FOX NASCAR anchor Mike Joy will take a break from his Daytona 500 preparation this Sunday and return to his racing roots. Joy will host the annual induction ceremony for the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame on February 2nd, at the LaRennaisance Banquet Hall in East Windsor, CT. Festivities will start at 11:30am/et, with a social hour preceding dinner. Tickets are $40 each, and reservations can be made by calling (860) 569-1299. Honorees include Bob Polverari, a five-time track champion; John Hoenig, who built America’s first asphalt paved oval track [Thompson Speedway]; Booker T. Jones, the Northeast’s pioneer African-American stock car racer, NASCAR North legend Stanley Stub Fadden; auto racing pioneer Richard Moon Burgess; sprint car/midget champion Joe Sostilio; Dick Watson, who drove the V-4 Mystic Missile to the 1965 Connecticut State Championship; and popular modified owner Bob Judkins, who helped bring about the Pinto Revolution; by debuting his pinto bodied 2x, the first NASCAR legal pinto bodied modified race car. These eight racing legends will bring to 57 the number of members in the NEAR Hall of Fame.. In addition to his duties as emcee, Polverari requested that Joy be his presenter for induction. Eligible because he has passed 65 years of age, Polverari is the first active driver to be named to the hall. Ticket information and news is available at www.near1.com . Joy’s race announcing career began 33 years ago at a 1/5 mile oval in Agawam, Mass. Joy and Polverari were among the last class named to Riverside Park Speedway’s Hall of Fame when the track closed in 1999 after 51 years of racing.( MotorsportsTV / NEAR Site )(1-28-2003)
