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Posted on Fri, Jul. 25, 2003
Hall to induct Harry Gant and Darrell Waltrip
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
LONG POND, Pa. - Darrell Waltrip and Harry Gant have been named as the 2003 inductees for the National Motorsports Hall of Fame in Darlington, S.C.
Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion who now serves as an analyst for Fox Sports, was selected in his first year of eligibility.
"That's fantastic," Waltrip said. "Ned Jarrett kept telling me, 'You need to quit driving in the Truck series so you'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame.' But that truck's a lot of fun."
Waltrip won 84 races, including the 1989 Daytona 500 and five Coca-Cola 600s, in a career in which he won almost $20 million in total earnings. He was twice named the sport's most popular driver and won the NMPA's Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award three times.
Gant, from Taylorsville, N.C., won 18 races and 17 poles in his Winston Cup career. In 1991, at age 51, he won four straight races at Darlington, Richmond, Dover and Martinsville.
Of the 10 races in Winston Cup history won by drivers 50 and over, Gant won eight of them. He's the oldest driver to ever win a race in the series at 52 years, seven months and six days when he won at Michigan in 1992.
Waltrip and Gant were each named on 77 percent of the ballots submitted by NMPA members in this year's voting. Tim Richmond just missed getting the 65 percent required for induction, getting 62 percent. Butch Lindley was named on 30 percent of the ballots.
This year's induction ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 30 in Darlington.
Hall to induct Harry Gant and Darrell Waltrip
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
LONG POND, Pa. - Darrell Waltrip and Harry Gant have been named as the 2003 inductees for the National Motorsports Hall of Fame in Darlington, S.C.
Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion who now serves as an analyst for Fox Sports, was selected in his first year of eligibility.
"That's fantastic," Waltrip said. "Ned Jarrett kept telling me, 'You need to quit driving in the Truck series so you'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame.' But that truck's a lot of fun."
Waltrip won 84 races, including the 1989 Daytona 500 and five Coca-Cola 600s, in a career in which he won almost $20 million in total earnings. He was twice named the sport's most popular driver and won the NMPA's Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award three times.
Gant, from Taylorsville, N.C., won 18 races and 17 poles in his Winston Cup career. In 1991, at age 51, he won four straight races at Darlington, Richmond, Dover and Martinsville.
Of the 10 races in Winston Cup history won by drivers 50 and over, Gant won eight of them. He's the oldest driver to ever win a race in the series at 52 years, seven months and six days when he won at Michigan in 1992.
Waltrip and Gant were each named on 77 percent of the ballots submitted by NMPA members in this year's voting. Tim Richmond just missed getting the 65 percent required for induction, getting 62 percent. Butch Lindley was named on 30 percent of the ballots.
This year's induction ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 30 in Darlington.
