HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES CITE LIFE- LONG DREAMS FULFILLED
Three of stock car racing’s CHARLOTTE most influential team owners were among the five new members inducted Friday into the NASCARHall of Fame.
Team owners Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress and Raymond Parks were inducted along with 1973 Cup series champion Benny Parsons and driver Mark Martin, a 40- time winner in NASCAR’s premier series. Parsons and Parks were inducted posthumously.
Hendrick, who was elected on his eighth time on the ballot, started the AllStar Racing team to compete in the Cup series in 1984. The name soon was changed to Hendrick Motorsports, and the team became one of the strongest in the sport’s history. Hendrick teams have won a record 12 championships — seven by Jimmie Johnson, four by Jeff Gordon and one by Terry Labonte — in Cup. Others who have driven forHendrick include Darrell Waltrip, Tim Richmond, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Geoff Bodine and Parsons.
“I’m not retiring,” Hendrick said, turning to his current drivers in the audience. “This doesn’tmean we’re not going to win more races. ... I’mthe luckiest guy in the world because of my family and the friends I’ve met in this sport.”
Childress is most famous for teaming with Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Sr. to win six Cup championships and 67 races, but the Winston- Salem, N. C., native also drove his own cars from 1969 to 1981, finishing a high of fifth in the standings in 1975.
“Only in America could a kid selling peanuts and popcorn at Bowman Gray Stadium ( racetrack in Winston- Salem) have a dream of being a NASCAR driver someday ( and see it come true),” Childress said.
Over a 30- year driving career that ended in 2013, Martin established a reputation as a racer’s racer, one of that group of drivers who excelled at car preparation and on- track performance. Although he failed to win a Cup championship — he was second five times — he is remembered as one of the most talented and tenacious drivers in history.
Martin called his induction “a culmination of a life- long dream. The road was long and sometimes the mountain seemed insurmountable, but, in the end, here we stand in the greatest victory lane of all.”
Martin also won 49 times in what is now the Xfinity Series, holding that series victory record for 14 years. He scored 96 wins across NASCAR’s three national series.
Parsons, whose easygoing manner made him one of the most popular drivers among his peers, won 21 times in the Cup series and emerged as champion in 1973. He crashed early in the final race that season and was in danger of losing the points lead, but dozens of mechanics from other teams helped rebuild his car so he could finish the race and win the championship.
Parsons built a second fan base in a 19- year career in broadcasting.
Parks’ time in racing was brief, but his impact was great. An Atlanta businessman, he fielded cars in NASCAR from the organization’s first season in 1948 through 1955. Red Byron, driving Parks’ cars, won NASCAR’s first title ( theModified championship in 1948) and the first championship ( 1949) in what became the Cup series.
Parks added spark to NASCAR races by bringing immaculately prepared cars — polished and professionally painted— to tracks. He and NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. had a close relationship.