, Kelley’s knowledge and sources within the NASCAR community are extensive. A few weeks later, they met for lunch with Mark Dyer, who then was NASCAR’s vice president of There will be more than two dozen cars displayed licensing and consumer marketing and a leading in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. One of the most proponent of a NASCAR ofﬁce tower uptown. prominent is the 1967 Plymouth Belvedere that “One of the things he (Dyer) said as we were Richard Petty drove to 10 straight victories in wrapping up was, ‘We’ve kicked around the idea of 1967. He won 27 races that year in the machine. doing a NASCAR Hall of Fame,’ said Kelley, who is

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

ceremony for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Davis Turner/Getty Images for NASCAR

now the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s executive director. “‘It’s not ofﬁcial, we’re not doing anything. Do you think Charlotte would be interested?’ “Tim and I kind of glanced at each other and said, ‘I’m sure we would.’” Newman said Dyer told them to ponder how Charlotte might approach it from a development standpoint, but not to get too formal. That lunch meeting set things in motion. “We wanted to get as many people as we could on the team to ensure that we left no stone unturned. We had experts in any area that NASCAR might ask us about during the proposal,” Newman said. “One of the great things about working with the folks in Charlotte is that we have a great teamwork approach to everything. “A great community partnership is the hallmark of how Charlotte gets these projects done.” When NASCAR announced in 2005 that they were going to solicit bids for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Charlotte had begun gathering community assets and assembling a

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Lloyd Moore started 49 races at NASCAR’s top level between 1949 and 1955. He won only one race – the victory came at Funk’s Speedway in Winchester, Ind., in 1950. One of Moore’s aluminum helmets is among the artifacts in the collection at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. ISC Archives via Getty Images

tremendous group of civic helpers – Bank of America and Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) Bank, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the Charlotte racing community, led by Rick Hendrick. “We heard that a couple of other cities had approached NASCAR with the idea of a Hall of Fame and a pitch saying, ‘Here’s how we’d like to do it.’ We anticipated NASCAR having some sort of competition to locate their Hall of Fame, so we wanted to make sure we were in the mix,” Newman said. Before becoming the chief executive ofﬁcer of the CRVA, Newman got very familiar with the folks at NASCAR during his days as president of the Center City Partners, which is the uptown development group for the city. “We co-chaired an effort to keep the NASCAR Sprint AllStar Race in Charlotte, because there had been talk about it moving around. We worked closely with NASCAR, the folks at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the community to cement that event in Charlotte for as long as we possibly could. That’s how I got to know some of the folks working at NASCAR

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NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Bobby Allison, who won 84 races in NASCAR’s premier series, shares a laugh with NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley during a presentation in Charlotte. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

and felt comfortable working in that context once talk of the NASCAR Hall of Fame started.” With Newman in charge of the CVRA, he assembled his team. There were partners from the city of Charlotte in Kimble and then-City Engineer Jim Schumacher. Banking giants Bank of America’s Cathy Bessant and Jan Boylston took key financial and logistical roles, as did Wachovia Bank’s John Tate. Luther Cochrane of the construction firm BE&K joined the effort along with Mohammad Jenatian, who as part of the Greater Charlotte Hospitality and Tourism Alliance helped the group gather support for the hotel/motel tax. Also on board were Ravi Patel with SREE Hotels and Smoky Bissell with Bissell Companies. Charlotte’s mayor at the time, Pat McCrory, also took on a key role. “Mayor McCrory was much more than just a figurehead from the city’s standpoint,” Kelley said. “He was always a strong advocate of hospitality.

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Kimble took the lead in building support for the public side of the project’s funding. He led the effort to convince Mecklenburg County and its six other municipalities to give up their rights to portions of the two percent hotel/motel tax so that all the revenue could be devoted to paying for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, which in the end, would beneﬁt all of them exponentially. “We had to make sure that our plan not only pleased NASCAR, we had to ensure the community as a whole approved of it. We knew there would not be community support for property taxes being used to fund the project. That’s why we turned to the hospitality/tourism taxes coupled with private support to finance the project.” Finding the money to build the NASCAR Hall of Fame, expand the Charlotte Convention Center and build new parking areas became crucial to the proposal. Schumacher, who now is assistant city manager, joined the group early in the process to examine the practical side of the project:

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

the design and building of the NASCAR Hall of Fame; evaluating how much that would cost; and trying to marry that cost with the opportunity to raise money. Schumacher conceived the plan to rework the Interstate 277 interchange at Caldwell Street downtown and reclaim land that is now for sale to cover the costs of loans that helped build the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The city designed and handled the construction of the new intersection interchange, eliminating the clover-leaf design built in the early 1980s, which covered much more land. City leaders convinced the state to return the reclaimed land over to the city so its sale could generate money to pay for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. That’s where the partnership with the banks became key. Bank of America and Wachovia offered loan guarantees to get money immediately and allowed the city to use the reclaimed land as collateral. Since the appraised value of the land far exceeds the loan amount, Charlotte expects to pay off the loan and have a surplus to fund other projects around the community. He also pressed architects to embrace a request NASCAR made fairly late in the process about incorporating an office tower. His solution provided even more financial benefits for the city. “From the city’s perspective, we helped get NASCAR satisfied with the deal by providing them a place to have their offices,” Schumacher said. “We also put a $100 million privately developed and owned office tower on a piece of land that was already committed to a tax-exempt purpose. So we created tax base.” Kimble believes the late addition provided a key element to the proposal – Charlotte needed only 60 days to add an office tower concept to the site. “When we were able to get the office space NASCAR officials wanted, which they mentioned long after the process began, I think that gave us something no other proposal could offer and made us feel really good about what we had.” Newman said everyone knew the NASCAR Hall of Fame belonged in Charlotte, but they had to prove it. “That was one of the key things we focused on from the get-go – making sure that we had a way to pay for the thing before we made our bid,” Newman said. “The three things we

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Former NASCAR premier series champion Rusty Wallace places his commemorative brick in a pedestal at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

really focused on were the ﬁnancing plan – making sure we had an airtight way to pay for it; secondly, came the industry support – we felt like we could make the argument that no community could match our ability to get NASCAR driver and team owner engagement because the lion’s share of them are right here. “Finally, our philosophy about everything is that we’re going to work as hard as we can and not worry about what the competition is going to do – nobody out there is going to outwork us.” In the process of setting the city’s bid in concrete, Newman and the other “crew members” wisely enlisted Charlotte’s NASCAR community in the effort. Kelley said one of the calls went to Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick. “Rick Hendrick was called our honorary chair, but he was actively involved,” Kelley said. “Racing was built here. Racing belongs here.” Spoken words, as well as unspoken, became prominent.

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“Many in the industry came out in support of Charlotte because of where we are, but others who might have relationships with their sponsors in other places, like Atlanta, were neutral,” Kelley remembers. With each community now developing bids for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, there were speciﬁc plusses and minuses to each, but Charlotte possessed intangible factors the others did not. “We wanted it the most,” Kelley said, “and I think we had the best package, both ﬁnancially and the complex itself.” Schumacher agrees with that. “The beauty in the plan to site the NASCAR Hall of Fame as we did – actually adjacent to and connected to the convention center, provided a great opportunity because the two facilities complement each other,” Schumacher said. “Organizations planning conventions often look for something like the NASCAR Hall of Fame to host social and networking gatherings during the evening, so the Hall of Fame creates a unique venue for groups coming to our convention center.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France joins his sister, Lesa Kennedy, who is the CEO of International Speedway Corporation, in speaking to the media after the NASCAR Hall of Fame (at right) announced that their father, Bill France Jr., and grandfather, Big Bill France, are inaugural inductees. John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Of the five inaugural NASCAR hall of fame inductees, three of them are former drivers and have 326 combined NASCAR premier series victories as drivers and 20 championships in nascar’s premier series as a driver or owner.

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“Winston and Tim were the two people who really worked to make NASCAR aware of how badly Charlotte wanted the Hall of Fame,” Kimble said. “It’s possible that in years past, this community really didn’t embrace NASCAR in the way it does today, and the effort to attract the NASCAR Hall of Fame certainly galvanized that sentiment in a way that had not been made clear.” Kimble also singled out the work of attorneys in intellectual-property and ﬁnance negotiations with NASCAR in the late stages of the deal. City Attorney DeWitt “Mac” McCarley, and assistant city attorneys Bob Hagemann and Cindy White, worked with CRVA attorney Cameron Furr, the banks’ attorneys, and private attorney Glen Hardymon to ensure Charlotte’s interests paralleled NASCAR’s. Despite all the things in Charlotte’s favor, the team knew it faced tough competition. “We had a healthy respect for the competition, and we did not operate as though we thought Charlotte was a slam dunk as NASCAR’s choice,” Schumacher said.

FUN FACT

“The NASCAR Hall of Fame also beneﬁts because the convention center’s new ballroom lends itself to gatherings and events hosted in the Hall of Fame.” Kelley also describes the key elements as the Convention Center, where 500,000 people a year come through, the expansion of the Convention Center ballroom, the proximity to the industry and the fact that Charlotte’s concept made it sustainable, because there are other NASCAR, as well as cultural, things here to do in the area. “And because it would be more of a signature attraction here,” Kelley said. That is not to say the Charlotte team simply brushed aside the merits of the other communities seeking to host the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

A view of the NASCAR Hall of Fame (right) puts the Charlotte, N.C., skyline in the backdrop. Jason Smith/Getty Images

FUN FACT

Newman said the Charlotte community as a whole gave a tremendous boost to the effort in a way nobody could expect. “We also benefitted from some serendipity. When the NASCAR executives came to town to hear the proposal, thousands of people formed what amounted to a parade route to welcome them on their tour of the center city and Charlotte,” Newman said. “That kind of community outpouring, you can’t just create that if it doesn’t come of its own resolve. I think that opened NASCAR’s eyes to that Charlotte would be the best location.” To some in the industry, it was a no-brainer. There was speculation that the new NASCAR Hall of Fame would over-saturate the booming population with too much NASCAR and be a drain on the sport’s ability to draw new fans, but Hendrick put it in perspective. “How much can you grow the fan base with a hall of fame anywhere?” Hendrick said. “All the fans come here. It’s the racing capital. If you had all the NFL teams located

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Designed by Yvonne Szeto of the architectural firm of pei cobb freed, the NASCAR hall of fame’s exterior features a swirled facade that symbolizes a race track’s high banks that became the signature of nascar competition. in Charlotte, would this be where the Pro Football Hall of Fame should be,” Hendrick said. “You don’t build a McDonald’s in the middle of nowhere, you build where the people are, and this is where the teams are.” “I don’t think anyone can stay on the same lap with Charlotte.” In other words: “Racing was built here. Racing belongs here.” On March 7, 2006, NASCAR made its decision known. “Charlotte is where the NASCAR Hall of Fame needs to be,” NASCAR Chairman Brian France told a crowd of about 1,000 cheering people at the Charlotte Convention Center that day. So, Charlotte had the perfect location, the perfect team in

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The new complex in uptown Charlotte includes the NASCAR Hall of Fame, an ofﬁce tower, which houses NASCAR and other tenants, and a Convention Center ballroom. Scott Hunter/NASCAR Media Group

place and the perfect plan for the building. The NASCAR Hall of Fame, the attached addition onto the Convention Center and portions of the parking garage combine for a total cost of $195 million and are owned by the City of Charlotte. Lauth Properties funded and built the 300,000-square-foot ofﬁce tower that now houses NASCAR’s Charlotte ofﬁces and many other tenants. During what amounted to Charlotte’s post-race interview, McCrory summed up the city’s position

“Pasadena will always have the Rose Bowl. Nashville will always have country music. Augusta will always have The Masters. And, now, Charlotte will have NASCAR.” During its victory-lap celebration at the opening ceremonies in May, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is sure to proudly shout its mantra. Somewhere, Jeff Gordon and the rest of the NASCAR community that calls Charlotte home will be smiling. “Racing was built here. Racing belongs here.”

One of the most unique items that will be among those displayed in the NASCAR Hall of Fame is a “lug-nut installer” developed by the legendary Ray Fox. The device held five lug nuts in a star pattern, and they were magnetized. The tire changer had to fit the device on the wheel, twist and it would leave the lugs on the studs. Shortly after this was used for the first time, Fox came up with the idea of gluing the lugs to the wheel.

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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Bank of America instrumental in creating opportunity for Charlotte to be home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame

©Worthy Canoy

The City of Charlotte is an epicenter of arts and culture in the Southeast and features a host of world-class museums and other compelling cultural attractions. Undoubtedly, the NASCAR Hall of Fame will serve as yet another bastion for tourism to Charlotte. The grand opening of this state-of-the-art facility represents years of “behind the scenes” work and careful orchestration between NASCAR and a host of public officials and key partners. One of those partners is Bank of America, which provided both leadership and financial support as the Official Bank of NASCAR to help the community bring the NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte. Bank of America and NASCAR share a rich history of giving back to the local community

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and worked together to help create the opportunity for the NASCAR Hall of Fame to establish its roots in Charlotte. As a proud partner of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Bank of America was instrumental in helping to ﬁnance the construction of the facility. That ﬁnancing will, in turn, serve as a catalyst for driving economic development within the region. The NASCAR Hall of Fame enhances the already important economic role NASCAR plays in the region. For example, NASCAR contributes $5 billion annually in economic impact in North Carolina and $3.9 billion in greater Charlotte alone. NASCAR also helps maintain 25,000 jobs in the state, 17,000 of which are based in Charlotte. Economists predict that the NASCAR Hall of Fame will generate nearly $62 million in economic impact to

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Mecklenberg County and contribute to the creation of more than 700 jobs over the next three years. Bank of America’s investment in the NASCAR Hall of Fame will not only help fans honor and celebrate NASCAR’s heritage but will also stimulate growth within Charlotte and its surrounding communities. Fueling opportunity by investing in local communities is nothing new to Bank of America. Over the past ﬁve years the Bank of America Charitable Foundation has given more than $70 million to non-proﬁt organizations across the state. Bank of America’s partnership with the NASCAR Hall of Fame and its sponsorship relationships with NASCAR and the NASCAR Foundation are just a few examples of how the bank uses its sponsorships to contribute to the cultural and economic vibrancy of communities.

By financially and physically supporting projects like the NASCAR Hall of Fame through its sponsorship relationships, Bank of America helps to bolster local economies, create jobs and help fans to connect their passion for sports with everyday banking. Additionally, by banking and advising some of the most iconic and profitable sports properties in the nation, Bank of America is uniquely positioned to help burgeoning sports properties, like the NASCAR Hall of Fame, to enrich, strengthen and inspire local communities. Whether it’s providing complex financial solutions to leagues and teams, helping fans display their affinity for their favorite sports, or contributing to the economic impact of a community, Bank of America views its support for sports and arts and culture as a victory for its associates, customers, communities and shareholders.

Governor of North Carolina, Mike Easley, speaks to fans and media during the NASCAR press conference announcing that it has selected Charlotte, N.C. to be the home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

2006 archives

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Motor Racing Network

Ofﬁcial Radio Partner of Inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

MRN Radio – for more than 40 years, “The Voice of NASCAR” – is the ofﬁcial radio partner of the inaugural induction ceremony of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and will provide live coverage to broadcast afﬁliates across the country as the Class of 2010 is enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The initial group of inductees is comprised of Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty and Junior Johnson. Veteran MRN broadcasters Barney Hall and Joe Moore are anchoring the network’s exclusive coverage. NASCAR’s history and the emergence of MRN Radio as a clear, credible source for stock car news and motorsports coverage are intertwined. Both were founded by Bill France Sr. Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, has been a longtime announcer for the network and is one of the sport’s most widely known broadcast personalities.

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“For more than 40 years, fans have relied on MRN Radio as the clear voice and clear choice for their NASCAR news,” MRN President and Executive Producer David Hyatt said. “Our Hall of Fame coverage is a natural extension of that and we’re honored to play a part in this historic day.” Since ﬁrst hitting the airwaves in 1969, MRN Radio has chronicled some of NASCAR’s most memorable moments. The network was there when Earnhardt and Petty each won their seventh championship … for Petty’s historic 200th victory in July 1984 with President Ronald Reagan in attendance at Daytona International Speedway … Derrike Cope’s dramatic upset win in the 1990 Daytona 500 … and four straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships for Jimmie Johnson. MRN Radio’s Hall of Fame broadcast is part of an expanded programming lineup in 2010 that features exclusive coverage of

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the Grand-American Road Racing Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rolex Sports Car Series, as well as its award-winning broadcasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events. With this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s launch of its new Web site, the Motor Racing Network continues to broaden its scope beyond its signature brand of award-winning NASCAR race coverage. While the new Web site retains an emphasis on NASCAR and its top three national series, the new MotorRacingNetwork.com also features many other forms of racing including IndyCar, Formula One, NHRA, ARCA, World of Outlaws and the AMA.

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MRN Radio, now in its 41st year of broadcasting, is a division of International Speedway Corporation and the primary source for NASCAR stock car racing and related radio programming. Its award-winning play-by-play coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is delivered via satellite to more than 600 radio stations nationwide, as well as the American Armed Forces Radio Network. This makes MRN Radio the largest independent sports radio network in America.

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Join the Colorful Fun with M&M’s

Do you love NASCAR? Do you love colorful chocolate fun? Do you want a place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame? If so, we have the online destination for you! As the ofﬁcial chocolate of NASCAR and sponsor of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’S Toyota, M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies has been the front-runner in creating an online community where colorful NASCAR fans can connect and communicate regardless of which driver they cheer. M&M’S mission is to recognize, celebrate and reward fans for the love they bring to the sport all season long. To kick off the 2010 racing season, M&M’S launched an all new M&M’S Most Colorful Fans Virtual Tailgate zone on NASCAR. com. The Virtual Tailgate features exclusive, fan-focused content including news, tailgate recipes and opportunities for fans to connect and share their passion for NASCAR with each other via posts, photos and videos. The online community also gives fans tools to get “colorful” in their kitchen and tailgate with M&M’S inspired NASCAR-themed recipes. Fans can also share their passion inside the kitchen or on the grill by uploading their favorite race day recipes. The M&M’S Most Colorful Fan Virtual Tailgate site also includes Facebook and Twitter feeds, a driver newsfeed and weekly polls to give fans an inside look on and off the track.

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2010 also marks the third year of the M&M’S® The Most Colorful Fan™ of NASCAR Contest, giving fans the opportunity to show their colors by uploading photos to NASCAR.com/mcf. Running Memorial Day to Labor Day, the contest features new tools for fans to share and embed their own colorful photos across multiple social media web sites. The contest introduces exciting new prizes for 2010, including the winning fan being featured for one year inside the new NASCAR Hall of Fame! The 2009 winner, Cynthia Peace of Havana, Illinois, bested thousands of passionate NASCAR fans who participated in the contest to become the ﬁrst fan honored when the NASCAR Hall of Fame opened in May. Throughout 2010, M&M’S will continue to celebrate NASCAR fans and showcase the stories that make them special. M&M’S Fan Advocates Left Turn Lindsay and Right Turn Ryan will continue their search for colorful fans online and at track, syndicating content from Facebook.com, YouTube, and Twitter. Each page proﬁles some of the most colorful NASCAR fans – and the extent they go to get colorful – while providing an insider’s look at the No. 18 M&M’S team. For more information, visit: www.nascar.com/mcf or www.facebook.com/colorfulfans.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

NASCAR速 is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.

SPEED Woven into Fabric of NASCAR ™

With a new state-of-the-art, high-definition production facility located less than 12 miles from the NASCAR Hall of Fame and in the unquestioned epicenter of a region bursting with NASCAR history and present-day activity; SPEED is uniquely positioned to support NASCAR as its foundation and top priority. “It’s not by accident that SPEED is located in Charlotte,” said SPEED President Hunter Nickell. “We have consciously put ourselves in the active hub of NASCAR activity … we believe it is vital to our goals to be part of the scene that helps define the sport.” SPEED, now in more than 79 million homes in North America, continues to expand its commitment to NASCAR across all platforms, including weekly television programming, at-track fan interaction, Web initiatives and mobile applications. Named the official television home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, SPEED also is the exclusive home to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Gatorade Duel at Daytona and all three NASCAR season-ending awards ceremonies. In addition, SPEED provides weekly live coverage of NASCAR practice and qualifying sessions, as well as popular pre- and postrace programming. Shows like Trackside, NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane have become appointment viewing for ardent race fans. At the end of last season, SPEED added the nightly NASCAR program, NASCAR Race Hub, and the network continues to experiment with weeknight programming aimed directly at serving the NASCAR audience. At track, the SPEED Stage has become a destination for thousands of NASCAR fans on race weekends across the country. With

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multiple live-audience shows and continuous entertainment, the SPEED footprint occupies more than 14,000 square feet. In 2004, SPEED arrived at each event with one marketing trailer, manned by two full-time employees. Today, the operation takes ﬁve trailers and, coming in April, the lineup will include a new 53-foot, high-tech production trailer and green room. On the Web, SPEEDtv.com recently partnered with NASCAR. com on an initiative that allows for current SPEED programming to be sampled across both platforms, with SPEED producing shortform content speciﬁcally for both sites. In addition, SPEEDtv. com added award-winning NASCAR journalist Mike Hembree to its staff, securing SPEEDtv.com as a knowledgeable and credible source of NASCAR news and commentary. “If it is about NASCAR, SPEED will be there,” Nickell said.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk Sum of Winston Kelley’s Life’s Work Leads Him to NASCAR Hall of Fame By Ron Lemasters Jr. In giving a one-word description of his place as executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Winston Kelley uttered three syllables that offer a lot of insight into what makes him who he is. Kelley chose “fortunate.” Born into a racing family – his father was the first public relations director at Charlotte Motor Speedway and a longtime radio broadcaster in the sport – Kelley grew up immersed in the sport. “I tell people this a lot, and it’s not good English, but ‘I’ve never not known NASCAR,’” Kelley said. “If your dad hunts and fishes, you tend to hunt and fish. My dad went to the races, so we tagged along with him. Saw my first race in 1964, when my dad went to the Daytona 500. My parents took us out of school, got our homework assignments and we got to go there for the entire week. “I even got to meet Richard Petty after he won the race.” While his father was a mainstay in the business, his parents wisely told young Winston that it was smart to diversify. He did, graduating magna cum laude from North Carolina State University with degrees in business management and economics. “Back in the 1970s when I went to college, you couldn’t make a living as a broadcaster,” Kelley said. “So mom and dad told me, ‘Go get an education, and if you want to do

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something in racing, pursue it.’ After I got out of college, I started helping dad do some public-address announcing at high school football games to get some experience. I started talking to the Universal Racing Network folks that my dad had worked with, and I got on as a statistician. They gave me a small salary, but not enough to pay my expenses. I just wanted to be around it.” That was in 1979, and he went to North Wilkesboro Speedway to do public-address announcing. Bristol Motor Speedway followed soon after, and when the Universal Racing Network began to fade out, he started talking with the Motor Racing Network. He’s been there ever since, and continues to this day. “I was basically a gopher, but they called it a production assistant,” Kelley said with a fond smile. “I went to the race, helped set up equipment, helped tear it down, spotted the turns, ran information … with an eye on being able to broadcast, and I got to do that in 1988. That was my golf game. It’s been my golf game since 1988.” Meanwhile, he was climbing the corporate ladder at Duke Power, where he’d gone to work after graduating. “I became an ofﬁcer of the company, and I worked there for 27 years and never had a bad job with the company,” Kelley said. “I had things on my to-do list that I didn’t like to do, but I never had a job I disliked, never had a location that I disliked, never had a person I worked for or with that I disliked.”

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Through his association with Duke Power, one of the major players in the region, Kelley was able to broaden his reach to some of the civic boards that any big city needs to move forward. Those ties led him toward the job he now holds. “What it ultimately came down to was, I knew it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Kelley said. “I knew I would look back and regret, no matter how well things continued to go at Duke. My childhood heroes were the Richard Pettys, the David Pearsons, the Bobby Allisons … that era of people. “I thought, ‘I’m going to be part of building a place that honors them and their legacy, and that of their predecessors, Lee Petty and people like that. Not a lot of little boys and

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girls get to grow up and work with their childhood heroes. None of them call a lot, but when you look down and David Pearson is calling you, or Richard or somebody from his ofﬁce, I’m in a meeting and look down and say, ‘I think I’ll take this one!’” Kelley looks at the NASCAR Hall of Fame as serving two masters. “Our two primary customers or audiences are the guests who come through the door, whether they are die-hard race fans or somebody that hasn’t been around the sport and we want to educate about it … and the people we’re honoring. The industry we’re honoring, and the community we’re honoring, and even beyond NASCAR.”

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Winston Kelley (left) shares a laugh with nominee Bobby Allison during apresentation of commemorative bricks. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley is a well-known voice to NASCAR fans, having been a broadcaster with the Motor Racing Network for more than 20 years. Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

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Winston Kelley speaks with the media about an exhibit that includes the No. 32 Pontiac in which Ricky Craven won the closest ďŹ nish in NASCAR history. Craven beat Kurt Busch in 2003 at Darlington Raceway by .002 seconds â&#x20AC;&#x201C; literally an inch or two. Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

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NASCAR Performance Partners: In Gear and On Exhibit in NASCAR Hall of Fame

By Kimberly Hyde NASCAR Performance and its family of automotive partners are proud to be on exhibit in one of the most exciting additions to NASCAR in decades – the NASCAR Hall of Fame. NASCAR Performance partners are geared up to educate visitors on all things automotive, putting their trusted trackto-street technology on display.

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Amongst the 40,000 square feet of NASCAR history, projected to have 800,000 visitors in the ﬁrst year, NASCAR Performance is integrating its family of automotive brands via the NASCAR Performance Race Shop – an interactive exhibit within the “Race Week” exhibit section that will showcase today’s sophisticated, modern-day technology used by teams. It’ll give visitors a behind-the-scenes look on what it takes for team engineers and technicians to prepare a car for race weekend.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

It’s a natural ﬁt for NASCAR Performance partners. All are among the leading brands in the automotive industry and relied upon by motorists on the street everywhere and NASCAR teams for on-track performance. “This provides great value back to our partners and adds to the fan experience by putting trusted automotive brands in front of millions in an authentic way,” said Odis Lloyd, managing director of NASCAR Automotive Group. Many NASCAR Performance partner products are on display, including Edelbrock intake manifolds, Comp Cams’ crankshafts and camshafts, as well as Mahle gaskets. The exhibit will take visitors through a week in the life of a race shop. A streaming video featuring the No. 16 3M race car in the tear-down process is a focal point for visitors. A full-scale No. 77 Mobil 1 race car takes center stage in the NASCAR Performance Race Shop. Interactive computers allow visitors to strategize with crew chiefs and drivers on a car set-up, as well as customize their own race-car paint

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schemes. A quarter-panel cut-out will also be on display with authentic NASCAR Contingency Program decals. The following NASCAR Performance partners are included in the exhibit: 3M; Autolite; BWD/Standard; Canadian Tire; Comp Cams; Edelbrock; Exide; Goodyear Gatorback; Goodyear Gemini; Holley; K&N Filters; Lincoln Electric; Mahle; Mechanix Wear; Midtronics; Mobil 1; Moog; New Pig Wipes; NASCAR Technical Institute; O’Reilly Auto Parts; Raybestos; Safelite Auto Glass; Safety-Kleen; Schumacher; TRI; Velocity, Wheel Pros; Whelen; and WIX. The NASCAR Automotive Group, based in the Charlotte, N.C., ofﬁce, supports sponsorship and licensing partnerships of companies in the automotive category and the Prize Money & Decal Program. Under the NASCAR Performance brand, automotive partners build brand awareness among NASCAR’s 75 million fans by providing car-care products and services to motorists everywhere and their favorite teams on the track.

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Lowe’s Builds History with NASCAR

With support from Lowe’s, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team have won 50 races and four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships. Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

Lowe’s has been a part of racing for almost as many years as NASCAR has been around. Lowe’s is proud to be a founding partner of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., and excited to work with the NASCAR Hall of Fame to bring stock car racing history and tradition to its customers, neighbors and employees. The history of Lowe’s in NASCAR dates back more than 50 years. Lowe’s was the title sponsor of the Lowe’s 150 race in NASCAR’s premier series for races at the legendary North Wilkesboro Speedway for decades. Richard Petty was a spokesperson for Lowe’s in the mid-1960s and supported the “Petty Blue” riding mowers sold at Lowe’s stores. Legendary drivers such as Davey Allison and Harry Gant made special appearances at Lowe’s store grand openings in the 1980s. In 1995, Lowe’s began sponsoring the No. 11 Ford Thunderbird owned by Junior Johnson and driven by Brett Bodine. The

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following year, Lowe’s once again sponsored Bodine, who became the driver/owner that year of the No. 11 Ford. In 1997, Lowe’s became afﬁliated with Richard Childress Racing when former NASCAR Truck Series champion Mike Skinner was tabbed to drive the No. 31 Lowe’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Lowe’s current sponsorship of Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team began in 2001, and Jimmie continues to make history as the four-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. Most recently, he joined the elite ranks of greats such as Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt by winning his 50th NASCAR Sprint Cup race. As part of the partnership with the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Lowe’s will sponsor the Hall of Fame Kid’s Zone, the Transporter simulator and the Pit Road areas. The partnership is a natural extension of Lowe’s presence in NASCAR. In addition to sponsoring the No. 48 team, Lowe’s and Kobalt Tools sponsor the Kobalt Tools 500 races in Atlanta in March and Phoenix in November.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Junior Johnson scoots away from his No. 55 Pontiac after catching a rut in the sand and rolling the car several times during a 1956 race on the beach. Johnson climbed uninjured through the back window to get out and finished 40th in a field of 76 cars that day in Daytona Beach, Fla. He is an inaugural inductee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. ISC Archives via Getty Images

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Legendary Times When NASCAR Greats Get Away, They Call on the Great Outdoors By Ron Koch When fans want to ﬁnd the hideouts of NASCAR’s legendary drivers and car owners, they can eliminate places like air-conditioned ofﬁces, shopping malls and libraries. In fact, if the place has a roof and is not a garage or race shop, there is a very good chance they are not there. This bunch heads outdoors when free time allows. NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees Ned Jarrett and Walter “Bud” Moore share a link to golf courses, while Darrell Waltrip has spent years tending to his beloved horses.

And, when Richard Childress talks about “The Big One,” he’s not always referring to something that happens at a race track. Many times, Childress is talking about that big buffalo – or other exotic game – that he bagged on one of his numerous safari hunting trips. It could be an Argali ram in Mongolia or a woodland caribou in Newfoundland. From Russia to New Zealand to such vowel-deprived countries as Kyrgyzstan, if there is big game to be hunted, there is a good chance Childress has been there. Hunting is popular among NASCAR’s legendary ranks. But for most, a hunting trip means taking a quick morning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car owner Richard Childress looks over the No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet driven by Clint Bowyer at Martinsville Speedway. When he’s not at the track, chances are good that Childress is pursuing another of his passions, hunting. Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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jaunt into the countryside, climbing into a tree stand and returning to town in time for lunch. Childress takes it a bit more seriously, as did one of his closest friends, 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Dale Earnhardt. For years, Childress shared many of his hunting experiences with Earnhardt. While Earnhardt was not much of a big-game hunter, he loved heading to the woods with a rifle and trolling around the lakes on a bass boat to fish in North Carolina and throughout the United States, and Childress often joined him. Childress said hunting and fishing was a way of relaxation for Earnhardt, though the man known as “The Intimidator” maintained the intense level of competition in the woods that made him so successful on the track. “Dale was competitive in everything he did. So for him, there was as much at stake on a hunt as there was at the race track,” said Childress, who won six NASCAR championships with Earnhardt behind the wheel of the No. 3 Chevrolet. “It was always about getting everything out of the experience and doing things to the best of your abilities. If you shot

a bigger deer or elk than he did, it was going to be a long day. He just wanted to be the best at everything he did, and that’s what made him so successful. “But, as competitive as he was, he was at his most relaxed when he was hunting. He was at home in the outdoors,” Childress said. “One of his great enjoyments in life was to be hunting and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family.” Of course, there is the camaraderie, too. After all, the next best thing to going on a hunt is talking about it afterward. “There’s nothing like the experience of going hunting with your family or friends,” Childress said. “There are all the stories you tell around the camp, from that day’s hunt or from hunts years before. Talking about your shared experiences with family and friends is just as important to me as the hunt itself.” NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Bobby Allison shared Earnhardt’s love for ﬁshing – he actually won a few competitions on Lake Lloyd at Daytona International Speedway over the years.

The profile of NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Dale Earnhardt is unmistakable as he fishes from a boat near his home in 1987. As his popularity grew, fishing and hunting allowed him time to relax and get away from the demands of the business side of racing. Tony Tomsic/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

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“I love to get out and go ﬁshing,” said Allison, who also is one of the ﬁrst NASCAR stars to have gotten his pilot’s license and bought his own planes. “The world has gone to the video games and the electronic age, but the great outdoors is the greatest part of this world.” A few NASCAR greats were called cowboys in their younger years for their daring and sometime brash ways. These days it takes on a more literal meaning for Moore and NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson. They each tend to hundreds of cattle at their places. “When I’m not racing, it’s kind of fun to get on one of those tractors and keep after my cattle,” said Moore, a decorated World War II veteran who landed at Utah Beach on D-Day in 1944. “I still think about racing then, too. I guess that’s one of my biggest sources of fun, besides playing golf.” Johnson’s interests outside racing have been wellknown for decades, and the law didn’t take kindly to

some of them. In recent years, however, Johnson has gone legit with what made him an outlaw years ago. About three years ago, Johnson took his self-branded, legal moonshine public. It sells today as “Midnight Moon” and is produced in the state’s last legal distillery, Piedmont Distillers Inc. “Back in the old days, we learned to drive cars fast because we’d go to jail if we didn’t,” said Johnson, whose breakfast at his 200-acre estate is legendary among those lucky enough to have been invited. “Now, I own part of a legal moonshine company that makes the best shine ever.” Another NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee, Cale Yarborough, gave up one passion years ago to pursue another that ended up making him a NASCAR legend. While playing football on a scholarship to Clemson University in South Carolina, Yarborough found himself forced to make a tough choice.

NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Ned Jarrett (left) and his son, Dale Jarrett, shown after Dale’s victory at Indianapolis in 1996, are avid golfers. Dale actually turned down a college golf scholarship to pursue his racing career. Brian Bahr/ Getty Images

NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson still takes part in an occasional legends race, but most of his days are now spent on his farm, tending to cattle and other chores. John Harrelson/Getty Images

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“I was racing at a local track near home during the summer and had a chance to win the championship. I told coach (Frank) Howard that I needed to head home for the final race, and he told me to pack my things up and leave for good if I was leaving at all,” Yarborough said. “I did, but Frank Howard became one of my biggest fans.” Interests away from the track often manifest themselves as causes for NASCAR legends. NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Richard Petty champions the cause of seriously ill children with Victory Junction, a camp founded in memory of his grandson, Adam. Allison is never shy about helping current NASCAR star Ryan Newman with his Racing For Wildlife charity, and Childress is a strong supporter of the National Rifle Association. In 2010, he’s serving on the NRA’s Board of Directors.

“I got to know Kayne Robinson (NRA President) and Wayne LaPierre (CEO and Executive Vice President) from meeting them at the race track,” Childress said. “I was a big supporter of the NRA and its causes long before I became a member. I think it’s important to let people know how important the Second Amendment is as well as the many other things the NRA does to protect our rights as U.S. citizens.” Childress is once again a fixture on the NASCAR circuit this season, just as he has been every year since 1976. With his stable of three drivers – Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick – he continues to hunt that elusive seventh NASCAR championship in the premier series. That is not the only thing he will be hunting, though. “I just love being outdoors and getting away and being yourself,” Childress said. “It’s really very rewarding.”

NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Darrell Waltrip, shown with the No. 11 Mountain Dew car he drove for NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson. While Johnson gave him plenty of horsepower at the race track, Waltrip enjoys horsepower of the equestrian kind during his spare time. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee and aviation enthusiast Bobby Allison, shown during a gathering of racing legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2009, became one of the ﬁrst NASCAR drivers to get his pilot’s license and ﬂy to races across the country. John Harrelson/Getty Images

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LADIES FIRST NASCAR Holds Long History of Women with Drive to Achieve Success By Ron Koch Danica Patrick’s arrival on the NASCAR stage in 2010 didn’t break any gender barriers – that happened more than 60 years ago in the first NASCAR “Strictly Stock” race. While stock-car racing promoters have presented “Powder Puff Races” since the 1930s, putting women in the driver’s seat and fans in the stands, NASCAR’s pioneering women drivers were known as a tough bunch, willing to rub fenders with anyone wanting to finish before them. In NASCAR’s infancy on June 19, 1949, Sara Christian became the first woman to race in what today is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, finishing 14th in a 33-car field. The following week, Louise Smith and Ethel Flock Mobley joined Christian in the lineup for a race along the Daytona Beach shoreline. Mobley raced to an 11th-place finish, while Christian finished 18th, and Smith rolled home 20th. NASCAR’s first champion, Red Byron won that race, but all three women beat some guys that day that people might know: Curtis Turner and Buck Baker, the NASCAR premier series’ first repeat champion. Christian ran seven NASCAR premier series races, six in 1949 resulting in a 13th-place finish in the points standings, and one more in 1950. Her best finish was fifth at Heidelberg Raceway, a half-mile dirt track near Pittsburgh, Pa., in a 200-lap race won by Lee Petty. Smith, known in those days as racing’s “good ol’ gal,” occupied a place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame when it opened. A restored No. 94 Ford she raced is displayed in the Heritage Speedway exhibit on the third floor. Smith ran 11 races before ending her days on the track, with her best finish being 16th at Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania. For her part, Smith relished the memories.

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“I enjoyed every minute of it,” Smith told a reporter before she passed away in 2006. “I traveled all over North America, racing everywhere I could, and I had fun with it. Didn’t make a whole lot of money, but if I could do it again today, I’d do it – and I think I’d make it.” Smith’s zest for racing manifested itself in other women race-car drivers over the years, too. Perhaps the best known among them is Janet Guthrie, who became the first woman to qualify and race in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. An aviation engineer with a degree from the University of Michigan, Guthrie raced 33 times in NASCAR’s premier series, with her best finish being sixth at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1977. Drivers named Ann Slaasted, Ann Chester, Sandy Lynch and Ann Bunselmyer also competed in races in NASCAR’s premier series in the 1950s. It took awhile, but many more followed. Christine Beckers and Lella Lombardi joined Guthrie during the 1970s in racing at NASCAR’s top level, and Shawna Robinson made the most recent start by a woman in NASCAR’s premier series, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July 2002. In NASCAR’s other national touring series, the numbers have been greater. Patty Moise, Robin McCall, Deborah Renshaw, Kelly Sutton, Kim Crosby, Tammy Jo Kirk, Tina Gordon, Mara Reyes, Erin Crocker, Michelle Theriault, Caitlin Shaw, Gabi DiCarlo, Jennifer Jo Cobb and Chrissy Wallace ran various NASCAR series in their own times during the ’80s, ’90s and into 2010. Moise, who set the one-lap, closed-course speed record at Talladega Superspeedway in 1989 when she reached 217.498 mph, raced in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and sometimes found a less than warm reception from other drivers and some fans.

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Top Left: Driving the No. 71 Ford, Sara Christian finished 14th in the first race in whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s known these days as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The race took place at Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway in North Carolina. ISC Archives via Getty Images Top Right: After purchasing the No. 10 Ford team from longtime owner, Tom Mitchell, Jennifer Jo Cobb became a rookie in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driving her self-owned truck. Like every race-car driver, she hopes one day to compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Getty Images Right: European road racers Christine Beckers (left) and Lella Lombardi started the 1977 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, along with Janet Guthrie. It marked only the second time three women raced the same day at NASCARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top level. ISC Archives via Getty Images) Left: Danica Patrick became one of the biggest storylines in motorsports when she agreed to drive in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports, a team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Her performance early in the season drew praise from many stars in the NASCAR garage. Getty Images

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“When I showed up at that race track, I was the only female driver entered. You would’ve thought I was an alien that had showed up and landed,” Moise once said. “Now, a woman comes in the sport, she will not be made to feel quite like that.” These days, talented women like Cobb, who drives the No. 10 Driven Male and Driver Boutique Ford in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and Wallace, the daughter of NASCAR veteran Mike Wallace and niece of 1989 NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace, who drives in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, join Patrick in the quest to become the first woman to win a race at any of the top three levels in NASCAR. Cobb has more than 18 years of racing experience, having risen up the ranks of the NASCAR grassroots levels. A native of Kansas City, Kan, she is confident that she’s ready to compete with the best drivers and teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“I’m tired of going to the track hoping to make the race. I want to go to the track knowing that we have the equipment to make the race,” Cobb said. “I want my goal to be to run up front.” Like all race-car drivers, Cobb, Patrick and Wallace carry common traits: the will to win and a determination to prove that they can compete with the best. Patrick knows that sometimes will allow some to portray her efforts in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet in a less than flattering light, but she’s confident she can handle it. “You walk this very fine line of being kind of more of a wimp out there, and taking their garbage and not doing anything about it, and also being too overly aggressive and kind of making yourself look silly by it, too. “If someone does something to me I don’t like, they have to expect they’ll get something in return,” Patrick said, adding a little laugh. “And, now, I have fenders.”

Top Left: Chrissy Wallace raced against her father, Mike Wallace in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in 2009. Searching for sponsor support, she limited her schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010. Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Top Right: Janet Guthrie’s second and final appearance in the Daytona 500 came in 1980 when she finished 11th in Rod Osterlund’s Chevrolet. Osterland owned another car in the race – the No. 2 Oldsmobile driven by Dale Earnhardt, a 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee. He finished fourth. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Top Center: On October 29, 1950, Louise Smith proudly stands next to her Leslie Motor Co. 1950 Nash at Occoneechee Speedway. She finished 19th in the 200-miler that day. ISC Archives via Getty Images

Bottom Left: Erin Crocker raced in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series from 2005 through 2008. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR Bottom Right: Shawna Robinson, shown with the No. 49 Dodge before qualifying for the 2002 Daytona 500, finished 24th in that year’s Great American Race. No other woman has raced in the Daytona 500 since. Craig Jones/Getty Images

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Compound Success Race Car Drivers Hoping for Good Year Turn to Goodyear for Tires When someone on a race team says, “This one has our name all over it,” it usually means a trip to Victory Lane isn’t too far in the future. Cliché or not, it’s accurate to say that, when a NASCAR winner heads for the post-race celebration, the car rides on tires with Goodyear written all over them. Every champion of NASCAR’s premier series since 1968 has rolled to glory on Goodyear tires, and no other tire manufacturer has taken a NASCAR checkered ﬂag since 1994. That standard of excellence is reﬂective of a philosophy that Rich Kramer, the former president of Goodyear North American Tire and now the company’s CEO, has been known to share. “The winning attitude that leads to success isn’t a some-ofthe-time thing, it’s an all-of-the-time thing,” Kramer says. With a relationship stretching back to 1954, Goodyear’s involvement with NASCAR and the teams racing at its top nationally touring series stands as one of the most enduring partnerships in motorsports. Recollections of NASCAR’s memorable moments, legendary drivers and most challenging race tracks have Goodyear written all over them. Setting a fast, steady pace in the 1959 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, Jim Reed raced his way to

The right front Goodyear Racing Eagle on a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car takes a lot of punishment because it bears the brunt of weight transfer in the turns. Courtesy of Goodyear

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Victory Lane on Goodyear tires, beating drivers like Richard Petty and Fireball Roberts to notch Goodyear’s ﬁrst major NASCAR triumph. As its victory total approaches 1,500 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Goodyear maintains its commitment to making tires that win races. Those efforts reach far beyond the Innovation Center Manufacturing (ICM) plant in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear’s Contact Mechanics engineers take a close look at every race track NASCAR visits – a lot closer look than can be seen by standing on the racing surface. Using a high-resolution camera that produces threedimensional images proﬁling differences in surfaces as tiny as one-thirtieth of the thickness of human hair, engineers study racing surfaces. They also use lasers to measure 2.5 million points at each track, while employing a Dynamic Friction Tester, which allows examination of how rubber samples react to high-speed, heavy load conditions on that surface. Combining an analysis of all that data, these engineers

work closely with Goodyear race engineers to develop rubber compounds to meet the grueling demands of 3,400-pound stock cars roaring through turns at blinding speeds. That’s when they turn things over to the talented crew members at the ICM plant in Akron, where 375 skilled associates concentrate on one thing: building racing tires. For each NASCAR weekend, the team will build anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 tires for races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team also builds tires for racers in the NHRA, World of Outlaws and numerous other divisions. It’s a task that is not undertaken lightly. While Goodyear’s name and Eagle brand shout the marketing message from the trademark bright yellow letters in the sidewall of the tires, the name of the tire builder rolls to the track within the tire, too. On the bar-code label and coded within the tiny electronic RFID tag that’s imbedded in the tire is the identity of the person who assembled the tire.

Top pit crews in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series are able to change four Goodyear Racing Eagles in less than 13 seconds. Courtesy of Goodyear

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“There’s a lot of pride at stake when it comes to putting your name inside a NASCAR tire,” said Rich Harold, the ICM plant manager. “From time to time, we have a race engineer at the track scan the RFID chip in the tires of the race winner’s car. Then, at an internal meeting, we’ll announce who built the tires for the Daytona 500 winner, for example. So, it’s kind of like our own Victory Lane.” Every racing challenge and triumph provides Goodyear with inspiration for innovation, as well as the knowledge about how to do things better, and that is what helps consumers around the world realize Goodyear’s golden written words have meaning to them. “Our role as a NASCAR supplier allows us to use what we learn from our developments in NASCAR technology and transfer that to the street,” said Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of global race tires. Innovations born in racing that have made their way into tires for passenger cars. They include reinforcement of

sidewalls and beads with carbon fiber and DuPont’s Kevlar, which is five times stronger than steel of the same weight; and the run-flat technology Goodyear developed in 1966 to help race-car drivers handle control after a sudden loss of tire pressure. The inner liner, or “tire within a tire,” helped Goodyear engineers develop street tires with RunOnFlat Technology’s reinforced sidewalls that can support the weight of the car even after losing all air pressure, allowing consumer drivers to travel 50 miles at 50 mph. For Grant, racing is just good business. “When fans see us succeed on the track, they consider this when making the decision to buy tires for their vehicles,” Grant says. “It’s long been known that racing fans are the most loyal consumers, and that translates into the number of race fans that buy our tires.” Whether it’s on the race track or on the street, the best tires in the world have Goodyear written all over them.

The tread width on a Goodyear Racing Eagle in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is a maximum of 61.5 inches. That has changed a great deal since NASCAR’s early years, when teams sometimes searched the parking lots for tires on fans’ cars that matched the sizes they needed. Courtesy of Goodyear

For each stop on the NASCAR schedule, Goodyear technicians mount thousands of Goodyear Racing Eagles to supply teams for the race, qualifying and practices. Courtesy of Goodyear

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All Pumped UP Sunoco Fuels NASCAR’s Roar By Ron Koch When 850-horsepower NASCAR engines roar toward Victory Lane at race tracks across the country, the echoes of success trickle through the pumps at Sunoco gasoline stations all over. Since 2004, every team racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has relied on the quality and reliability behind Sunoco’s famed yellow diamond logo. Teams and drivers have come to learn that the fuel delivered to the track every week is the same consistent, quality fuel they can depend on, offering the highest-quality racing gasoline, Sunoco joins NASCAR fans in their journey every week. For Sunoco, each trip to famed race tracks like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway begins at the company’s refinery along the Delaware River in Marcus Hook, Pa., about 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Every drop of Sunoco’s carefully refined 260 GTX racing fuel flows from that facility into a dedicated fleet of gleaming tankers that roll to NASCAR races each week. Once it gets to the race track, a team of specially trained technicians transfer it from the tankers into underground storage facilities, except when they arrive at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, or Dover International Speedway

in Delaware. At those two race tracks Sunoco’s mobile dispensing unit takes center stage. The technicians carefully dispense the 98-octane racing gas and turn it over to pit crews for the teams, who routinely manage to pour nearly 18 gallons into a race car in less than 13 seconds in specially designed Sunoco fuel cans. Every car and truck in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series uses Sunoco racing fuel exclusively and displays the Sunoco logo on the front fenders, as well as the drivers’ uniforms, fuel cans, and team cars and trucks. At the race track, the familiar Sunoco diamond logo marks the entrance and exit areas of pit road. The ultimate goal is to win the Sunoco victory flag at the end of the race. Sunoco also rewards excellence in performance with the Sunoco Diamond Performance Award. At the end of each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, $1,450 is presented to the highest-finishing eligible driver. At the end of the season, a bonus of $100,000 is presented to the highest-finishing eligible driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings. In the NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the year-end champion’s awards are $25,000.

Gleaming Sunoco fuel tankers deliver thousands of gallons of Sunoco 260 GTX racing gasoline to race tracks hosting NASCAR races across the country. Courtesy of Sunoco

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While very proud of its relationship with NASCAR, its teams and the fans, Sunoco’s reach into motorsports goes far beyond stock-car racing and rests on decades of history. In the late 1960s, Roger Penske and Mark Donohue teamed up to compete in several forms of motorsports with Sunocosponsored cars. They won many major events, including the 1969 Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 1972 Indianapolis 500. In addition, this duo succeeded in capturing several sports car championships in SCCA, Can Am, and the inaugural IndyCar Series race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.

Sunoco also has prior history in NASCAR. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sunoco sponsored multiple teams, boasting notable drivers like two-time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin and Terry Labonte, a two-time champion in NASCAR’s premier series. And they are now proud to be a sponsor of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. As the world’s leading manufacturer of racing gasoline, Sunoco has built an association with more than 40 sanctioning bodies in all forms of racing, including the ARCA RE/MAX.

Sunoco technicians dispense the Sunoco 260 GTX racing gasoline to teams competing at the race track. They monitor conditions to ensure safety for crew members serving NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams. Courtesy of Sunoco

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Networking NASCAR Major Players Dot Charlotte Landscape If people want to make it big in American motorsports, they have to make it to Charlotte. It’s not that simple, of course, but there is no denying that the city is the epicenter of racing in the United States. Nine out of 10 teams racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are but a short drive away from the NASCAR Hall of Fame. NASCAR also has its research and development center and home of its media content service in town. Those teams and support businesses are a large part of North Carolina’s economic engine, generating an impact in the billions of dollars each year. Since it’s the place to be, it’s accurate to say there are people to know – successful, talented and inﬂuential people who have helped Charlotte build the brand that won the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Racing belongs here. The following group of people didn’t lay the foundations of the sport, but they certainly have built this region into a home for NASCAR.

Paul Brooks Paul Brooks is a senior vice president for NASCAR and the president of NASCAR Media Group, and leads the company’s offices in Charlotte, N.C. Brooks guides NASCAR’s efforts in licensing and consumer products, automotive aftermarket and publishing, as well as the NASCAR Media Group, which oversees all broadcasting and new media opportunities. Before taking the reins in Charlotte, Brooks opened NASCAR’s Los Angeles office and supervised all broadcasting, entertainment and new-media aspects of the business, quickly building relationships within the film and television industry that became a focus of NASCAR’s marketing, licensing, sales and communications functions on the West Coast.

Bruton Smith

Financed by his brother-in-law and helped by NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Curtis Turner, Bruton Smith built Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1959 using a design that became somewhat of a template for the modern superspeedway.

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Today, Smith is chairman and chief executive ofﬁcer of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns Charlotte Motor Speedway. Smith shaped his reputation as a tireless worker and innovative thinker. Although he lost control of Charlotte Motor Speedway two years after it opened, Smith acquired a car dealership that eventually grew into the Sonic Automotive Group, which today is one of the country’s largest automotive retailers. Smith, who turned 83 in 2010, regained control of Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1975, bought Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1990 and founded Speedway Motorsports Inc. in 1994. SMI owns and operates eight race tracks, seven of which host 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races each year and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. The SMI-owned tracks also host 18 races in the NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In addition to Charlotte Motor Speedway, SMI owns Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Inﬁneon Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Kentucky Speedway.

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Humpy Wheeler

Better known as H.A. or “Humpy,” Howard Augustine Wheeler Jr. is widely renowned as a master of promoting racing. For nearly 33 years, he sat at the helm of operations at Charlotte Motor Speedway, helping Bruton Smith build the Speedway Motorsports Inc. empire. While some might describe Wheeler as a man who thinks outside the box when conceiving ways to attract fans to the race track, others would say there has never been a box big enough to contain his wild ideas. When NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Cale Yarborough, who was sponsored at the time by Holly Farms chicken, tagged fellow nominee Darrell Waltrip with the nickname “Jaws” in the late 1970s to describe Waltrip’s talkative ways, Wheeler bought a dead shark, stuffed a dead chicken in its mouth and had it driven around the race track on a flatbed truck. Antics like that, as well as music concerts and battle re-enactments, continued until he retired in 2008. Never one to shy from a challenge, Wheeler provided the voice for “Tex,” a cartoon character in the popular animated film, Cars. Today, Wheeler serves as chairman of The Wheeler Company, a consulting firm focused on business, professional sports and motorsports.

Marcus Smith

Marcus G. Smith, the 36-year-old son of Bruton Smith, is the president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as Speedway Motorsports Inc.’s chief operating officer and president. Smith started out in the lower levels of the Charlotte Motor Speedway hierarchy, serving as a sales associate for three years before being named manager of new business development three years later. Today, Smith leads Charlotte Motor Speedway, while also overseeing other SMI subsidiaries.

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Rick Hendrick

As the owner of one of the most successful NASCAR teams in history, Rick Hendrick is a 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee. With a stable of drivers that includes Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin, Hendrick Motorsports is the standard by which all others are judged. Hendrick has nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner and driver championships, three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner and driver championships and one NASCAR Nationwide Series driver crown. The team employs more than 550 people and supplies engines to many teams competing at every NASCAR level. At the foundation of Hendrick Motorsports is the Hendrick Automotive Group, the basis of which Hendrick founded in 1976 with a single Chevrolet dealership in South Carolina. The group has grown into one of America’s largest and most successful, with 80 locations across the United States.

Jack Roush

Known in NASCAR circles as “The Cat in the Hat,” Jack Roush is the founder of Roush Fenway Racing. Armed with mathematics and physics degrees, Roush worked at Ford Motor Company and Chrysler before launching his own engineering firm that focused on high-performance drag racing parts. He partnered with a German firm during the early 1980s to develop road-racing cars for Ford, which led to success in the IMSA Camel GT and Trans-Am series. Today, his companies employ more than 2,000 people worldwide and produce performance parts that are the choice of hot-rod and customcar builders around the world. In 1988, he founded Roush Racing with driver Mark Martin and focused on win-

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

ning NASCAR races. These days, the team fields cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan, as well as NASCAR Nationwide Series cars for Colin Braun, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Carl Edwards and Paul Menard.

Joe Gibbs

A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls as head coach of the Washington Redskins before founding Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992. Known as a master motivator and judge of personnel talent, Gibbs quickly gained success in NASCAR’s premier series, winning the 1993 Daytona 500 with Dale Jarrett behind the wheel. He’s a three-time premier series champion as an owner, and a three-time winner at the Brickyard 400. Employing more than 425 people, Gibbs’ drivers include Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.

Felix Sabates

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Cuba, Felix Sabates came to the United States as a teenager after Fidel Castro’s communist regime took control of his country in 1959. He worked 12-hours days in the North Carolina furniture factories to help support his family. While also working as a rental car attendant, he challenged a car dealer to give him an opportunity to sell cars by setting the provision that if he didn’t outsell other salesmen, the dealer didn’t have to pay him. That determination eventually led to Sabates becoming a factory representative, and to him buying the company for which he worked in 1974. Its unparalleled growth led Sabates to buy a developmental race team from Rick Hendrick in 1987, which he named SABCO and hired Kyle Petty as a driver. SABCO merged with Chip Ganassi Racing, which merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2009.

Richard Childress

Long before he became one of the preeminent car owners in NASCAR history, Childress was a race-car driver himself, with limited means. Childress, the consummate self-made racer, was respectable behind the wheel. Between 1969-81 he had six top-five finishes and 76 top 10s in 285 starts, finishing fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings in 1975. Having formed Richard Childress Racing in 1972, Childress re-

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tired from driving in 1981. The rest, as they say, is history. Much of that history is linked to one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt, who won six championships and 67 races between 19842000 for RCR. But Childress has had other successes, as well. In addition to Earnhardt’s championships, Childress drivers have given him five others. His total of 11 national series owner championships is tied with Rick Hendrick for the all-time lead. Childress was the first NASCAR team owner to win championships in all three of NASCAR’s national series. Along the way, Childress has excelled off the track. He was one of the first owners to recognize the market potential for race team collectibles. In recent years he established his own winery in North Carolina. And in 2008, Childress was recognized for his role in establishing the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Richard Petty

Very rarely in sports do you find one of the all-time greatest competitors double as one of the all-time greatest ambassadors. But that’s exactly what you get with Richard “The King” Petty. The mountain of records he holds – most of which will likely never be broken – is one thing. But what Petty brought to NASCAR off the track during and after his long career cannot be measured by any numerical figures. The countless autographs he signed and the hands he shook made him a fan favorite and pushed NASCAR toward the front of the American conscience. Petty is one of the figures in NASCAR responsible for making it what it is today – the most fan-friendly sport in the world. But his on-track success cannot be ignored. His records in NASCAR’s premier series are staggering: Most wins (200), most poles (123), tied for most championships (seven), most wins in a season (27), most Daytona 500 wins (seven), most consecutive wins (10) and most starts (1,185). Petty’s success continued even after his retirement from driving in 1992. He would still hold the top spot in the family business – Petty Enterprises, and now, Richard Petty Motorsports. In all, Petty Enterprises totaled 268 victories before merging with Gillett Evernham Motorsports for the 2009 season to become Richard Petty Motorsports.

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Commemorative Brick Tells Family ’s Story of Love, Loss and Friendship By Andrew Giangola The poignant story about how a brick outside the NASCAR Hall of Fame led a fan facing tremendous loss to NASCAR driver Ryan Newman – and better days – begins with tragedy. A smart, curious young man who loved to read, Joseph Held also played the trombone in his school’s marching band. He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. When Christine Deuker’s son Joe died after a sudden, undiagnosed illness struck him in July 2001, the loss devastated her. At times, she wondered, why go on?

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There were dark days ahead for Christine and her husband, Steve. “The loss of Joe left us in devastating shock,” Steve said. “Life went on day after day, much of it unmemorable today.” Steve had been a lifelong race fan, saving from every twobit job he could ﬁnd to race open-wheel cars at dirt tracks in Arizona. He introduced Christine to NASCAR. Witnessing Steve’s passion for NASCAR, watching his face brighten when recounting racing memories, Christine wanted to investigate and experience what made Steve so happy. She quickly became a fan. Then she lost Joe.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Christine Deuker’s shirt celebrates the memory of her son Joseph and her friendship with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman during a visit to the race track. The image on the shirt is one taken when Christine and her husband, Steve, showed the Newman the commemorative brick that’s in place at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Courtesy of Andrew Giangola

The following NASCAR season, Ryan Newman appeared on the NASCAR scene. Christine immediately noticed. She’s a well-educated high school social studies teacher who observes people to try to make sense of the world. Watching Ryan Newman in interviews, she noticed stunning similarities between the 21-year-old driver and her departed son. There were obvious shared physical characteristics: eyes, eyebrows, hair and the hunched-up shoulders; somber faces www.NASCARHall.com

that would break into an impish smile. Two patient, and introspective young men who would surprise people with their dry senses of humor. But it was the eerily similar mannerisms connecting Joe and Ryan that made Christine to think about the driver more and more. Both men would cast their eyes down, lost in thought. They’d stammer when searching for a certain word. That’s the sign of a person with much more going on inside than shows outside, Christine said. 197

Just like Joe. She constantly thought about Ryan Newman and was riveted to NASCAR on TV for a chance to see him. As fate would have it, Christine would soon meet Ryan. A NASCAR fan had extra tickets to a race at Bristol Motor Speedway he couldn’t use, and he wanted his coveted passes to go to someone who would genuinely appreciate them. The tickets went to Steve, and when the Deukers got to Bristol Motor Speedway, they met Ryan at an autograph signing. Christine’s welled-up feelings were confirmed. “His eyes, his smile, his halting speech, how he used his hands when talking, it was like watching my son,” Christine said. Afterward, she broke down for half an hour. The Deukers began to lose themselves in Ryan Newman and NASCAR. “Ryan, in just being himself, offered us a glimpse of the face of the son we had lost,” Steve said. “If you’ve ever had a dream where you ‘saw’ someone you missed badly, when you wake up and reality hits, you’re saddened the

person is not there. But you still feel good that you got to see him in your mind. That’s what it is like. To us, Ryan just being himself was helping us to heal and continue to claw forward.” When Christine wasn’t preparing lessons or in front of her classes, the growing preoccupation with Ryan Newman helped her stay positive. “The whole race weekend helped carry me though. It would start with qualifying, right through to Victory Lane on Sunday, like a train that pulled me through the year,” Christine said. “I got on the Ryan Newman Express and started to have fun again.” Joe can’t be replaced, Steve said, but they had found comfort. “There will always be a hole in our lives. We’re just learning to not step in it as much,” Steve said. Steve heard the NASCAR Hall of Fame was offering bricks for sale and allowing fans to inscribe a personal message. He bought one and had it etched with a tribute to Ryan, reading:

Steve and Christine Deuker chat with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Ryan Newman during a visit before the 2009 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Courtesy of Debby Robinson Courtesy of Andrew Giangola

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

TO RYAN NEWMAN: YOUR DEMEANOR REFLECTS A SOUL U NEVER MET. IN YOU WE SEE OUR SON, JOSEPH HELD One day, when listening to an interview on Sirius Radio about the coming NASCAR Hall of Fame, Steve nearly crashed his car. The NASCAR Hall of Fame’s executive director, Winston Kelley, mentioned a poignant brick memorializing a boy with a connection to Ryan Newman. He was shocked, touched and thankful. He wrote to Kelley with the story behind the brick and Ryan Newman. He also wanted to assist the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I thought our story might be used to raise more funds than we could send ourselves” Steve said. Steve’s note made its way to Newman, and the story of Joseph Held moved him deeply. He printed the e-mail and placed it on his desk at his home in Indiana. “I was completely touched and knew I’d want to write back to Steve and Christine,” Newman said. “Adversity is a

part of everyday life. The difference is how you deal with it. This was obviously a very tough situation of unfathomable grief. It was gratifying to be able to help, even without knowing it. In my mind, it’s the ultimate fan tribute. I’m just myself, and they applauded me for that. This is way more than just a brick to me. It’s how two people overcame a great challenge, and I’m honored to be even a small part of that.” After Newman responded, the NASCAR Hall of Fame arranged for the Deukers to meet him prior to the 2009 Daytona 500, a race he’d won the previous season. It would be a chance for Christine to thank Ryan for his part in her recovery, yet she also realized some people hearing her story might consider her unbalanced. She was concerned about meeting with Ryan. What if he thought she was a stalker? “We were worried Ryan might feel this was a bit creepy. You lose someone you love and start creating that person in someone else. I could see how anyone might think, ‘This

The brick in place at the NASCAR Hall of Fame carries a message to NASCAR driver Ryan Newman that his smile and manner helped Christine cope with the loss of her son, Joseph. Getty Images

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woman is out of her mind with grief,’” Christine explained. “I know Ryan is different than my son. Joe was not a racer or mechanical. He loved music. He grew up under different circumstances. Even with their stark similarities, I focused on their differences so I wouldn’t make Ryan out to be Joe. He’s not Joe, but Joe’s spirit is recognizable in Ryan.” The morning of the face-to-face with Newman at Daytona International Speedway, Christine grew worried she might fall apart. “But then,” she realized, “this opportunity to say thanks would pass. I didn’t want this to be a tragedy that happened and the rest of your life is hopeless.” She remembered pulling herself together in front of her students when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on live TV in 1986 and again on September 11, 2001. Shortly before the scheduled meeting, Newman and his new teammate (and team owner) Tony Stewart were running practice laps on the track’s high banks. Stewart drafted behind Newman when the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet veered right into a skid after cutting a tire. Stewart couldn’t avoid a crash and both drivers were forced to backup cars in the Daytona 500. Christine saw the wreck unfold on a TV in the media center. Questions swirled. Is Ryan OK? Will he have to skip the meeting? It would be completely understandable, she thought. But Newman, looking as relaxed as if he’d stepped off a cruise ship, showed up at the U.S. Army hauler not a

minute late, eager to meet the Deukers. He was easygoing and affable. His regular-guy manner and casual sincerity reinforced everything Christine had been feeling about the kindred spirits who had never met – her dearly departed son and this special NASCAR driver. News photographers snapped photos. Sirius Radio was on air asking about the brick. Local newspaper scribes were thrusting tape recorders under her chin. So many things were happening. Ryan stood with her and Steve for all of it. They embraced and said goodbye. The meeting had passed in a blur. Christine felt relief, joy, sadness and the lightness of a burden removed. She sat on a tire next to the team’s hauler and had a good cry. Before we parted ways after an extraordinary day at the race track, Christine said, “Ryan was totally gracious; an everyday guy. Just ‘Newman being Newman,’ as they say. He was what I expected – low-key but forthright, plain spoken in a simple, Midwestern way – a lot like Joe was. It’s a massively comforting thing to see my son’s qualities out there. They haven’t disappeared from the face of the earth. I won’t look at pictures of Joe much anymore. I don’t have to. I see him alive in Ryan.” For more stories like Ryan’s Hope, Andrew Giangola’s book, THE WEEKEND STARTS ON WEDNESDAY: True Stories of Remarkable NASCAR Fans (Motorbooks International) is available on the NASCAR.com Superstore and anywhere ﬁne books are sold. Steve and Christine Deuker make time for a photo with Russ Friedman at Daytona International Speedway. Andrew Giangola

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Tracking the Artifacts Historian Buz McKim Finds, Safeguards NASCAR Memories By Van Cox He has been aptly described as stock-car racing’s answer to Indiana Jones. No sport has a more colorful heritage than NASCAR, and no one has a more comprehensive knowledge of that legacy than Albert “Buz” McKim. The official historian for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, McKim is one of the main people responsible for locating the vast array of artifacts now on display throughout the venue’s 40,000-square feet of exhibit space. For the better part of three years, he has scoured the country in search of items that will adequately document the NASCAR experience from its birth in Daytona Beach through this month’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The result is one of the most impressive assemblages of NASCAR-related artifacts in existence. Helmets and uniforms, pit equipment, entry blanks, flags, race track memorabilia, souvenir programs, trophies, vintage record books, various parts and pieces – even actual race cars. You name it, it’s here. “It has been the ultimate scavenger hunt,” McKim said. “We have gotten a tremendous amount of help from teams, former competitors, families of former competitors, and especially race fans. So far we have identified over 2,000 items that will be

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included in the NASCAR Hall of Fame at some point. Just under 1,000 of those will be on display on opening day.” McKim is quick to note that there is a unique story behind each and every discovery. One of his favorite anecdotes involves a commemorative watch that seemingly vanished into thin air nearly 50 years ago. The mystery began way back in 1963 when iconic car owner Ray Fox ordered a set of custom-designed time pieces for the crewmen on the Chevrolet piloted by 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Junior Johnson. “The watches were silver and made to resemble a steering wheel with the No. 3 (Fox’s longtime car number) on the dial,” McKim said. “For whatever reason, the watches disappeared somewhere between the manufacturer and the distributor. Fox and his crew never got them. But last year, we were able to locate one with the help of a collector from western North Carolina.” Yet another story focuses on Mike Klapak, the Ohio driver who won the ﬁrst three (1950-52) championships in NASCAR’s Sportsman Division, the forerunner of today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series. “We searched and searched for something pertaining to Mike to include in the Hall, but we kept hitting a dead end,” McKim said. “One day, out of the blue, a guy called and said he was Mike’s nephew and that the family still had all of his old racing

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

NASCAR Hall of Fame Historian Buz McKim, NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley, former NASCAR driver Ricky Craven and Richard Petty Motorsports former crew chief Greg Steadman address the media during a construction tour in January. Jason Smith/Getty Images

memorabilia. Sometimes you have to believe there’s a certain amount of divine intervention involved.” McKim’s finds not only highlight the obvious, they take fans into NASCAR’s inner sanctum for a behind the scenes look at America’s favorite form of motorsports. His treasure trove includes a letter from 1950’s team owner Carl Kiekhaefer thanking Lee Petty for building an engine for one of Kiekhaefer’s prized boats. “That’s pretty significant when you consider that they were fierce rivals on the race track,” McKim said. For McKim, there is a new challenge around every corner, but it’s a dream job for a guy who has embraced NASCAR’s rich heritage with unbridled passion for virtually all of his 58 years. Simply put, he lives and breathes the sport’s history. “It doesn’t get any better than this,” McKim says, “and everything I’ve experienced in my life has prepared me for this opportunity.” Indeed it has. McKim literally grew up in racing. His father owned several short-track cars in New Jersey during the early 1950s before moving the family to Florida, where he became a popular race track announcer. By age 13, young Buz was working as a volunteer at Daytona Beach’s Museum of Speed, where he was mentored by the facility’s founder and curator, Bill Tuthill. His tenure at the famed museum proved pivotal as he soaked up every ounce of information he could digest about the cars on display and the men who built and drove them. “The Museum of Speed was an amazing facility,” McKim said. “There was so much history in that place. And Bill himself was one of the real pioneers of racing. He was very knowledgeable about every aspect of the sport. Being involved with the Museum gave me a real appreciation for the history of auto racing in general and NASCAR in particular.” In later years, McKim earned notoriety as a successful artist

www.NASCARHall.com

Buz McKim, the historian at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, leads media members on a tour of the site a few months before the facility opened in uptown Charlotte. Jason Smith/Getty Images

with a highly acclaimed series of original paintings and limited edition prints depicting some of the most memorable stars and cars from racing’s past. Also an accomplished graphic designer, he created the paint schemes for dozens of race cars, including the machines that Benny Parsons and David Pearson drove to victory in the 1975 and ’76 editions of the Daytona 500. Showing tremendous versatility as an artist, McKim also worked on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books and the Ren and Stimpy cartoon books. Still, it was his unshakable determination to preserve NASCAR’s heritage that kept McKim on the fast track to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. After working part time in NASCAR Archives for several years, McKim was named Director of Archives for the International Speedway Corporation in 1999. Four years later, he was named Coordinator of Statistical Services with NASCAR Public Relations. When plans were set in motion to build the muchanticipated NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, Buz McKim was by far the most logical choice to assume the role of Historian for the immaculate complex. “Buz is extremely knowledgeable and incredibly passionate about the history of NASCAR,” says Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “He brings a wealth of contacts that has served us well in identifying and acquiring artifacts and items to help tell the 62-plus year history of this great sport. His knowledge and background have made him the ‘go-to’ person in developing and verifying the content for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.” Rest assured, McKim’s mission didn’t end with the grand opening of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Not even close. Phase Two of his never-ending quest is already in full swing. “We’re constantly looking for new artifacts to display,” McKim said. “The one thing you never want to do in this business is go stale. We’ll be rotating our exhibits periodically to invite fans back for another look.”

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Sponsor Recognition The NASCAR Hall of Fame would like to thank the following partners: The sponsors are Bank of America, Belk, Food Lion, Loweâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Mars, NASCAR Performance, Panasonic, Sunoco and Wachovia.

Member Recognition Legends Jena E Abernathy Darrell Andrews Joseph Benifi eld Catherine Bessant Jan Boylston Lynn Brady Sheila Chimento Darla Crown Jack Edwards Bob Eller Jim Ferrell Cameron Furr Peggy Goldstein-Segerstrom Eddie Hammack Cindy Hanes James Harvey Rodney Hinton Jessie Hodges Sheila Holland Stu Hothem Dave Jensen Todd Joyce Winston Kelley 204

Champions Milt Laughlin Don Letson Merrill Likes Allan Luksa Mark Moskowitz Neal Munn Fred Newton David Orsini Deborah Penny Keegan Pieper James Potts Shawn Rabourn Keith Schlichting Richard Secura Tim Shannon Richard Shoaf Stan Shoaf Charlotte A Simpson Dan Sullivan Tracy Trotter Michael Vasko Eric S Wilson William Wright

Eric Banks Jerry Brady Natasha Henderson Jack Hickman Tim Holloway James Hughes Bob Lossius Pam Miller Bill Montgomery William S Moore Glenn Mosack Allen Poole Tony Pope Jennifer Raines Wayne Rishell Amanda Steadman Logan Ward

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

Charter Membership Information

* Benefits and membership categories subject to change Rookie Racer (ages 5 - 12) - $25 • Complimentary admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for one full year • Commemorative Charter Member NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card • Commemorative Charter Member lanyard and NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card Holder • 40 percent discount for simulator rides • NASCAR Hall of Fame gift pack • Early entrance on select days Crew Chief (Individual) - $50 • Complimentary admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for one full year • Commemorative Charter Member NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card • Commemorative Charter Member lanyard and NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card Holder • 40 percent discount for simulator rides • 10 percent discount off guest pass purchases • NASCAR Hall of Fame gift pack • Monthly NASCAR Hall of Fame eNewsletter • Early entrance on select days Pit Crew Family Pack (Family Household) - $150 • Complimentary admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for one full year, for two adults and their children (up to age 18) • Commemorative Charter Member NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Cards • Commemorative Charter Member lanyards and NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Cards Holders • 40 percent discount for simulator rides • 10 percent off guest pass purchases • NASCAR Hall of Fame gift pack • Monthly NASCAR Hall of Fame eNewsletter • Early entrance on select days Winner’s Membership - $250 • Complimentary admission to the Hall of Fame for one full year, for two adults and their children (up to age 18), or member and two guests • Commemorative Charter Member NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Cards • Commemorative Charter Member lanyard and NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card Holders • Two one-time use parking vouchers • 60 percent discount for simulator rides • Early entrance on select days www.NASCARHall.com

• Additional savings during visit - 10 percent off guest pass purchases and gift shop merchandise - 10 percent off food and beverage in NASCAR Hall of Fame Café • Discount on select NASCAR Hall of Fame events • Priority seating at High Octane Theater events • NASCAR Hall of Fame gift pack • Opportunity to purchase special pre-sale tickets for Induction Ceremony (Limit 2 – subject to availability) • Monthly NASCAR Hall of Fame eNewsletter • NHOF Yearbook Champion’s Membership - $500 • Complimentary admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for one full year, for two adults and their children (up to age 18), or member and four guests • Commemorative Charter Member NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Cards • Commemorative Charter Member lanyard and NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card Holders • Four one-time use parking vouchers • Free simulator rides (subject to availability) • Early entrance on select days • Additional savings during visit - 15 percent off guest pass purchases and gift shop merchandise - 15 percent off food and beverage in NASCAR Hall of Fame Café • Discount on select NASCAR Hall of Fame events • Priority seating at High Octane Theater events • Free NASCAR Illustrated subscription • NASCAR Hall of Fame gift pack • Monthly NASCAR Hall of Fame eNewsletter • NASCAR Hall of Fame Yearbook • Opportunity to purchase special pre-sale tickets for Induction Ceremony (Limit 4 – subject to availability) • Invitation to special NASCAR celebrity event • Recognition in Yearbook • Free 4” x 8” Commemorative Brick Legend’s Membership - $1,000 • Complimentary admission to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for one full year, for two adults and their children (up to age 18), or member and six guests • Commemorative Charter Member NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Cards • Commemorative Charter Member lanyard and NASCAR Hall of Fame Hard Card Holders 205

Charter Membership Information Continued... • Six one-time use parking vouchers • F ree simulator rides (subject to availability) • Early entrance on select days • Additional savings during visit - 20 percent off guest pass purchases and gift shop merchandise - 20 percent off food and beverage in NASCAR Hall of Fame Café • Discount on select NASCAR Hall of Fame events • Priority seating at High Octane Theater events • Free NASCAR Illustrated subscription • NASCAR Hall of Fame gift pack • Monthly NASCAR Hall of Fame eNewsletter

• NASCAR Hall of Fame Yearbook • I nvitation to annual Inductee event • Two free tickets to annual Induction Ceremony • Opportunity to purchase special pre-sale tickets for Induction Ceremony (Limit 4 – subject to availability) • Recognition in Yearbook • Free 8” x 8” Commemorative Brick • VIP Service, including advance notice and preferred seating for select NASCAR Hall of Fame events • Invitation to special NASCAR celebrity event • Recognition on Donor Wall • Limited edition inaugural print

For Additional Information on Memberships and Tickets With very simple ways to arrange a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte, N.C., why not do it today? Even better, fans can become a charter member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and enjoy the benefi ts and privileges it provides. Buying Tickets: By Phone: (877) 231-2010 Online: www.nascarhall.com Types of Tickets: General Admission: Adult, Senior, Military, Children Group packages: For groups of 15 or more, discounted rates are available and depend on the type and size of groups. The NASCAR Hall of Fame is a timed-entry facility; guests must select the date and time of their visit when purchasing a ticket. Parking Discounts: The NASCAR Hall of Fame Parking Deck (Brevard Street entrance) will offer a 25 percent parking discount with the purchase of a NASCAR Hall of Fame ticket. This offer is subject to parking availability. General Admission Prices: Adult: $19.95 Seniors (60 and older): $17.95 Military: $17.95 Ages 5 through 12: $12.95 Children younger than 5 are admitted free.

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www.NASCARHall.com

Students Race Through Learning Curve to Motorsports Careers

Left: Knowing the geometry that makes the front suspension of a race car work is essential to a team’s success at a race track. Students at Central Piedmont Community College’s Motorsports Program get that knowledge and learn how to apply it. Right: Students at Central Piedmont Community College’s Motorsports Program at its North Campus in Huntersville, N.C., learn advance techniques with cutting torches and other skills that help with race-car fabrication.

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Charlotte is at the epicenter of the country’s motorsports industry. About 75 percent of the NASCAR industry’s employees and drivers are based within two hours of downtown Charlotte, and, as the area unveils more drag strips and race tracks, and opens the NASCAR Hall of Fame, more industry professionals are expected to relocate to the Charlotte metropolitan area. As expectations of employers increase, those seeking career opportunities within the racing industry have to develop an edge on the competition. Students can get that through one of the many education programs located in the Charlottemetro region: Central Piedmont Community College’s motorsports program, Belmont Abbey College’s motorsports management program, the University of North CarolinaCharlotte’s Motorsports and Automotive Research Center,

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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CPCC Motorsports

CPCC’s Motorsports program puts you in the driver’s seat to a great career. Motorsports Institute

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• Institute offers in-depth training in key motorsports technologies.

• Eight-week courses offer hands-on training in fabrication, painting, welding,

decaling and assembly.

• Classes are taught in fully-equipped fabrication labs at CPCC’s North Campus.

• Evening schedule accommodates students with full-time jobs.

To learn more about this and other CPCC Motorsports programs, including the Motorsports Academy, Curriculum Certificate in Race Car Technology and the Motorsports Seminar Series, please visit www.cpcc.edu motorsports Search

www.NASCARHall.com

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Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s motorsports-tailored applied-science degree program and the NASCAR Technical Institute’s targeted curriculum.

Central Piedmont Community College

Anticipating this industry growth, Central Piedmont Community College created its Motorsports Program at its North Campus in Huntersville, N.C., a town considered by many to be a citadel for race enthusiasts, professional motorsports drivers and their teams. It’s this strategic location, coupled with the program’s innovative curriculum and quality faculty that attracts residents from across the region. The program provides area students with in-depth training in key motorsports technologies. The 24-week program, offered in an eightweek course schedule, offers students hands-on training in fabrication, painting, welding, decaling and assembly, and pit crew training – taught at Performance Instruction Training, the industry’s leader in team building. CPCC students enjoy small class sizes (a maximum of 10 students per class), learning from industry experts in the college’s fully equipped fabrication labs. Evening class times accommodate students’ full-time job schedules while they train for new, entry-level careers in the motorsports technical ﬁeld. For more information about CPCC’s Motorsports Institute, please contact Dave Bowen at 704.330.4156 or dave. bowen@cpcc.edu.

NASCAR Technical Institute

NASCAR Technical Institute, a division of Universal Technical Institute Inc., has an exclusive educational alliance with NASCAR. With its campus in Mooresville, N.C., NASCAR Tech is the only school of its kind that combines automotive training and a NASCAR-approved technologies curriculum into one program. Students learn the basics of engine construction, lubrication systems, chassis fabrication, dyno testing, racing theory principles, NASCAR rules and regulations, as well as the teamwork needed in today’s automotive and racing industries. The school was honored by the North Carolina Motorsports Association for placing 1,300 graduates in motorsports industry jobs since its inception in 2002, as well as logging 13,000 student volunteer hours within the local community in 2009. For more information about the NASCAR Technical Institute’s program offerings, visit online at www.uti.edu/Home/Nascar-Tech.

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Belmont Abbey College

As part of the greater Charlotte community, Belmont Abbey College is committed to developing students as future leaders who can further develop the future of motorsports by earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Management with a concentration in motorsports management. The four-year degree, designed with a speciﬁc focus on the business and management side of the racing industry, was the ﬁrst of its kind in the country. For more information about Belmont Abbey’s program offerings, visit www.belmontabbeycollege.edu/academics/ Programs/programs.aspx.

UNCC

The Motorsports and Automotive Research Center at UNCC is located in the heart of NASCAR country and often is the first stop for employers hiring interns and entry-level engineers. The campus is five miles from Charlotte Motor Speedway, just past the checkered flag. The UNCC program is rigorous and well respected in the automotive and racing industries, and offers one of the most innovative hands-on programs available in the United States For more information about UNCC’s Motorsports and Automotive Research Center, visit online at www.motorsports.uncc.edu.

Rowan-Cabrrus Community College

Legendary motorsports promoter Humpy Wheeler’s concept for motorsports education has grown into the oldest degreed program of its type in the United States. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s two-year, Motorsports Management Technology Program, which began 13 years ago in the school’s south campus in Concord, N.C., immerses students in the business and technical aspects of the motorsports industry. Graduates of the program work in all phases of motorsports, especially those that are NASCAR related. From the race teams and engineering-support units to race tracks and publicrelations ﬁrms, Rowan-Cabarrus’ presence is felt throughout the sport. Rowan-Cabarrus also has a “2+2” articulation agreement established with North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro that allows students to pursue a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing systems with a concentration in motorsports. A second agreement is being ﬁnalized with Winston-Salem State University’s Motorsports Management program. For more information about Rowan-Cabarrus’ programs, visit online at www.rowancabarrus.edu.

2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

In the final season of his 35-year driving career in NASCAR’s premier series, Richard Petty steers his No. 43 STP Pontiac to the inside of Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet at Phoenix International Raceway in 1992. Both are inaugural inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Don Hunter Collection/SmyleMedia

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends

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NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Richard Petty, shown in the garage area at a race in 1983, remains one of the most beloved and recognizable figures in NASCAR. Although he wore all white that day, few people know the real story behind the trademark “Petty Blue” that covered his race cars for many years. In the days before painstaking collaborations about the look of a race car, Petty and his brother, Maurice, realized they didn’t have enough of one color to paint a car, so they mixed some cans of white and blue they found in the shop, and the now famous “Petty Blue” rolled to the race track. Don Hunter Collection/SmyleMedia

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2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Legends