[shelbysaleen]

The next class for the NASCAR hall of fame has been selected. The newest members will be Tim Flock, Maurice Petty, Dale Jarrett, Jack Ingram, and Fireball Roberts.

In that mix some are surprises and some say they were but should not have been.

The NASCAR hall of fame has to make money to stay in business. No matter how great we think it is or how important it is to the sport; without money it doesnt exist. In order to make money you have to have ticket sales. That means keeping the hall relevant to the modern day ticket buyer. This is why Dale Jarrett is already in and not either Joe weatherly [with 2 consecutive championships and died while champion] nor Benny Parsons [similar record to dale but had a long broadcasting career].

I also beleive what effects the vote is misguided perception of who did what. Fireball Roberts is in already with no championships. His best ranking was second. He has less than 10 wins more than joe weatherly but joe with his cups gets to wait. The reason. Fireball in his day was as big in NASCAR as Dale Sr in his day. The difference there is Dal did win the championship 7 times.

When comparing this to modern day, it would be similar to Dale Jr getting in the hall of fame prior to Tony stewart. This is why the record books have to be taken into consideration. Does anyone think dale jr deserves it more than tony stewart. No, but the vote has already gone that way a few times since the voting started.

There is also a huge group that beleives Wendell Scott has been robbed each and EVERY year. Wendell faced adversity during his career. I give the upmost respect to this fact. The world was a different place back then and color was a huge issue. He had another color isusse to face other than his skin. Green, Wendell was not a rich man and had to work for everything he did. Had Wendell been white with the same limited resources there is no gurantee he would have won any more races than he did. There are many drivers then and now that are talented who never get the chance. What I personnally would like to see is them to name a pioneering award after Wendell and Louise Smith. They would be the first reciepients of the award and it would give those who helped lead the way for the future generations. They deserve to be recognized but you there is better ways than to recognize their contributions. For those that have never been to the hall it should be noted both of them do have displays there already.

Jack Ingram is a non name to many fans. He is not to those that ever were fortunate to see him race. Before terry labonte Jack was the Iron Man, He won two of the first four bush titles and finished in the top five 7 times out of the first 8 years. This does not even count what he did before the series was backed by the beer company. He did it out of a small shop in asheville nc where he continues to run from today. Jack is not media savy and continues to say what he thinks. He is of the age where wining was everything and image was just a side effect. Luckily with the voters today there are enough that did get to see him race and know how good he really was.

The biggest problem the Hall of fame has is trying to please everyone. If they went way back and honored the people in the order they ran we might be 10 years out before they reached the big names of today. Fans remember images. Some think they know the legends. Every year you are going to have those that do not think the they got the vote right. Every year someone is going to be left off. Yes its political at times as it is with the other halls of fame. Next year when they vote for the baseball hall of fame someone will leave greg maddux off their list. There is no justification for greg not going in unanimous but it will happen. Someone always has a bone to pick or point to make. Eventually all that deserve to be in will be in. Whether its the first ballot or fifth doesnt matter as long as they make it.