NASCAR Hall of Fame's Class of 2012 is announced


NASCAR announced Tuesday who will be the 2012 inductees to the Hall of Fame's third class:

CALE YARBOROUGH: The first driver to ever win three consecutive NASCAR championships also won 28 races in three years: nine in 1976, nine in 1977 and 10 in 1978. He also had the most pole wins until Jeff Gordon beat him this past year with 70 wins. His career started in 1957 and he raced for 31 years.

DARRELL WALTRIP: Fox's NASCAR broadcaster won three championships while racing with legendary driver, owner and 2010 inductee Junior Johnson. He is tied with Jeff Gordon and 2011 inductee Bobby Allison for third in all-time series victories with 84 wins.

GLEN WOOD: This year, The Wood Brothers team got to celebrate a historic win with Trevor Bayne, the youngest driver to win a Daytona 500. Now a second celebration is in order as the announcement of Glen Wood into the Class of 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame is made. Wood's resume includes having 63 starts in racing and 1,370 starts as an owner, of which 98 of those were victories. Other drivers who have raced for the Wood Brothers are: Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, Bill Elliott, Dan Gurney, Tiny Lund, Parnelli Jones and 2011 inductee David Pearson.

DALE INMAN: Inman served as Richard Petty's crew chief for three decades at Petty Enterprises. He won a total of eight championships, seven with Petty and one with Terry Labonte in 1984.

RICHIE EVANS: Known as the "king" of Modified racing; he won nine Modified championships in a 13-year span; eight of those wins were consecutive between the years 1978 to 1985. He was named one of NASCAR'S 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and was ranked No. 1 in the NASCAR All Time Modified Top 10 Drivers. Evans was killed during a practice crash in Martinsville, Va., on Oct. 24, 1985 before the final race of the season.

The announcement was made at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., after 55 members of the panel voted in a closed session. The vote was broken down as follows: Yarborough, 85 percent; Waltrip, 82 percent; Inman, 78 percent; Evans, 50 percent, and Wood, 44 percent.

Yarborough, Waltrip, Wood, Inman and Evans will be officially inducted Jan. 20, 2012, in a ceremony at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
NASCAR Hall of Fame's Class of 2012 is announced NASCAR Hall of Fame's Class of 2012 is announced Reviewed by Unknown on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Rating: 5