The International Motorsports Hall of Fame inducted its 2003 class Thursday night a class with a background as varied as racing itself. Mel Kenyon races and builds United States Auto Club midgets. Ray Fox built stock cars and served as a NASCAR inspector. Briggs Cunningham built and drove sports cars that competed with the best in the world. A.J. Watson built cars that won the Indianapolis 500, and Emerson Fittipaldi raced to the top of the Formula One and Indy car worlds. Kenyon told his audience he was especially glad he was being inducted by Winston Cup driver Ryan Newman, who won a United States Auto Club midget series rookie championship while driving for Kenyon in 1995. Fox, who was introduced by Hueytown’s Bobby Allison, has rubbed shoulders with many fabled NASCAR names such as Fireball Roberts and Buddy Baker. Asked which driver was the best to work with over the years, he replied: “David Pearson and Junior Johnson were good. Junior could tell what was wrong with a car.” Briggs Cunningham III represented his father, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Watson and Fittipaldi were not present at Thursday’s induction ceremony. Fittipaldi, in Brazil for the Brazilian Grand Prix, was represented by his daughter, Tatiana. Christian Fittipaldi, Emerson’s nephew, inducted his uncle.( Alabama Live )(4-4-2003)
