The fourth class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be revealed Wednesday.
Voters will gather at the Charlotte Convention Center adjacent to the Hall Wednesday afternoon for an hours-long discussion and voting session.
The five members of the 2013 Hall class – the fourth class since the Hall’s opening – will be announced at 6 p.m. ET as part of SPEED’s NASCAR Race Hub. A one-hour Hall preview show is scheduled on SPEED at 5 p.m.
There are 25 nominees. Five – Ray Fox, Wendell Scott, Ralph Seagraves, Rusty Wallace and Anne France – are on the ballot for the first time.
Wallace won 55 Sprint Cup races and the 1989 championship and is a lock to go into the Hall eventually, if not this year. Fox built winning cars and engines for champion drivers. Scott is the only black driver with a victory in the Cup series. Seagraves was a key executive for former NASCAR sponsor R.J. Reynolds. France was married to NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and was the organization’s first secretary/treasurer.
Although there appear to be no slam-dunk favorites on this year’s nominee list, many observers have named Leonard Wood, retired crew chief and architect of much of the success of the Wood Brothers Racing team, as a likely pick. Wood’s brother, Glen, the team’s founder, was inducted in the 2012 Hall class.
Hall members are elected by a panel that includes NASCAR officials, track operators, manufacturer representatives, news media members, retired competitors and industry leaders. One vote represents fan voting that has been going on for weeks.
The nominees:
Buck Baker, first driver to win consecutive Sprint Cup series titles (1956-57).
Red Byron, first Sprint Cup series champion, in 1949.
Richard Childress, 11-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series.
Jerry Cook, six-time NASCAR Modified champion.
H. Clay Earles, founder of Martinsville Speedway.
Tim Flock, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup series champion.
Ray Fox, legendary engine builder and owner of cars driven by Buck Baker, Junior Johnson and others.
Anne Bledsoe France, helped build the sport with husband Bill France Sr.
Rick Hendrick, 13-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series.
Jack Ingram, two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion and three-time Late Model Sportsman champion.
Bobby Isaac, 1970 NASCAR Sprint Cup series champion.
Fred Lorenzen, 26 wins and winner of the Daytona 500 and World 600.
Cotton Owens, driver-owner, won 1966 owner championship with David Pearson.
Raymond Parks, NASCAR’s first champion car owner.
Benny Parsons, 1973 NASCAR Sprint Cup series champion and popular television commentator.
Les Richter, former NASCAR executive; former president of Riverside International Raceway.
Fireball Roberts, 33 NASCAR Sprint Cup series wins, including the 1962 Daytona 500.
T. Wayne Robertson, helped raise NASCAR popularity as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company executive.
Wendell Scott, NASCAR trailblazer was the first African-American NASCAR Sprint Cup series race winner, and first to be nominated for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Ralph Seagraves, formed groundbreaking Winston-NASCAR partnership as executive with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Herb Thomas, first two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup series champion, 1951, ’53.
Curtis Turner, early personality, called the “Babe Ruth of stock car racing.”
Rusty Wallace, 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup series champion.
Joe Weatherly, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup series champion.
Leonard Wood, former crew chief for Wood Brothers, revolutionized pit stops.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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