NASCAR introduced at present the inductees who will comprise the NASCAR Corridor of Fame Class of 2024. The three-person group – the 14th for the reason that inception of the NASCAR Corridor of Fame in 2010 – consists of Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and Donnie Allison. As well as, Janet Guthrie was named the recipient of the Landmark Award for Excellent Contributions to NASCAR.
Members of the NASCAR Corridor of Fame Voting Panel met at present in an in-person closed session on the Charlotte Conference Middle to debate and vote upon the 15 nominees for the induction class of 2024 and the 5 nominees for the Landmark Award.
Ten nominees appeared on the Fashionable Period poll, which was chosen by the normal Nominating Committee. The identical committee chosen the 5 Landmark Award nominees. The Pioneer poll, which included 5 nominees whose careers started in 1964 or earlier, was chosen by the Honors Committee. Starting with the Class of 2021, every Corridor of Fame class options two inductees from the Fashionable Period poll and one from the Pioneer poll.
The Class of 2024 was decided by votes forged by the Voting Panel, together with representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Corridor of Fame, monitor homeowners from main amenities and historic quick tracks, media members, producer representatives, rivals (drivers, homeowners, crew chiefs), acknowledged trade leaders, a nationwide fan vote performed by way of NASCAR.com and the reigning NASCAR Cup Sequence champion (Joey Logano). In all, 57 votes had been forged, with two extra Voting Panel members recused from voting as potential nominees for induction (Jeff Burton and Ricky Rudd). The accounting agency of EY presided over the tabulation of the votes.
Johnson acquired 93% of the Fashionable Period poll votes; Knaus acquired 81%. Harry Gant completed third, adopted by Ricky Rudd and Carl Edwards. Donnie Allison acquired 53% of the Pioneer poll votes. Banjo Matthews completed second.
Outcomes for the NASCAR.com Fan Vote had been: Donnie Allison (Pioneer); Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus (Fashionable Period).
The 2 Fashionable Period inductees got here from a gaggle of 10 nominees that included: Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, Larry Phillips and Ricky Rudd.
Nominees for the Pioneer Poll included: Donnie Allison, Sam Ard, A.J. Foyt, Banjo Matthews and Ralph Moody.
Nominees for the Landmark Award included Janet Guthrie, Alvin Hawkins, Lesa France Kennedy, Dr. Joseph Mattioli and Les Richter.
The Class of 2024 Induction Ceremony is about for Friday, Jan. 19, 2024 on the NASCAR Corridor of Fame and Charlotte Conference Middle in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tickets for the Induction Ceremony will probably be accessible Monday, Aug. 7, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. on NASCARHall.com.
Class of 2024 Inductees:
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson’s seven profession NASCAR Cup Sequence championships famously tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for many in collection historical past; his 5 consecutive titles are a NASCAR file. Johnson’s on-track accomplishments behind the wheel of a inventory automobile put him on the quick checklist within the “Best of All Time” dialogue. He has 83 wins at 20 totally different race tracks, together with a number of wins in each NASCAR crown jewel occasion: two Daytona 500s (2006, ’13), 4 Brickyard 400s (2006, ’08-09, ’12), 4 Coca-Cola 600s (2003-05, ’14), two Southern 500’s (2004, ’12) and 4 All-Star Race wins (2003, ’06, ’12-13). Presently the co-owner of NASCAR staff LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Johnson was named considered one of NASCAR’s 75 Best Drivers in 2023.
Chad Knaus
Main his father to a number of monitor championships as a young person, Chad Knaus was destined to be a profitable crew chief at inventory automobile racing’s highest degree. His NASCAR begin got here at Hendrick Motorsports as an assistant within the physique store, studying beneath Corridor of Famer Ray Evernham as a part of the “Rainbow Warriors.” His breakthrough got here in 2002 when he was paired with rookie driver Jimmie Johnson on a fourth Hendrick staff – the beginning of one of the vital productive partnerships in sports activities historical past. The pair mixed for seven NASCAR Cup Sequence championships, together with a NASCAR-record 5 in a row. They gained 81 races over 19 seasons, together with the 2013 Daytona 500, two Southern 500s, 4 Coca-Cola 600s and 4 Brickyard 400s. Knaus gained his 82nd – and ultimate – race with William Byron in 2020. He trails solely Dale Inman and Leonard Wooden for all-time wins by a crew chief. Knaus at the moment serves as Vice President of Competitors for Hendrick Motorsports.
Donnie Allison
A member of NASCAR’s famed “Alabama Gang” and an envoy for the game for greater than 50 years, Donnie Allison had by no means deliberate to be a race automobile driver. However like his brother (and NASCAR Corridor of Famer) Bobby, Donnie received his begin racing modifieds and labored his approach to the highest degree of inventory automobile racing. After successful the 1967 Cup Sequence Rookie of the 12 months, Allison partnered with famed mechanic Banjo Matthews the place he skilled his most success. In 1970, Allison gained three races for Matthews, together with the Coca-Cola 600. However Allison could be best-known for his position in NASCAR’s most well-known second – his 1979 Daytona 500 battle with Cale Yarborough. An intense battle for the win ended with each drivers wrecked, scuffling within the infield. All of it occurred on the primary nationally-televised NASCAR race and made headlines throughout America. The publicity was instrumental to the expansion of NASCAR and stays one of many defining moments within the sport’s historical past.
Landmark Award for Excellent Contributions to NASCAR:
Janet Guthrie
Janet Guthrie moved on from a profitable profession as an aerospace engineer within the early Nineteen Sixties, buying and selling equations for a wheel to develop into a full-time racer in 1972. A real pioneer in motorsports, Guthrie turned the primary lady to compete in a NASCAR premier collection superspeedway race when she drove to a Fifteenth-place end within the 1976 World 600. The following yr, she piloted vehicles within the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, turning into the primary feminine to take part in each occasions. Guthrie steered her automobile to a sixth-place end at Bristol in 1977, considered one of 5 profession top-10 finishes. General, the College of Michigan graduate made 33 premier collection begins. Guthrie was a member of the primary class inducted into the Worldwide Girls’s Sports activities Corridor of Fame. Her helmet and firesuit are on show on the Smithsonian Establishment.
