NASCAR announces Hall of Fame Class of 2015

NASCAR announced the inductees to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for 2015 on Wednesday. The five new inductees to the Hall of Fame that make up the Class of 2015 are Bill Elliot, Fred Lorenzen, Joe Weatherly, Wendell Scott, and Rex White.

The class of 2015 will be the sixth class to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The class was decided by a voting panel. The panel consists of representatives from NASCAR, the Hall of Fame, track owners, media members, manufacturer representatives, retired competitors, industry leaders, and there was also a fan vote. Overall there were 54 votes cast. Elliot got 87 percent of the votes while Scott got 57 percent, Weatherly got 53 percent, White got 43 percent, and Lorenzen got 30 percent of the vote, according to the NASCAR release. Jerry Cook, Robert Yates, and Benny Parsons were the next top vote getters.

Elliot won 44 races and was the 1989 Cup Series champion. He was known as Awesome Bill form Dawsonville and was NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver 16 times. Elliot was the first driver to win the Winston Million in 1985. He won the Daytona 500 twice.

Scott was NASCAR’s first African-American driver. He won a Cup race in Jacksonville Florida in 1963, becoming the first and only African-American to win a Cup race. In addition to the win he had 147 top 10s and 495 starts in NASCAR’s premier series in his 13 year career, according to Sporting News.

Lorenzen was one of NASCAR’s stars in the 1960s. He won 26 races including the Daytona 500 in 1965. White won 28 races and was the champion in 1960. Weatherly was a NASCAR Modified star, and he won 25 races and back-to-back championships in 1962-63.

The winner of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR was also announced on Wednesday. Ann B. France, the wife of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. won the award. She was NASCAR’s first secretary and treasurer, as she took care of the financial side of the sport. She passed away in 1992.