Hall of Fame inductees announced

On Oct. 14 at the Charlotte Convention Center, NASCAR revealed the inaugural class of five men inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The first inductees into the Hall of Fame are:

Bill France Sr. -- founder of NASCAR.

Richard Petty -- all-time win leader with 200 wins and seven-time Cup Series champion.

Bill France Jr. -- grew NASCAR after taking over for his father as NASCAR President.

Dale Earnhardt -- the only other driver aside from Petty to win seven Cup Series titles.

Junior Johnson -- legendary NASCAR car driver and car owner. He won 50 races as a driver and six Cup titles as an owner.

"The five that were chosen today were very deserving," two-time NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett, who was part of the selection committee, said.

The first five NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees were determined through a voting process that included 50 ballots, 49 from members of a nominating comittee, manufacturer representatives, former competitors in the sport, and other various NASCAR officials, and a ballot containing the results of a nationwide fan vote conducted on NASCAR.com.

The fan voting to determine the fan vote ballot closed several days ago, but the other voters cast their vote at the Convention Center on Oct. 14, just prior to the official announcement of the five honorees.

The inductees were selected from a group of 25 nominees that included (in alphabetical order):

Bobby Allison
Buck Baker
Red Byron
Richard Childress
Dale Earnhardt
Richie Evans
Tim Flock
Bill France Jr.
Bill France Sr.
Rick Hendrick
Ned Jarrett
Junior Johnson
Bud Moore
Raymond Parks
Benny Parsons
David Pearson
Lee Petty
Richard Petty
Fireball Roberts
Herb Thomas
Curtis Turner
Darrell Waltrip
Joe Weatherly
Glen Wood
Cale Yarborough

The Hall of Fame is set to open May 11, 2010 in uptown Charlotte. It will be housed in a 130,000 square foot, state-of-the-art building that will also serve as a NASCAR museum.

The five Hall of Fame inductees are scheduled to be enshrined during a ceremony at the hall on May 23.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame Complex under construction will also include the NASCAR Plaza Office Tower -- a 390,000 square foot office building that will house offices and studios for NASCAR Images, among other tenants -- and a parking garage for over 1,000 vehicles.

Advance admission tickets and membership packages for the Hall of Fame and Museum are already being sold. For information on membership packages and admission ticket sales, visit. www.nascarhall.com

Look for features on each of the inductees in the coming days.