On Wednesday, the NASCAR Hall of Fame introduced its five new inductees. In case you haven't heard, the class of 2011 will include Lee Petty, David Pearson, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison and Bud Moore. It's hard to argue with those names, but a case could be made for atleast a half dozen others including Darrell Walrip and Cale Yarbrough.
Here's the problem. I know it's a Hall of Fame, and getting in should mean something, but NASCAR hung around for 60 years before finally getting around to building a Hall of Fame. With a class of 5 per year...it will take 10 years before all the people deserving to be in the hall at this moment get in. That's where the Hall of Fame got it wrong.
It's too late now, NASCAR is married to the concept of 5 drivers per year. But they should have put 20 in the first year, or 10 in each of the first two classes. Something. Not to take anything away from the 10 people in the hall, they are obvious hall of famers, but so ais DW and Cale and Tim Flock and Red Byron and Fireball Roberts and on and on. The question is, why should they wait? They've already waited long enough.
It's too bad, because the Hall really is a beautiful place. I've been to Canton and although the lore may not be there in Charlotte yet, aesthetically, the football Hall of Fame can not compete with NASCAR.
So the debate wages on. Hall of Famers will trickle in 5 at a time. And we will have this same discussion next year.
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