Buddy Baker, the first driver to win on the Big Four tracks on Nextel Cup circuit and legendary crew chief Harry Hyde will be honored by the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame at its annual induction ceremonies on Oct. 10 at Mooresville’s Charles Mack Citizens Center. Baker, winner of 19 races and 40 pole positions, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Hyde, who headed the 1970 NASCAR Grand National [Nextel Cup] championship team and oversaw teams that made record runs at Pikes Peak and the Bonneville Salt Flats, will receive the coveted Snap-On Golden Wrench Award for his outstanding contributions to the sport. Baker, nicknamed the “Gentle Giant”, wasn’t go gentle on the race track. He was the first driver to win the circuit’s Big Four Daytona, Talladega, Darlington and Charlotte. His victory in the 1980 Daytona 500 remains the fastest on record with an average speed of 177.602mph. On March 24, 1970 Baker set a world closed-course record while preparing for the inaugural Alabama 500 at Talladega. That day, he posted a lap of 200.447 mph, making him the first driver to exceed 200 mph on a closed course. Hyde’s powerful race cars won 56 Winston Cup races with drivers Bobby Isaac, Bobby Allison, Baker, Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett, Dave Marcis, Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond. Isaac won the 1970 series championship in Hyde’s familiar orange and white #71 K&K Insurance Dodge. Bobby Unser’s run up Pikes Peak in a Dodge Dart Kit Car that possessed that Hyde magic set a world record for a stock car. At the Bonneville Salt Flats, with Isaac as the driver, the K&K team set 28 world speed records, which still stand. Those records were established in 1971 in a winged Dodge Daytona. The 2007 induction ceremonies will be presented by Alltel in association with Snap-On Tools. Located in Mooresville, the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame celebrates the rich heritage of motorsports and its cultural contributions to society. It opened its doors in 1994 and now welcomes more than 300,000 visitors annually. More than 30,000 fans visited the Hall of Fame during Charlotte race weeks in May 2007. A non-profit museum, the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame is dedicated to all forms of motorsports from drag racing to stock cars. It houses more than 35 cars as well as numerous displays and showcases. Past inductees into the museum’s Hall of Fame include Tim Flock, Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Bill France Sr., Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Cale Yarborough, Ralph Moody Jr., Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip. For more information about the museum and the 11th annual induction ceremony, log on to www.ncarhof.com.(NCARHOF PR)(10-2-2007)
