Friday Night we had another class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. You seen the likes of Tony Stewart, Joe Gibbs, Bobby Labonte, Weddell Wilson and the late Buddy Baker. Each and everyone of these men have contributed to the sport in unimaginable ways. With that being said Its never to early to have a little fun looking forward to the 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame class. You have some interesting names including Dale Earnhardt Jr. Who, I’m sure is the most intriguing person on the list for some. None the less lets go over a few names who not only deserve to make it in, but should be in whether we all like it or not! Listen early notice this is an opinion based article! Nothing factual as of yet, that is so don’t blow a gasket if I left someone out. Feel free to let me know your own opinion though below!
Raymond Lee Fox Sr.
One man who has made numerous contributions to the sport of auto racing. He not only did that for his career but was a major player for years. His most famous story in the sport would be when he built the motor for Fireball Roberts 1955 Daytona beach race. On thelegendsofnascar.com it was quoted in saying that Ray Fox started building that engine at 8:00 PM and finished it at 4:00 AM. The car that the engine sat in led every lap for the 160-mile event. He cruised under the flag one minute and fourteen seconds ahead of the only other driver on the lead lap Tim Flock.
No more than twenty-four hours after the race NASCAR disqualified the car. That was the last time up until a few years back that a win was taken completely away from a driver. Ray continued his historic career in 1962 when he became a team owner himself. Over the next eight seasons, his cars won 14 races in 172 starts. A rumor was once produced that alone in 1963, Ford motor company spent over one million dollars to catch Ray’s white no. 3 Chevrolet. Ray went onto just do multiple things for the sport until his final retirement in 1996. Ray is a member of multiple motorsports hall of fames. It’s now time to put him in the biggest of all in the 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class.
Red Farmer
So your going to tell me a man with an estimated 7-900 motorsports victories is not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Red Farmer is one of the famed “Alabama Gang” and a consecutive three-time national late model sportsman champion which later turned into Xfinity series. This man was so content with his late-model sportsman series that he didn’t have many cup series starts. His best of those finishes fourth twice. Not to mention, he later went onto become the crew chief of 2019 inductee Davey Allison.
Red to this date is still turning laps at the local dirt tracks in Alabama. What more motivation do you need than that to put the man into the NASCAR Hall of fame.
Ricky Rudd
The Rooster, one of the coolest names in NASCAR racing for a driver in my opinion. A cool nickname almost should guarantee a spot in the Hall of Fame. Yeah the man kind of just faded away from the sport at the ripe age of 50! It’s not like he didn’t have a historic career though, 788 career starts spanning from 1981-2005 earning the title of NASCAR “Ironman.” He also is one of only three drivers in the sports history to win a race 16 consecutive seasons. Adding him to the list that includes Richard Petty and David Pearson too members already of the Hall of Fame.
Those few statistics listed above are just a couple of many. Ricky had through his career a total of 23 cup series victories, 194 top fives, and 374 top tens. You can also tally down 29 pole position starts, and over 7800 laps led in his career. While Ricky never was able to claim a championship the lack of one should not defy his hall of fame career, because the Rooster drove his heart out for the sport and his fans.
Harry Hyde
Listen I’ve got a list of drivers and one owner so far so the crew chiefs deserve a little love in all seriousness. Who better to represent an era of NASCAR crew chiefs than the one and only Harry Hyde. He was one of the better crew chiefs from the 1960’s all the way through the 1980s. Not to mention he was also the inspiration for the famous Harry Hogge character in the amazing movie Days of Thunder.
Harry was the man to get Bobby Issac a championship in 1970. He would then go onto be the crew chief for multiple either already Hall of Fame drivers or future Hall of Fame drivers. So you have an idea of a few he was the chief for Buddy Baker, Tim Richmond, Neil Bonnett, Ricky Rudd, Donnie Allison, and even Mark Martin. He has a whopping 55 career wins as chief, his drivers led well over 18,000 laps combined and he helped take 90 pole awards in his time as a crew chief. The man was amazing at his job and amazing job performance earns him a spot among the Hall of Fame’s members in Charlotte!
Matt Kenseth
Listen, I know that Jr.’s nation is going to kill me for this choice, but he deserves this spot. Honestly out of all of them first-time eligible drivers he is the most qualified. I’ll just enlighten some of you on the greatly under-appreciated driver. In Matt’s career, he was the 2003 series champion, 39 career cup victories, 181 top-five finishes, and led well over eleven thousand laps in his outstanding NASCAR career. I’m sorry but what more does a guy need to do to be a first-ballot hall of fame elect. I mean let’s go on though to satisfy all the other doubters.
Matt is a two time Daytona 500 champion. Along with that, he made the playoffs 13 out of 14 years in his career. I can keep going too, he lead the series in wins in 2002 and 2013. He was also rookie of the year and before they did away with the IROC series a champion of that in 2004! Put Matt Kenseth into the Hall of Fame next year, it must be done!
Conclusion
Listen there are a ton of drivers and worth people who should be inducted. To answer the main question do I think Dale Jr should be in the Hall of fame? Well, yeah I do but not as a first-ballot vote. I think you really have to do some amazing things in your career to be a first-ballot hall of fame entry. Now, will he and Carl Edwards eventually get into the hall? Yes, I do think they will make the cut at some time in the future. The question of when is now on the table not so much as if they will be inducted.
What do you think? Better yet who do you think deserves to go into the NASCAR Hall of Fame next? Drop a comment below, or go start up a forum topic I would love to see who you all think should go in next? Or do you even care at this point? Let me know!
1 Comment
you are 100% correct matt kenseth should be first ballot HOF i also think JR should get in but not first ballot,maybe put JR in next year with Kenseth they came in together and left together.