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NASCAR

NASCAR Hall of Fame will induct only five per year

By SceneDaily.com

Jan 23, 2009

CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR opted to induct just five people per year into its Hall of Fame instead of a big group at the beginning to keep it as a prestigious honor. The move will also keep the Hall of Fame display consistent on an annual basis concerning the current year’s induction class and past inductees.

NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said it took a year to come up with the selection process as the sanctioning body examined what other halls of fames did.

“The more you have, the less emphasis you take off of each member,” Hunter said. “The [second reason] was with the way the Hall of Fame is constructed and the space that is going to be available, it’s better to have a smaller number each year than a huge induction class.”

NASCAR expects to announce its inaugural class in October and to have its first induction ceremony in May 2010. The inductee display will have a section for the five current year inductees (likely in the middle) with the past inductees along the wall.

Inductees will be determined by a voting committee that will decide from a list created by the nominating committee.

Hunter said the seven NASCAR representatives on the nominating committee have already been allotted to people in specific positions, including the chief executive officer, president, vice president of communications, the head of NASCAR’s entertainment division and other vice presidents. The rest of the committee is made up of two Hall of Fame executives and 11 track owners.

Having media representatives on the voting committee was important, Hunter said. Of the 48 votes, 14 will come from media, another 20 from the nominating committee, one from each of the four manufacturers, as well as counting votes from three retired drivers, three retired owners and three retired crew chiefs. There is also a fan vote.

The list of members of both committees (except for the one collective fan vote) will be made public.

“We want the media to have a representative vote, but we don’t want media to control [the vote],” Hunter said. “We feel you need people at NASCAR, because at least one member of that group will go all the way back to remember the older people and founders.”

The fan vote will come from a national promotion with the collection of fans’ voting combined into one vote on the committee.

Hunter said it will be up to the nominating committee to approve any exceptions to the eligibility conditions of 10 years of racing or being in the industry.

“There’s always going to be some special circumstances attached,” Hunter said. “If you say a person has to be in the sport for 10 years and somebody was in it nine but did a lot or if a driver passes away, the nominating committee would make a special exception.”