Four new members, who each have made major contributions to auto racing, will be inducted into the National Motorsports Press Associations Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame. The class includes Roger Penske, Jack Roush, Robert Yates and Rusty Wallace. They will be inducted on Jan. 16, 2010, at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Concord, N.C. They join a Hall of Fame that includes Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt, Harry Hyde, Bud Moore, Glen Wood and Leonard Wood.
Roger Penskes IndyCar team is the sports most successful with a record 15 Indianapolis 500 victories and more than 140 wins overall. His NASCAR Sprint Cup teams have won 63 races, including a Daytona 500. Hes won more than 300 races and 20 championships in all forms of racing.
Jack Roush won 24 titles, including 12 manufacturers championships, and 119 races in road racing. His NASCAR teams have won five championships in the sports top three divisions, including back-to-back crowns in the Sprint Cup series in 2003 and 04. His Cup teams have scored 115 victories, including this years Daytona 500.
Robert Yates was one of NASCARs top engine builders and carried that success with him when he became a car owner. Before he retired, his organization won the 1999 Cup championship and 57 Cup races, including three Daytona 500s.
Rusty Wallace, the 1989 champion in what is now NASCAR Sprint Cup, ranks eighth on the all-time series wins list with 55 victories. He scored at least one win in a record-tying 16 consecutive seasons. Wallace, now a Nationwide Series car owner, also was selected as one of NASCARs 50 Greatest Drivers.
The National Motorsports Press Association was formed more than 40 years ago. It features motorsports writers, broadcasters and photographers from throughout the U.S. and abroad. (NMPA)(9-10-2009)
