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MODIFIED
LEGEND COOK ELECTED TO HALL
Six-Time NASCAR Mod Champ Among Of Class Of 2016 |
NASCAR
announced today the inductees who will comprise the
NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016. The five-person
group – the seventh in NASCAR Hall of Fame history –
consists of Jerry Cook, Bobby Isaac, Terry Labonte,
O. Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner. In addition,
NASCAR announced that Harold Brasington won the
Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to
NASCAR. Next year’s Induction Ceremony is scheduled
for Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, broadcast on NBCSN and
SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, live from Charlotte, N.C.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel met today in a
closed session in Charlotte to debate and vote upon
the 20 nominees for the induction class of 2016 and
the five nominees for the Landmark Award.
NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France and NASCAR Vice
Chairman Mike Helton announced the class and
Landmark Award winner, respectively, this evening in
the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s “Great Hall.”
The Class of 2016 was determined by votes cast by
the Voting Panel, including representatives from
NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, track owners from
major facilities and historic short tracks, media
members, manufacturer representatives, retired
competitors (drivers, owners, crew chiefs),
recognized industry leaders, a nationwide fan vote
conducted through NASCAR.com and, for the second
year, the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion
(Kevin Harvick). In all, 57 votes were cast, with
two additional Voting Panel members recused from
voting as potential nominees for induction (Jerry
Cook and Robert Yates). The accounting firm of Ernst
& Young presided over the tabulation of the votes.
Voting was as follows: O. Bruton Smith (68%),
Terry Labonte (61%), Curtis Turner (60%), Jerry Cook
(47%) and Bobby Isaac (44%).
The next top vote-getters were Red Byron, Benny
Parsons and Rick Hendrick.
Results for the NASCAR.com Fan Vote, in alphabetical
order, were Buddy Baker, Alan Kulwicki, Terry
Labonte, Mark Martin and Benny Parsons.
The five inductees came from a group of 20 nominees
that included, in addition to the five inductees
chosen: Buddy Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress,
Ray Evernham, Ray Fox, Rick Hendrick, Harry Hyde,
Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, Hershel McGriff, Raymond
Parks, Benny Parsons, Larry Phillips, Mike Stefanik
and Robert Yates.
Nominees for the Landmark Award included Brasington,
H.Clay Earles, Raymond Parks, Ralph Seagraves and
Ken Squier. It is awarded to competitors or those
working in the sport who have acted as a NASCAR
ambassador through a professional or
non-professional role. Anne B. France won the
inaugural award last year.
Class of 2016
Inductees:
Jerry Cook
Jerry Cook made his name in modifieds, winning six
NASCAR Modified championships, including four
consecutively from 1974-77. All the while, he was
vying with another driver from his hometown of Rome,
New York, nine-time champion and NASCAR Hall of
Famer Richie Evans, for supremacy in NASCAR’s
open-wheel realm. After retiring from racing in
1982, Cook stayed with the sport and helped shape
the series known today as the NASCAR Whelen Modified
Tour. Cook served as the series’ director when it
began in 1985 and remains with NASCAR as competition
administrator.
Bobby Isaac
Bobby Isaac’s uncanny skill at drawing speed from a
race car puts him on a short list of NASCAR legends.
His 49 career poles ranks 10th all time. Maybe more
impressive: Isaac captured 19 poles in 1969, which
still stands as the record for poles in a single
season. Isaac began racing in NASCAR’s premier
series in 1961. He finished runner-up in the series
standings in 1968 behind NASCAR Hall of Famer David
Pearson. In 1969, he finished sixth in the standings
after posting 17 wins and those 19 poles. In 1970,
Isaac won the championship posting 11 victories, 32
top fives and 38 top 10s in 47 starts. Isaac won 37
races in NASCAR's top series, ranking 19th on the
all-time list.
Terry Labonte
Terry Labonte is a two-nickname NASCAR star. Early
in his career he was known as the “Iceman” for his
coolness under pressure. But his demeanor belied his
determination. Later in his career he became known
as the sport’s “Iron Man” thanks to 665 consecutive
starts in NASCAR’s premier series, a record which
stood until 2002. Winning two premier series
championships, in 1984 and ’96, is impressive; the
12-year gap distinguishes Labonte further. No other
driver has won his first two championships that far
apart and Labonte is one of only six drivers with
championships in two decades. Labonte’s stellar
career is tucked between perfect bookends – his two
Southern 500 wins, in 1980 and 2003. His 361 top-10
finishes ranks 10th all time.
O. Bruton Smith
O. Bruton Smith, executive chairman of Speedway
Motorsports Inc., promoted his first stock car race
in Midland, North Carolina at the age of 18. Smith’s
early endeavors included operating the National
Stock Car Racing Association – seen as an early
competitor to NASCAR – and building Charlotte Motor
Speedway. CMS became the foundation of Speedway
Motorsports Inc., which currently owns eight NASCAR
tracks hosting 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events,
the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and additional
high-profile motorsports activities. Smith took SMI
public in 1995, the first motorsports company to be
traded at the New York Stock Exchange. He was
inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of
Fame and National Motorsports Press Association’s
Hall of Fame, both in 2006; and the International
Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Curtis Turner
Called by some the “Babe Ruth of stock car racing,”
Curtis Turner was among the fastest and most
colorful competitors in the early years of NASCAR
premier series racing. Turner competed in NASCAR’s
first “Strictly Stock” race in 1949 in Charlotte and
was the only driver to win a NASCAR premier series
race in a Nash. He posted his first of 17 career
victories in only his fourth start on Sept. 11,
1949, at Langhorne (Pennsylvania) Speedway. Although
many of Turner’s victories came on short tracks and
dirt ovals – much of his career pre-dated NASCAR’s
superspeedway era – he won the 1956 Southern 500 at
Darlington Raceway and the first American 500 at
Rockingham Speedway in 1965. He remains the only
series driver to win two consecutive races from the
pole leading every lap. He also won 38 of 79 races
in which he competed in the NASCAR Convertible
Division.
Landmark Award for
Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR:
Harold Brasington
Harold Brasington, a South Carolina businessman,
believed in Bill France’s fledgling NASCAR business,
created the sanctioning body’s first superspeedway –
a one-of-a-kind egg-shaped oval, paved on an old
cotton and peanut field. Expecting 10,000 fans to
show up at Darlington Raceway’s first competition on
Labor Day of 1950, 25,000 spectators showed up for
the inaugural Southern 500 – NASCAR’s first 500-mile
race. Darlington's success inspired Brasington to
extend his reach north -- to North Carolina. He
employed his track building and promoting expertise,
helping in the creation of Charlotte Motor Speedway
and building North Carolina Motor Speedway in
Rockingham, North Carolina.
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Source:
Josh Hamilton /
NASCAR
Posted:
May 20, 2015 |
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