The NASCAR Hall of Fame is now 30 members strong, with a new class of five inducted Friday night in Charlotte. Bill Elliott, Fred Lorenzen, Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly and Rex White were recognized as the latest inductees into the Hall during a ceremony Friday evening in the Crown Ball Room at the Charlotte Convention Center.
"“One thing I look at out here today is one common bond with all these racers; it’s the hard work and the dedication all these guys had,” Elliott said during his induction acceptance speech. “I mean, for me to stand up here among the guys that have already been here, it’s just totally incredible.”"
Elliott was voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver a record 16 times. Over the course of his career, he won 44 times at the Cup level, including wins in the Daytona 500, Winston 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and the Southern 500 in 1985 to win NASCAR’s first $1 million bonus. That hefty bonus garnered Elliott the nickname of “Million Dollar Bill,” added to the nickname, “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville (Ga.).” A couple years later in 1987, Elliott set the record for fastest lap in a stock car, a 212.809 mph lap at Talladega. The next year, he followed up with the 1988 Winston (now-Sprint) Cup Series championship.
Scott was the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR national-level race, and to this day, remains the only African-American driver to win at the premier level, winning at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963. He was also the first African-American driver to compete full-time in NASCAR.
"“Wendell Scott fulfilled his destiny, and now we can proudly say he’s the first African-American inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” Scott’s son, Franklin Scott, said."
Lorenzon didn’t run as many races as Hall of Famers typically do, but he made the most of his small number of starts. He won 26 races in only 158-career starts. Nearly half of those 158 starts resulted in top-five finishes, finishing in the top-five 75 times. He never ran more than 29 races a season back in the days of 50-plus race schedules. His best season came in 1963 when he won six times and posted 21 top-fives in 29 races. That year, Lorenzon became the first driver to win more than $100,000 in a single season.
"“Dad always said, ‘The sky is the limit and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,’” Lorenzen’s son, Chris Lorenzen, said. “That has been Dad’s most important saying in life, and he certainly lived by it. He also believed people made their own luck and that luck just doesn’t fall upon people.”"
White was the 1960 NASCAR premier series champion, an honor that gave him the status as the shortest driver to win a NASCAR championship at the height of 5 ft. 4 in. He claimed six of his 28-career wins that season. White was the model of consistency, finishing in the top five in almost half of his 233-career starts and finishing out seasons in the top-10 six of the nine years he raced at NASCAR’s top level.
During his speech, though, White was quick to point out that he didn’t accomplish those stats alone.
"“I am a symbol of a team effort,” he said, going on to state that nobody wins a championship alone, nor do they enter the Hall of Fame alone."
Weatherly’s NASCAR career was cut short by a crash at Talladega in 1964, but “The Clown Prince of Racing” went out as the two-time reigning champion, with NASCAR premier level titles won in 1962 and 1963.
"“Uncle Joe died doing what he loved,” Weatherly’s niece Joy Barbee said."
NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver from 1961 won 25 races and claimed 18 poles in his short career. Weatherly was also a champion in NASCAR’s Modified Series, winning the title in that series in 1953, and between 1956 and 1959, he won 12 times in NASCAR’s Convertible Division.
The members of the sixth class of NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees weren’t the only individuals honored during Friday night’s ceremony. Anne B. France was recognized as the recipient of the inaugural Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR and Tom Higgins was presented the Squier Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.
France, wife of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., was NASCAR’s early secretary and treasurer. According to granddaughter Lesa France Kennedy, she kept two sets of books — a real one and one she showed to her husband to make sure he didn’t spend NASCAR out of business.
"“She was the glue that held NASCAR together in the beginning,” Kennedy said."
Higgins was a longtime motorsports writer for the Charlotte Observer, working the NASCAR beat for the paper from 1980 to 1997. He was the first reporter to cover every race on the NASCAR schedule. Since retiring, Higgins has written racing nostalgia columns for the Observer and ThatsRacin.com.
Below, is a gallery of 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees (photos courtesy of NASCAR and used with permission):
Bill Elliott
Wendell Scott
Joe Weatherly
Rex White