Dear NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel:One last time. Please, please, please, when you meet Wednesday to decide which five people from among the 20 nominees will be elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year, please do the right thing. Elect Fred Lorenzen.
I’m already on record as urging votes for Curtis Turner, Bobby Issac, Ray Fox and Jerry Cook, in addition to Lorenzen. But Lorenzen is the important one.
Please, HOF voters, resist the temptation to vote Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte into the Hall on their first ballot. Certainly Elliott, and probably Labonte, deserved to be first ballot shoo-ins – that is before NASCAR decided to treat Hall requirements like a speedway aero package and change the rules. It’s been only two years since Elliott ran his last Cup race and of course Labonte ran in the Daytona 500 earlier this year.
This isn’t about Elliott (or Labonte). I'm a big Bill Elliott fan, as I wrote when the ballot for the HOF Class of 2015 was first announced. He would have been an absolute first ballot no brainer. This is about changes in the Hall’s procedure that allowed Elliott to jump to the head of the line and possibly delay Lorenzen’s entry yet again, especially as the panel seems reluctant to vote more than one or two Cup drivers into the Hall each year.
Trouble is, there may not be another year for Lorenzen. His family has been open about the fact Lorenzen suffers from dementia. He has good days and bad. Let's give him another good day while he can still appreciate it.
Please.
I agree 100%, Fred should go while he can still know and enjoy the award with his family and friends
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that Freddie made it, especially as these HOFs are usually popularity contests, and this version is subject to lobbying and arm twisting by the France family and broadcasters. I'm VERY bothered that Red Byron, Raymond Parks, and Erwin 'Cannonball' Baker don't even get a mention. If you had rubbed the Frances, you don't even get into the room as Humpy Wheeler, Smokey Yunick and Curtis Turner fans know all too well. Why are Childress and Hendricks on everyone's lips while Carl Kiekhaefer is ignored. He showed them how to manage teams, but then he too rubbed Big Bill ... mainly because he won too much! IMHO it's a travesty that the ego of one time winner Rusty Wallace gets inducted, mostly with pressure from ABC (from whom all money flows!), while the Flock family, especially Tim get forgotten.
ReplyDeleteThe lessons are obvious. Don't expect the toady pack of voters to know history; don't irk the Frances; and it sure helps to get a second career in broadcasting!