A Pitch For The Pioneers

   So it's settled.

   The NASCAR Hall Of Fame has been won by Charlotte, which is as it should be.

   For decades the true heart of the sport has been the Queen City and the surrounding area, particularly Mooresville, where many teams are based and drivers make their homes on the shores of Lake Norman.

   Now the intrigue shifts from the locale of the multi-million dollar hall to who will be chosen for the inaugural class of inductees.

   There's no doubt about some who'll be selected for the honor:

   Big Bill France Sr., the late NASCAR founder.  Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt, both seven-time champions at the sanctioning body's major level.  David Pearson, whose 105 victories are second only to Petty's 200.  Junior Johnson, who won 50 races as a driver and 136 more as a team owner who once captured six championships in a 10-year span.

   Who else should be among the first enshrined?

   Dozens are deserving of eventual induction into the hall that's scheduled to open in about three years in downtown Charlotte.

   Although neither eligibility rules nor a selection format have been announced, permit me to make a pitch for the sport's pioneers to make up the bulk of the inaugural group of inductees.

   Without them, who knows if stock car racing would have become a billion-dollar business that's now followed by fans worldwide. 

   

   

   Charter membership in the hall should go to Herb Thomas, Buck Baker, Tim Flock and Lee Petty, the biggest stars of the 1950s, all now deceased.  All won multiple championships in that decade.  The colorful, late Curtis Turner is another possibility.

   Thomas, especially, deserves early induction.  Through the years Baker, Flock and Lee Petty have become more familiar to modern-era fans, but Thomas was the sport's first big winner.

   A North Carolina farm boy who worked at a sawmill during World War II, Thomas was in the field for NASCAR's first "Strictly Stock" race in Charlotte in 1949.  He  won his first race in 1950 and in '51 was the series champion.

   Thomas' racing career continued to only 1956, when serious injuries in a crash forced him from the cockpit.  But in his relatively brief time at the wheel he posted 48 victories, including three triumphs in the sport's toughest event, the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.  He also won the championship in 1953 and was runnerup in the point standings three times.

   Thomas and the other competitors in his era drove equipment that relatively was "Stone Age" compared to the safety standards and other sophistication of the cars of today.  The drivers of the late 1940s, the '50s and even the '60s were brave almost beyond belief considering the protection that was affored to them. Also, they ran for "peanut-sized" purses, even when figuring for inflation.

   For example, in his 1951 championship season Thomas earned a grand toal of $20,850.  Tony Stewart, the Nextel Cup Series title-winner in 2005, pocketed almost $7 million.

   Obviously, Thomas and the other pioneers drove race cars mostly for the passion and thrill of the chase.

  Drivers from the 1960s deserving of membership in the hall include Ned Jarrett, Rex White, Fred Lorenzen and deceased greats Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly and Jim Paschal.  And the late Wendell Scott, on the basis of the biases he had to battle and what he achieved with very limited resources.

   Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison lead the 1970s contingent that also includes Benny Parsons, Buddy Baker and the late Bobby Isaac.

   Top candidates for the hall from the 1980s are Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and the late Neil Bonnett.

   All these drivers I've mentioned undoubtedly will be inducted into the Charlotte hall at some point, along with such current stars as Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Bobby and Terry Labonte, recent retiree Ricky Rudd and the late Davey Allison.

   Great crew chiefs such as Dale Inman, Leonard Wood and the late Smokey Yunick deserve eventual induction, too, along with team owners like Bud Moore, Glen Wood, Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Raymond Parks, John Holman and Ralph Moody.  Ditto track founders Bruton Smith and his deceased counterparts, Harold Brasington, Clay Earles and Enoch Staley.

   There also should be a place in the hall for the talented champions of other NASCAR series, including Jack Ingram, Sam Ard, Jerry Cook and the late competitors Ralph Earnhardt, Richie Evans, Butch Lindley and Ray Hendricks.

   But along with NASCAR founder France, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Junior Johnson, it's my hope that pioneer drivers from the top division such as Herb Thomas and his peers justly are remembered and honored first.