NASCAR 2014 Hall of Fame Inductees

    The 54-man voting committee has announced its list of inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame next January. The Hall of Fame is located in Charlotte, North Carolina and this will be the fourth class to join the auto racing shrine.
   The five new members are Dale Jarrett, Maurice Petty, Tim Flock, Jack Ingram, and Fireball Roberts. The names were announced late Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte.

   It will mark the third set of father and son to enter the Hall of Fame. Dale Jarrett will join his father, Ned,.. Bill France, Junior and Bill France, Senior, the owners of NASCAR are enshrined,...as are Richard Petty and his father Lee.

 
  Dale Jarrett is a 3-time winner of the Daytona 500 Race and was also the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion. He took the checkered flag 32 times as a driver,..also the very first win for new owner Joe Gibbs when he started his racing team. Jarrett's father, Ned, was inducted into the Hall of Fame two years ago, and he too is a former series champion.

    Maurice Petty joins father, Lee,...brother Richard,...and cousin Dale Inman in the Hall of Fame. Maurice was the engine builder for the famed Petty Racing Team, and while driver Richard got the credit for 200 wins in NASCAR races, he was quick to say Maurice was right beside him and deserved as much credit or more.

    Tim Flock was one of the early pioneers in the sport. He garnered 76% of the vote this year to gain entry into the Hall. Flock won 39 races and was the series champion three consecutive years from 1952, 53, 54..  His smile and personality made him a favorite in the sport of auto racing.

    Seventy year old Jack Ingram is still competing at NASCAR events. He holds the record for more starts at the junior circuit of the sport than anyone. Ingram was the Nationwide champion in 1982 and 1985...and back when it was called the 'Sportsman Series'..Ingram won the championship in 1972..73..74.  He is still one of the popular faces among drivers in the garage.

     Edward Glenn 'Fireball' Roberts was THE FIRST superstar of the sport of NASCAR. He was a hard-charging type of driver, but his nickname came from the sport of baseball and his pitching prowess. Roberts dominated in the 1950's and collected 33 wins in his career, including the 1962 Daytona 500. Roberts was killed in a crash during the Southern 500 race in 1964.
    Congratulations to all of the inductees of NASCAR's Hall of Fame. They will officially be enshrined next January.