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Racing Notebook: Allison, Waltrip among the 25 nominees for Hall of Fame
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Published: July 1, 2009
■ Former drivers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip are two of the 25 nominees for the first NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class.
NASCAR released the two names yesterday ahead of the announcement of all nominees Thursday night. NASCAR's Web site, www.NASCAR.com, said that the nominees will be announced during a one-hour TV special at 8 p.m. Thursday on Speed (Ch. 101, Time Warner, Winston-Salem). The show will air from the site of the hall, which is under construction at the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Brevard Street in Charlotte's Center City area.
The hall's inaugural class, consisting of five members, is scheduled to be enshrined in May 2010. That class will be selected from the list of 25 candidates assembled by a nominating committee. The hall has announced May 11, 2010, as its official opening date.
Allison and Waltrip were longtime rivals and are tied for third with 84 victories in NASCAR's top series. Waltrip won three Cup championships and Allison one.
■ Kyle Busch took the brunt of the criticism for a massive pileup that knocked out a handful of contenders in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
During a restart on Lap 175, Dale Earnhardt Jr., running third, spun his tires in front of Martin Truex Jr., who had to slow to avoid contact with Earnhardt's Chevy. Busch, who was behind Truex, started to move to the inside but contact between the left front of his Toyota and the right rear of Truex's Chevy sent Truex spinning across the track and into the path of Jeff Burton.
The wreck eliminated Truex, David Ragan and Brian Vickers and severely damaged the cars of Burton and Kevin Harvick, both of whom returned to the track after extensive repairs.
Truex blamed Busch and appeared ready to throw his helmet at Busch's car as it rolled past after the crash, but he restrained himself.
"Someone spun the tires, and our lane didn't go," Truex said. "Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens. He decided he wasn't going to lift. He was going to turn me on the straightaway for no good reason at all."
■ Tony George has been asked to step down as president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his family's business, Hulman & Company, to spend more time running the Indy Racing League.
The board of directors of both the speedway and Hulman & Company announced yesterday that a new management team will take over the Hulman-George companies effective July 1.
The Hulman-George family has run the speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, for six decades and also owns the IRL and Clabber Girl, a baking-powder company based in Terre Haute, Ind.
Mary Hulman George, the Speedway board chairman and Tony George's mother, said it is in the best interests of everyone that her son concentrate his efforts on the IRL, which oversees both the IndyCar Series and the second-tier Indy Lights.
Tony George was reportedly asked by the family-dominated board of directors to step down in May, the week after the 500. But he said at the time, "Contrary to published reports, I continue to serve as CEO of IMS."
The reprieve was short-lived.
George has spent hundreds of millions or dollars in the past 13 years to make track renovations and keep the IRL afloat.
Construction for a road course, new media tower and new Pagoda cost about $100 million. Those facilities were built for a Formula One race that is no longer held in Indy.
He also broke with tradition by bringing NASCAR and Grand Prix motorcycle to a track that had only hosted one race each year, the Indianapolis 500, until 1994.
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