Novi, MI – Stock car icon Dale Earnhardt, two-time Indy 500 champion Gordon Johncock, drag racing king Eddie Hill and pioneering open-wheel racer Gaston Chevrolet will lead a class of eight racing legends into the Motorsports Hall of Fame when the organization stages its annual enshrinement ceremony, June 12, 2002 at the State Theatre in Detroit.
These four, along with racing engine designer Fred Offenhauser, sports car champion Brian Redman, international motorcycle road racing ace Eddie Lawson and air racer and Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz, will join the 122 racers already enshrined in the Motorsports Hall of Fame.
"The names of those elected this year reads like the book of racing royalty," says Ron Watson, president of the Motorsports Hall of Fame. "Combined, they represent well more than 24 major championships, three Bendix air racing trophies, world speed records and a half century of engine design."
Earnhardt, whose death in a crash during last year's Daytona 500 shocked the racing world, was a seven-time NASCAR champion who compiled 76 wins and $40 million in prize money.
Johncock amassed 25 Indy car race wins, including two visits to the Indy 500 winner's circle and an Indy car (USAC) season championship.
Hill, a drag racer in both boats and cars, reached 229 mph in 1982 for a world water-speed record and later set numerous National Hot Rod Association speed and elapsed time records, capped by a top fuel World Championship in 1993.
Chevrolet, the youngest of three racing Chevrolet brothers, won the 1920 Indy 500 driving a car built by his brother, Louis, who was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1995.
Offenhauser built the dependably fast four-cylinder "Offy" Champ Car and midget car engine that dominated open wheel competition for more than a half century.
Redman is best known for his reign over the Formula 5000 road racing series in the 1970s, winning the title in 1974, 1975 and 1976 with 10 race wins and five second-place finishes in that span.
Lawson won the 500cc motorcycle FIM World Road Racing Championship in 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1989. He also won four championships in other classes throughout his career.
Mantz, a famed movie and stunt pilot, won the 1946, 1947 and 1948 Bendix Trophy Races.
Tickets for the enshrinement ceremony can be purchased by calling 1-800-250-RACE (7223).
Eligibility for induction into the Hall of Fame is available to anyone who has driven, piloted, ridden, owned, designed, built, supported, maintained, prepared, or promoted motorized vehicles in pursuit of speed, distance, endurance, or other records: or in racing, endurance or other competition. To be eligible, an inductee must have been retired for at least three years or must have been engaged at the top level of his or her specific field for at least 20 years.
The Motorsports Museum & Hall of Fame is operated by the Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation Inc., a non-profit corporation. The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is located within the Novi Expo Center, I-96 at Novi Road (Exit162), in the Detroit suburb of Novi, Michigan. The museum spotlights more than 40 racing and high performance vehicles. The constantly changing collection features racers from the world of Indy cars, stock cars, Can Am, TransAm, sprint cars, powerboats, truck racing, drag racing, motorcycles, air racing and even snowmobiles. Among the highlights are the last-ever Novi Special Indy car, Art Arfons' Green Monster jet car, and Winston Cup cars driven by Dale Jarrett, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough.
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