Below are excerpts from Tuesday’s NASCAR Race Hub in which NASCAR President Mike Helton and SPEED’s Kyle Petty, Mike Joy and Rick Allen analyze the nominating committee’s selections:
SPEED analyst Kyle Petty on H. Clay Earles:
“It’s the longest continuing operating race track on the NASCAR circuit and he was a part of that until his death. He was there. I remember when we used to go up there and my father would ask for tickets. You had to go into Clay’s office and he personally gave you tickets. That was his contact with the drivers. He always knew the drivers’ names. He always knew their faces and he was always there to help those guys out. This sport wouldn’t be where it is if it wasn’t for guys him and race tracks like Martinsville.”
SPEED analyst Kyle Petty on Bobby Isaac:
“I grew up watching those guys racing. David Pearson and Bobby (Isaac) were really close – probably as close as any two drivers on the circuit during that period of time. It was always funny to be nine or 10 years old and hang out with him and Pearson and The King and those guys in the garage area and listen to them talk. Bobby said very little but when Bobby spoke, everyone listened, and that’s the way he was on the race track. Bobby in that No. 71 – that K&K Dodge that they drove and Harry Hyde was the wrench guy on. Prettiest car in the world. I love Petty blue but I loved that orange car. I remember going on the Northern tour up through Islip (N.Y.) and all those places, he was a threat to The King and Pearson week in and week out. When you look during that period of time at the top two or three drivers, he always was one or two during that time of ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71. That’s a big statement for him. He and Pearson kind of shied away from the press. I’ve heard Pearson say since that time, ‘If I’d known the sport would get to where it is, I’d have been nicer to fans or hung out with people more and been more accessible to the media.’ Isaac wasn’t that way. He and Pearson would go off together, they’d have dinner, they’d hang out with Barney Hall. That’s just the way they were. They came to the race track for one purpose and that was to win the race and take the trophy and the money home and that’s the way they drove every day until they got out of a race car.”
SPEED/FOX Sports announcer/NHoF Voting Panel member Mike Joy on Cotton Owens:
“Cotton Owens – pure genius. The man was a great car owner and a great mechanic.”
SPEED announcer/NHoF Voting Panel member Rick Allen on Cotton Owens:
“These were guys that didn’t have fitted seats. We’re still talking about guys who would strap a belt around their waists and that was about it. They raced in a different era. They were ironmen. They competed every week, sometimes multiple times in a week. It was just a different time. I don’t think you always have to look at statistics when you’re talking about drivers, owners or crew chiefs. I think you’ve got to look at what they gave to the sport and what they brought to the sport. You look at guys like Fred Lorenzen and Cotton Owens as definitely deserving of being in the Hall.”
SPEED announcer/NHoF Voting Panel member Rick Allen on Les Richter:
“I look at Les Richter and I think, ‘Here’s a guy who spent most of his life on the West Coast and this was a sport that started off predominantly as a Southeastern sport.’ So, it really brought the nation together a little bit to have Les Richter involved with NASCAR – he came in as the track owner/promoter and then worked with NASCAR.”
SPEED/FOX Sports announcer/NHoF Voting Panel member Mike Joy on Les Richter:
“He was a pivotal figure behind the scenes. It seems like our list is getting a little heavy with administrators but certainly Les had a lot to do with NASCAR’s success in that era.”
SPEED announcer/NHoF Voting Panel member Rick Allen on Leonard Wood:
“The Wood Brothers are synonymous with NASCAR. The Wood Brothers and NASCAR go hand-in-hand. What they did for NASCAR is … when we’re sitting on our couch watching a race and a car comes in with a 13-second pit stop, it’s because of what they did for the sport. They were the innovative ones who figured out how to make pit stops happen fast.”
NASCAR President Mike Helton:
Mike Helton - Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR
On how heated the discussion and deliberation was among the 21 people on the Nominating Committee:
Helton: “It’s tough to narrow the characters that made our industry what it is today down to 25, much less the five that we ultimately vote on … The history of our sport has so much romance and magnetism to it from the characters that it’s fun to be reminded of what these persons did for us and to get their reward even on this list I think is remarkable. And what’s also remarkable is how close the voting is. There’s probably 20 or more people who aren’t on the list introduced tonight that were within single-digit votes of being in the top 25. There’s a lot of talent, a lot of character and a lot of great stories that are coming down the pike for many years to come from these folks.”
On whether it’s difficult to balance the history of the sport with the accomplishments of the history still being written by nominees such as Richard Childress or Rick Hendrick:
Helton: “I think it is. It’s hard sometimes to look at Rick or Richard, Jack Roush and others … it’s easy for guys like you and I to look at the list and understand why they’re on the list. It might be hard for a more modern fan to say, ‘Well, I know Rick has won a lot of championships lately and Richard has,’ but to have grown up in the sport and understand the influences they made makes all the sense in the world.”
On whether there has been any consideration given to paired nominations, such as Holman and Moody or the Wood Brothers as one single nomination?
Helton: “There was great debate as we were creating this structure with Winston (Kelley, Executive Director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame) and the folks at the Hall of the Fame and the media on how we would select the 25 that were eligible and the five that would be voted in. There was talk about you do have these combinations of the Wood Brothers or Holman and Moody. There also was conversation around why don’t we think about categories like – it would be three drivers and one industry individual and one mechanic or something like that – and I think there’s going to be things in the future that may be different than they are today. But I think to get the Hall of Fame and the inductees up and going, this is the right way to do it.”
- SPEED, Press Release
