NASCAR Hall of Fame welcomes five legendary figures

NASCAR Hall of Fame welcomes five legendary figures

Jan. 20, 2012

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- During an emotional induction ceremony Friday night at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, a pair of three-time champion drivers, racing's quintessential crew chief, a founding father of the sport and the hands-down best modified driver who ever lived all took their rightful places among NASCAR's elite.

The third class of five NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees evidences no fall-off in quality from the two classes that preceded it in 2010 and 2011. In fact, some would argue that the 2012 inductees all boast credentials worthy of consideration for an earlier welcome to the Hall.

Darrell Waltrip, for instance, won three Sprint Cup titles and is tied for fourth on the career win list with 84 victories. Cale Yarborough, the only driver to win three straight Cup titles before Jimmie Johnson equaled and then eclipsed the feat in the first decade of the 21st century, is sixth in all-time wins with 83.

As far as championships are concerned, Dale Inman is the most prolific winner among NASCAR crew chiefs, having accumulated seven Cup titles during his pioneering run at Petty Enterprises and a series-record eighth with driver Terry Labonte and owner Billy Hagan in 1984.

Glen Wood, who with brother Leonard Wood founded the most enduring team in the sport's history, was an innovator who nurtured the careers of a litany of elite drivers, most notable among them Hall of Famers Yarborough and David Pearson.

Pearson won the Daytona 500 in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury. Thirty-five years later -- a span marked by unwavering loyalty to Ford products -- Trevor Bayne won the most recent Daytona 500 in the No. 21 and began writing his own chapter of NASCAR lore.

Richie Evans, a nine-time modified champion, simply was without peer. The "Rapid Roman" clinched his first NASCAR National Modified title in 1973. On Oct. 24, 1985, a week after securing his ninth modified championship, Evans was killed in a crash during practice at Martinsville Speedway. He was 44.

Inman, the first of Friday night's inductees, joined seven-time champion Richard Petty, a member of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class. It was Petty who inducted his cousin into the Hall. To Petty, Inman defined the position of crew chief, from the mechanical end of the business to the managerial side.
"Dale was basically the first one," Petty said. "He was good with people. He was able to take a talent and know how far he could go with that talent. I always looked at the way that Dale approached things, with attitude, confidence and focus. That's what he did with his people, and that's the reason he was able to be a winner like what he is."

"I'm very proud of it, and it's been such a long ride -- and I hope it's not over," said Inman, who will find himself in a familiar place next month -- at Daytona, where he will continue to work in an advisory capacity with Richard Petty Motorsports and drivers Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola.

Leonard Wood, master mechanic and crew chief, inducted his brother.

"Glen has always been my big brother, and still is," Leonard Wood said. "Glen and I worked really well together. We believed in each other . . . Glen was always fair, honest, gave good advice, needed no more than a handshake."

"This is not just about me being inducted into the Hall of Fame," said Glen Wood, who won four Cup races as a driver and 98 as a car owner. "It's about the Wood Brothers, and it's about NASCAR. I'm proud to have been a NASCAR driver and car owner for the past 60 years.

"This is about two families, the Wood family and the Ford family working together, which has resulted in me being here tonight. I'm just finding out how big a thing this is. I was here for the last two (inductions), but this is the greatest honor you could receive in any hall of fame, I think."

Longtime crew chief Billy Nacewicz pointed out in his induction of Evans that the king of the modifieds is the first driver outside of NASCAR's top series to be enshrined in the hall.

"Richie loved the modifieds," Nacewicz said. "With the respect of the promoters and his competitors, he became the face of the division."

Evans' widow, Lynn Evans, recognized that his induction will give hope to drivers outside of Sprint Cup.

"Last but not least, I'd like to thank his fans, who kept his memory alive," she said.

Veteran broadcaster Ken Squier inducted Yarborough, a four-time winner of the Daytona 500, NASCAR's most important race.

"Farm folk, resilient, risk-takers," Squier said in his introduction. "Cale just decided to take his risks a little differently from his neighbors . . . He pushed and prodded until the 'Timmonsville Flash' became a name to be reckoned with.'

"There's no doubt that Cale Yarborough will go down in NASCAR history as the hardest charger who ever lived."

Yarborough talked of his humble beginnings, describing how he once bought a store's stock of black-eyed peas at the sale price of 10 cents a can.

"We had black-eyed peas for breakfast, black-eyed peas for lunch and black-eyed peas for dinner," recalled Yarborough, who grew emotional when thanking the Wood Brothers for the opportunity to drive their cars.

"I am so honored and pleased to be inducted in the same class as Glen Wood," said Yarborough, who noted that Leonard Wood's election should not be far behind.

Born with a gift of gab that earned him the nickname "Jaws" and has stood him in good stead as one of NASCAR's most prominent broadcasters, Waltrip did nothing to change his reputation at Friday night’s ceremony.

After an appropriate introduction from former crew chief and fellow Fox analyst Jeff Hammond ("He would never shut up; he was always running his mouth -- there wasn't a controversy that he couldn't add to"), Waltrip explained his garrulous nature.

"It wasn't that I talked that much," Waltrip said. "Those other guys didn't talk at all. I had to fill in the blanks."

But Waltrip choked out his words when he talked of his family and how his parents had allowed him to pursue his racing career. Before the ceremony, wife Stevie had told him, "DW, when you talk about something you're passionate about, you're going to get a little emotional."

She was right.