I don’t follow NASCAR a lot, but I am a history buff, so I took some interest in who would be picked as the original class of inductees in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Much has been written already about driver David Pearson being left out of the first five inductees, but something else struck me as odd. The voters made the puzzling decision – OK, the really stupid decision – not to include even one of the sport’s early drivers. You know, the early drivers? The wild-asses who were the reason anyone became interested in stock car racing to begin with? Herb Thomas, who won 48 races in the 1950s (and 21% of the races he entered!) before being seriously injured in a wreck, was an obvious choice. But no-o-o, they had to kiss the France family’s, um, ring, and put both Bill France Sr. and Jr. in the first five.
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2009.
The France family rules NASCAR with an arbitrary but iron hand. Of course they took care of themselves first. They have a long history of doing that.
The first class should have included people like Fonty flock, Wendell Scott, Herb Thomas, Junior Johnson, fireball Roberts, etc. Was Abner Doubleday the first person inducted into the Baseball hall of fame?
The DRIVERS and TEAM OWNERS inducted all should be in the hall, but not first. Perhaps they should have inducted 25 in the first class and then one a year thereafter.
John I agree with you 100%, I don’t understand why they only chose 5 inductees in the first place. They should have made it at least 10 and include some of the older drivers that made the sport.
It Didn’t really hit me until Richard Petty said he thought the people he idolized should have went in before him.
I heard about Herb Thomas and i think he is really great. Imagine won 48 races.