Nominees for 2011 NASCAR HoF class revealed

Autoracing Betting Lines

07/01/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR on Thursday announced its 25 nominees for the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class.

Jerry Cook, Jack Ingram, Dale Inman, Fred Lorenzen and T. Wayne Robertson were new names added to the nominee list for the second class. Twenty other names on the list also appeared on the nominee roster for the inaugural induction class, which was revealed one year ago.

In May, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Junior Johnson were inducted as the first class into the new NASCAR Hall of Fame, which opened earlier in the month in Charlotte.

A 21-member committee - consisting of NASCAR officials and industry leaders, as well as owners/operators of current and historic racetracks - determined the nominees.

Next year's five inductees will be selected by a 53-member voting panel made up of NASCAR members, manufacturer representatives, former competitors, the media and fans. The voting will be completed later this year.

The 25 nominees for next year's NASCAR HoF induction class include:

(In alphabetical order)

Bobby Allison - 1983 Cup champion and 84 race wins.

Buck Baker - first driver to win consecutive Cup titles (1956-57).

Red Byron - first Cup champion in 1949.

Richard Childress - team owner who won six titles with driver Dale Earnhardt.

Jerry Cook - six-time Modified stock car champion.

Richie Evans - Modified stock car racing legend who won nine titles.

Tim Flock - Two-time Cup champion (1952, '55) and 39 race wins.

Rick Hendrick - Eight-time Cup championship team owner.

Jack Ingram - two-time Nationwide Series champion (1982, '85).

Dale Inman - eight-time Cup championship crew chief.

Ned Jarrett - Two-time Cup champion (1961, '65) and 50 race wins.

Fred Lorenzen - 26 Cup victories, including Daytona 500 and World 600 wins.

Bud Moore - team owner for 37 years with two Cup championships and 63 wins.

Raymond Parks - team owner who won NASCAR's first title with driver Red Byron.

Benny Parsons - 1973 Cup champion and first driver to qualify a stock car at more than 200 m.p.h.

David Pearson - Three-time Cup champion (1966, '68, '69) and 105 race wins.

Lee Petty - Three-time Cup champion (1954, '58, '59) and winner of first Daytona 500 (1959).

Fireball Roberts - Considered as one of the best drivers to never win a NASCAR title, 33 race wins.

T. Wayne Robertson - helped raise NASCAR popularity as RJ Reynolds Senior VP.

Herb Thomas - Two-time Cup champion (1951, '53) and 48 race wins.

Curtis Turner - Only driver to win 25 major NASCAR races in one season (1956), including 22 in the convertible division

Darrell Waltrip - Three-time Cup champion (1981, '82, '85) and 84 race wins.

Joe Weatherly - Two-time Cup champion (1962-63) and 25 race wins.

Glen Wood - legendary team owner who has been in NASCAR since 1953.

Cale Yarborough - First driver to win three consecutive Cup championships (1976-78).

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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