Hoseheads Sprint Car Photos & News

2/2/10

The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum in Knoxville is hallowed ground for all sprint car fans. Bob Baker, Tom Schmeh, and the legions of workers mostly made up of volunteers do a great job preserving the history of our sport. Now I don’t like throwing mud at anyone, especially the Hall of Fame because there was a time when we didn’t have a Hall of Fame. So I want everyone to understand that I appreciate what we have. I have a membership to the Hall of Fame and as a group the Bus House Gang has purchased a brick. And I will always support the Hall of Fame financially and do what I can to promote it. So I want the record to say that I have no problems with the Hall of Fame itself or its staff. But I do have a bone to pick with those who are on the panel that votes inductees into the Hall of Fame.

After this year’s announcement of inductees, the message boards produced an outcry of criticism. Some people took it too far saying they wouldn’t support the Hall of Fame with a membership this year. I guess that’s their right to do that, but I wouldn’t even dream of not supporting an institution I love so much. But I do agree that the election process of the Hall of Fame might need some tweaks, and I’m not the only who thinks so.

For names like Danny Lasoski and Gary Wright not to get in is a shame. I shouldn’t have to do much explaining for Dude about his accomplishments. Gary Wright I believe is one of the top five winningest drivers all time. And yes a lot of his wins are in a 360, but this is the sprint car hall of fame. It doesn’t say the 410 hall of fame on the sign out in front of the building. But GW won more than his share of 410 races.

In this month’s Sprint Car & Midget magazine writer Bruce Ellis wrote a very nice article on the drivers of the decade and number three on that list was Danny Lasoski. Ellis wrote about Lasoski, “if he’s not a first ballot Hall of Famer this spring, there should be an investigation.” Well guess what…..let the investigation begin Mr. Ellis.

A panel of 72 people makes up the voters for induction into the Hall of Fame. The eligibility requirements for induction are to be the age of 50, or retired for 5 years. While it shouldn’t be a race to see who gets in first, public perception is that the more deserving should get in ahead of those who, for a lack of a better term, are less deserving. And in recent years Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Fred Rahmer, Jac Haudenschild, and Kenny Jacobs were inducted in their first year of eligibility. A precedent has been set to honor current drivers who standout and rightfully so.

The following names were eligible this year and were not inducted: Danny Lasoski, Gary Wright, Frankie Kerr (retired in 2001), Bobby Davis Jr. (hasn’t raced since 2004), and Andy Hillenburg (hasn’t raced since 2002), and denied once again west coast driver Johnny Anderson. In 2011 Mark Kinser will be eligible as his last race was in April of 2005. In 2012 Jeff Swindell will be old enough for eligibility. Now all of these men will likely end up in the Hall of Fame at some point. But how do superstars like Lasoski and Wright get overlooked in their first year? I’m not going to debate that the drivers who will be inducted this year are not deserving of induction. (Bobbie Adamson, Hank Arnold, Fred Linder, Frank Riddle, Hal Robson, and Herman Schurch) Obviously the voters thought they were deserving of the honor for lifetime achievement in sprint car racing, but are they more deserving than two of the best to ever get behind the wheel? To me it should be a competition and to say that any of the inductees this year had more career accomplishments than Lasoski or Wright is wrong. Each year the nominees should be looked at, reviewed, ranked by who has the most accomplishments somehow, and then a vote for the most deserving that year should be elected. Now I’m sure the job of being on the panel of 72 is more complicated than anyone thinks. And those people surely do not get the credit they deserve for their service, which is greatly appreciated. But I don’t see what’s wrong with holding them accountable for the responsibility they have of inducting the most deserving people of our sport.. This year they got it wrong. Bruce Ellis I’m sure wrote his article before the announcement of the inductees, but his statement is right.

Even my good buddy Bill W. chimed in with a post on the hoseheads message board saying that “I know they have looked at the induction process, but this may be the time to do something about it.” And one other person who has brought fire on the induction process is one of the biggest sprint car historians in the country, Kevin Eckert of Open Wheel Times who is one of the 72 voters. Eckert said, “…the induction process is broken.” Well, he said a lot more than that, but I’ll let you dig into that on your own.

I want to be able to defend the Hall of Fame, and when people question their credibility like this it rattles me right down to my down tubes. The last thing I want is people laughing at the Hall of Fame. But the voters have unintentionally put the Hall of Fame in an awkward situation. And with Knoxville scheduling a three day WoO show during the Hall of Fame weekend (that will hopefully attract big names to the Masters Classic such as Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild, Danny Lasoski, Sammy Swindell, and Gary Wright.) I think it could be a set up for the Lasoski fans to gather at his home track and make a statement throughout the weekend. Look for Lasoski supporters to be there to let their case be known that he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

In my opinion the Hall of Fame needs to address something. Maybe it’s the set of people on the 72 person panel that needs a shakeup. Maybe the induction process somehow is flawed. I’m not saying it’s been wrong the last 20 years, but when big names are not inducted on the first ballot, after guys like Steve, Sammy, Rahmer, Haud, and Jacobs were, something seems wrong this year.

And for the record, I am not a Danny Lasoski fan, not since the 80’s anyway. And yes Danny has burned some bridges in his career, but personal feelings should not be a factor when looking at his career accomplishments. What Lasoski and Wright have done is more than worthy of being granted the honor of induction into our sprint car hall of fame. In fact they stand out as two of the best ever. And if guys in the coming years who will become eligible such as Mark Kinser and Jeff Swindell get overlooked on their first ballot, even more of an outcry will ensue.

Hopefully the system is reviewed or at least explained in greater detail for the common sprint car fan that doesn’t understand how the current system works. According to Kevin Eckert some people have been inducted with as little five votes. How does that happen? The Hall of Fame board of directors has some investigating to do. Hopefully the men who were snubbed in 2010 will be elected in 2011. And no matter what, please support our Hall of Fame. It’s such a great place to walk around and immerse yourself into what can only be the closest thing on this side of sprint car heaven.