Childress, Hendrick, Martin, Parks and Parsons make NASCAR HOF
Rick Hendrick and Richard Childress are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The two team owners joined Mark Martin, Raymond Parks and Benny Parsons as the five members who make up the 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame class. Former Martinsville Speedway president H. Clay Earles was given the Landmark Award.
Parsons was the leading vote-getter among the five inductees. He appeared on 85 percent of ballots while Hendrick was a distant second at 62 percent. Martin was on 57 percent of ballots, Parks was on 53 percent of ballots and Childress was on 43 percent.
According to NBC, Robert Yates, Red Byron and Alan Kulwicki were the next three highest vote getters. It’s good to see that Byron’s votes still counted after his name was misspelled on the official ballot.
Here’s a quick look at the five inductees, who were chosen from a list of 20 nominees. They’ll be officially inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January.
Childress: After a short career as a driver, Childress became synonymous with seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt as Earnhardt’s car owner. The two won six championships together and combined for 67 wins. Childress has 105 wins as a car owner and currently fields Chevrolets for Austin Dillon, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman. Childress’ last win as an owner came when Kevin Harvick won at Phoenix in 2013.
Hendrick: Hendrick’s drivers have won 11 championships and 242 races over 33 years. His first title came with Jeff Gordon in 1995 and Terry Labonte won again in 1996. Since then, Gordon won three more titles while Jimmie Johnson has captured six. Hendrick’s first win as a car owner came in 1984 at Martinsville with Geoffrey Bodine. That win paid $29,880. The team’s win at Texas this fall with Jimmie Johnson paid just over $462,000.
Martin: Martin may not have a championship, but there’s little doubting his career credentials. Widely considered the best driver to never win a title, Martin won 40 races over parts of 31 seasons in the Cup Series and finished in the top five of the points standings 13 times (including five second-place finishes). Martin also won 49 races in what’s now the Xfinity Series and seven Truck Series races.
Parks: One of the founding members of the sport, Parks was first a moonshine runner and owned racing teams before NASCAR was founded. In NASCAR, Parks’ teams won the first two NASCAR championships. Byron won driving for Parks at Daytona Beach and Martinsville in 1949. Parks died in 2010.
Parsons: The 1973 champion (not 1972 as NASCAR CEO Brian France said when announcing Parsons as a Hall of Fame member), Parsons won 21 races and had 283 top-10 finishes in 526 career races. He won just once in his title-winning season but finished in the top-five 15 times. Although he finished third in the 1977 standings, Parsons won a career-high four races and had 20 top fives and 22 top-10 finishes. He was a broadcaster for NBC in the early 2000s and died in 2007.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
