NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductions

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Bill Elliott To Hall of Fame
NASCAR champion Bill Elliott headlines a class of eight racing names heading to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Novi, Michigan. Joining the 1988 stock car champion at the Aug. 15th, 2007 induction in Detroit will be Indy car mechanic/team manager Jim McGee, 1960 Indy 500 winner Jim Rathmann, Goodyear and IRL executive Leo Mehl, the drag-racing team of Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin, sports car champion John Fitch and motorcycle star Bubba Shobert. ...Daily Headlines


“Ironman” Jack Ingram To Hall of Fame
On Thursday, April 26, 2007, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) will induct its first official NASCAR Busch Series champion - “Ironman” Jack Ingram. Before winning the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National Division championship in 1982, Ingram had already established his dominance in the Late Model Sportsman Division, claiming titles in 1972, 1973 and 1974. Currently, Red Farmer is the only IMHOF member with a title in that series (1956), and two other IMHOF members have claimed titles in its preceding short track Sportsman division - - Ralph Earnhardt (1956) and Ned Jarrett (1957, 1958).

However, what is known as the NASCAR Busch Series today officially began in 1982, when in the 29-race season the Ashville, N.C.-born Ingram posted 23 top-five finishes - including seven victories – on his way to that inaugural title. Chief rival Sam Ard finished a scant 49 points behind Ingram that year and returned just as formidable a contender the next. Despite Ingram’s five wins, 23 top fivess and 29 top 10s in the 35-race season, Ard managed to top it with 10 wins and 30 top 10s. In 1984, the two waged a similar battle, but Ard emerged the champion once again.

However, in 1985, Ingram took his second NASCAR Busch Series championship, with five wins and 22 top 10s in 27 starts, edging Jimmy Hensley by 29 points – a margin tied for fourth-closest in series history. That was his last championship in the series, yet during the seasons from 1983 through 1990, he finished in the top-five in points standings six times. When he retired as of 1991, he was the NASCAR Busch Series’ all-time win leader with 31, and to this day holds the record for short-track wins in the series with 29. Ingram was also the first driver to win more than $1 million in the NASCAR Busch Series.

It wasn’t Ingram’s consistently strong record alone that earned him the moniker “Ironman,” but that he accomplished it with relatively little help and took a tough but fair approach on and off the track, according to NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter.

“We always called him ‘Ironman’ Jack Ingram because he raced all over the country and spent many a sleepless night towing to the next race. Jack’s record was phenomenal because he was the driver, crew chief, car owner and chief bottle washer on his team for most of his career,” Hunter said. “He was a no-nonsense, get-in-your-face, hard-nosed, fender-scraping, flat-out racer who took no prisoners on the track. He raced other drivers however they raced him. Sort of, ‘You wanna beat and bang? I’ll beat and bang with you. You want to race hard but clean? I’ll do that too.’ Jack is soft-spoken but you always know where you stand with him. He’s also a straight-shooter. In spite of his hard-nosed temperament, Jack was and still is very popular among his peers.”

Hunter gave another example of Ingram’s solid reputation for fairness and respect to fellow competitors - - he recently donated one of his championship rings to an auction benefiting former on-track rival Sam Ard. Ingram has been named among NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers, is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, the Western Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and was recently honored during the NASCAR Busch Series’ 25th Anniversary, among many other honors and accomplishments. Ingram is now 70 years old but still heavily involved in racing. Since retiring from driving, he has stayed busy operating a Late Model team and developing young drivers.

Ingram will join fellow members of the IMHOF Class of 2007 – Wayne Rainey, Bruton Smith, Warren Johnson and Junie Donlavey - to be inducted on Thursday of spring race week at Talladega Superspeedway.

[echelon4]

That's great you have to love awesome bill.

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I got to eat Bill at the KART races here in Denver. He signed my old 86 and 89 jackets. The was real cool to us. Took us back in the garage areas and let us drive the KART. It was cool.

[kulnet]

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

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Ray Hendrick To Hall Of Fame
On Thursday, April 26, 2007, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) will induct former NASCAR driver Ray Hendrick. Hendrick is credited with an impressive list of more than 700 NASCAR victories in his 34-year career. Most of these wins were in Modified and Late Model Sportsman racing. In addition, Hendrick’s son, Roy says his father won several hundred dirt-track Outlaw events.

“I heard him tell my mother several times, ‘I don’t know what them other guys are out there for, but I’m here to win,’ ” recalls Roy Hendrick. “That’s just the way he was. He wasn’t out there to run second. People always asked him why he didn’t run the Grand Nationals on a regular basis,” Roy Hendrick says. “He said he was working for a living and was able to feed us, and he was making more with the (guaranteed) deal money the promoters would give him than he got from winning races. He was doing better than a lot of the regular guys. So he never pursued the big time.”

Instead of pursuing a career in a single racing series, Hendrick bounced around from track to track, winning races literally from Maine to Florida. As the victories increased, his reputation grew, to the point where tracks requested that he compete in their events. This shaped his part-time status that he would keep for the remainder of his career.

After finishing in the top-10 National Modified point standings every year from 1963 through 1969, and in the top-10 points of the Late Model Sportsman division (now known as the Busch Series) in 1974 and ’75, Hendrick proved a part-time status didn’t determine where he finished.

Hendrick made his own ‘big time’ with the amount of victories he accumulated. Among his accomplishments is being the all-time winner at Martinsville Speedway with 20 wins (13 Modified and seven Late Model Sportsman). Though, Roy Hendrick says his father – who died in 1990 after a longtime illness – rarely thought of himself that way.

“He didn’t think about how many times he’d won. He just went from week to week, racing.”

As a result of Hendrick’s outstanding performance in motorsports, he has been recognized with several honors including National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame inductee (1993), one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers (1998), earning No. 4 in the NASCAR Modified All-Time Top 10, and being the first inductee into the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame (2003).

This year, Hendrick’s name will be listed among other motorsports achievers in the IMHOF when he is inducted on April 26, 2007. Joining Hendrick in this prominent recognition are Wayne Rainey, Bruton Smith, Warren Johnson, Junie Donlavey and Jack Ingram.

In light of Hendrick’s induction, a replica of the 1936 Chevrolet Coupe NASCAR No. 11 Modified machine is on display at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum.

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I think all of them are great choices. I haven't heard the Ironman's name in quite some time!