Drivers-Turned-Owners Wood, Childress Nominated For Hall Of Fame
On Tuesday, it was revealed that long-time rivals Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip have been nominated.
Courtesy: NASCAR Media Relations
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 1, 2009) – It’s time for another behind-the-scenes preview of the first-ever nominations for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Later this week the entire 25-person list will be known. From that list, five people will be chosen as the hall’s inaugural class of inductees in October. The inductees will be honored next May at the new HOF facility in Charlotte.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that long-time rivals Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip have been nominated.
Here are two more names that will be on that list:
Glen Wood and Richard Childress.
Both were drivers originally, who switched their concentration to team ownership. Both ended up having some of NASCAR’s biggest stars drive their cars.
Wood had David Pearson, Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, Fred Lorenzen and currently, Bill Elliott. Childress’ big gun for years was seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt; six of those titles were won driving for Childress.
The Wood Brothers are credited with pioneering the modern-day pit stop, becoming one of the first organizations to recognize the value of pit-stop efficiency and how that could benefit a team over the course of a long afternoon of racing.
Childress’ ownership efforts have continued admirably since Earnhardt’s 2001 passing. He has 11 owner championships in NASCAR’s three national series, which is a record, shared with Rick Hendrick.
