NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Landmark Award Winner – Harold Brasington Squier-Hall Award Winner - Steve Byrnes

Each year five legends are inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The Landmark Award and Squier-Hall Award are also presented.

Landmark Award Winner - Harold Brasington (b. 5/10/09 - d. 2/4/96)

• Hometown: Darlington, S.C.

Laughs. Those were the only responses elicited by Harold Brasington when he showed members of his Darlington, S.C. community plans to build a superspeedway in the small southern farm town. But

Brasington had the last laugh. The South Carolina businessman, who believed in Bill France’s fledgling NASCAR business, created the sanctioning body’s first superspeedway - a one-of-a-kind egg-shaped oval, paved on an old cotton and peanut field.

Expecting 10,000 fans to show up at Darlington Raceway’s first competition on Labor Day of 1950, 25,000 spectators showed up for the inaugural Southern 500 – NASCAR’s first 500-mile race. A mega-event was born. Darlington's success inspired Brasington to extend his reach north -- to North Carolina.

He employed his track building and promoting expertise, helping in the creation of Charlotte Motor Speedway and building North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.

Squier-Hall Award Winner- Steve Byrnes (b. 4/14/59 - d. 4/21/2015)

From 2001-14, Byrnes served as a pit reporter for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races on FOX. He also served as a studio show host and appeared on various programs.

Prior to joining FOX, Byrnes hosted a variety of NASCAR programs including Inside Winston Cup Racing with Ned Jarrett and Darrell Waltrip’s Racers on TNN. He also worked as a pit reporter for CBS, TNN and TBS.

His courageous battle with cancer served as an inspiration to the NASCAR industry, fans and his peers. In April, shortly before his passing, Bristol Motor Speedway named its Sprint Cup race the Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand up to Cancer.

NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Curtis Turner (5 of 5)

Each year five legends are inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

Curtis Turner - Driver (b. 4/12/24 - d. 10/4/70)

• Hometown: Roanoke, VA
• Premier Series Stats
• Competed: 1949-1968
• Starts: 184
• Wins: 17
• Poles: 16

Called by some the “Babe Ruth of stock car racing,” Curtis Turner was among the fastest and most colorful competitors in the early years of NASCAR premier series racing. Turner posted his first of 17 career victories in only his fourth start on Sept. 11, 1949, at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway.

Although many of Turner’s victories came on short tracks and dirt ovals – much of his career pre-dated NASCAR’s superspeedway era – he won the 1956 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and the first American 500 at Rockingham Speedway in 1965. He also won 38 of 79 races in which he competed in the NASCAR Convertible Division.

Turner competed in NASCAR’s first “Strictly Stock” race in 1949 in Charlotte and was the only driver to win a NASCAR premier series race in a Nash. He remains the only series driver to win two consecutive races from the pole leading every lap. 

Turner drove for many legendary NASCAR owners including the Wood Brothers, Junior Johnson, Smokey Yunick and Holman-Moody. Turner was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 O. Bruton Smith (4 of 5)

Each year five legends are inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

O. Bruton Smith - Executive/Promoter (b. 3/3/27)

• Hometown: Oakboro, N.C.
• Career Highlights
• Helped build Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc. taking them public in 1995 becoming the first motorsports company traded in the New York Stock Exchange

O. Bruton Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports Inc., bought his first race car at the age of 17 and a year later promoted his first stock car race in Midland, N.C. Smith’s early endeavors included operating the National Stock Car Racing Association – seen as an early competitor to NASCAR – and building Charlotte Motor Speedway.

CMS became the foundation of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which currently owns eight NASCAR tracks hosting 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and additional high-profile motorsports activities. Smith took SMI public in 1995 to become the first motorsports company to be traded at the New York Stock Exchange.

Smith founded Sonic Automotive, a group of several hundred auto dealerships across the United States. Smith is active in child-related causes with his philanthropic foundation Speedway Children’s Charities. He was inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall of Fame and National Motorsports Press Association’s Hall of Fame, both in 2006; and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.

Four of Five (More Tomorrow)

NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Terry Labonte (3 of 5)

Each year five legends are inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

Terry Labonte - Driver (b. 11/16/58)

• Hometown: Corpus Christie, TX
• Premier Series Stats
• Competed: 1978-current
• Starts: 881
• Wins: 22
• Poles: 27

Terry Labonte is a two-nickname NASCAR star. Early in his career he was known as the “Iceman” for his coolness under pressure. But his demeanor belied his determination. Later in his career he became known as the sport’s “Iron Man” due to a record 665 consecutive starts in NASCAR’s premier series, a record which stood until 2002.

Two more items to consider when assessing the Labonte legacy: the two premier series championships he won in 1984 and ’96. Two titles would be impressive enough; the 12-year gap distinguishes them further. No other driver has won his first two championships that far apart and Labonte is one of only six drivers to have won premier series championships in two decades.

Labonte, from Corpus Christi, Texas – the first driver from outside the Southeast to win the premier series title since New Yorker Bill Rexford in 1950 – was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Great Drivers in 1998, coinciding with the sport’s 50th anniversary.

He also was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 along with his younger brother Bobby Labonte, the 2000 champion of NASCAR’s premier series.

Three of Five (More Tomorrow)

NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Bobby Isaac (2 of 5)

Each year five legends are inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

Bobby Isaac - Driver (b. 8/1/32 - d. 8/14/77)

• Hometown: Catawba, N.C.
• Premier Series Stats
• Competed: 1961-1976
• Starts: 309
• Wins: 37
• Poles: 49

Bobby Isaac knew one speed: Fast. His uncanny skill at qualifying a race car proves that. His 49 career poles ranks tied for ninth all-time. Maybe more impressive: Isaac captured 19 poles in 1969, which still stands as the record for poles in a single season.

Only 37 drivers have 19 or more poles in their entire career. Isaac began racing in NASCAR’s premier series in 1961. He finished runner-up in the series standings in 1968 behind NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson.

In 1969 he finished sixth in the standings after posting 17 wins and those 19 poles. In his breakthrough season, 1970, Isaac won the championship posting 11 victories, 32 top fives and 38 top 10s in 47 starts. A year later, in September 1971, he set 28 world-class records on the Bonneville Salt Flats in his Dodge.

Many of his records exist to this day. Isaac won 37 races in NASCAR's top series during his career, which ranks 19th on the all-time wins list. In 1998, Isaac was named one NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.

Two of Five (More Tomorrow)

NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Jerry Cook (1 of 5)

Each year five legends are inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Jerry Cook - Driver (b. 6/20/43)

• Hometown: Rome, N.Y.
• Modified Series Stats
• Competed: 1963-1982
• Starts: 1,474
• Wins: 342 Poles: 26

Jerry Cook made his name in modifieds, winning six NASCAR Modified championships, including four consecutively from 1974-77. All the while, he was vying with another driver from his hometown of Rome, N.Y., nine-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richie Evans, for supremacy in NASCAR’s open-wheel realm.

The rivalry was home-grown – and intense. Modified racing is NASCAR's oldest form of competition – the staple of the very first NASCAR season in 1948. Cook has said the cars’ appeal was based on that history and the fact that the racing is unique within NASCAR. After retiring from racing in 1982, Cook stayed with the sport and helped shape the series known today as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.

Cook served as the series’ director when it began in 1985 and remains with NASCAR as competition administrator. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.

One of Seven (More Tomorrow)

SEMA Scholarship In Dick Dixon's Name

Plans to Institute a SEMA Scholarship In Dick Dixon's Name Announced Late Educator Was Active in Automotive Curriculum

November 26, 2012 - - Plans have been put in motion to institute a SEMA Memorial scholarship in the name of Dick Dixon, long time SEMA member and educator from La Verne, California who lectured at Cal State University San Bernardino, and who championed higher education for young people who wanted a future in the automotive and related industries.

Dixon passed away on November 15 after waging a tough battle with cancer. Even as the disease had him in great pain, he spent some of the last days of his life among colleagues, friends, and students at the annual SEMA Show meetings in Las Vegas.

"He was there to see his friends, and to pass the baton on in his way." Pat McInturff Professor Emeritus in the Department of Management at San Bernardino told us. "He was weak, but every student, every friend that he spoke to about his ideas for new projects buoyed him up. He never allowed the conversation to become about himself and his problems; it was all about the future, the students."

"Dick was more than a colleague," said McInturff, "He was an inspiration for all of us, he truly enjoyed teaching and he particularly loved helping students to understand the value that a solid business education would have in their future in the automotive industry."

Dixon came to formal teaching somewhat later in life, a lifelong motorsports junkie, an open-wheel racing driver in his youth, a magazine publisher, writer, and skillful organizer; he was involved in countless facets of the automotive business throughout his life. He touched hundreds of lives in hundreds of different ways, but it always his boundless enthusiasm that his friends will remember and miss most of all.

More details about this very special scholarship will be available soon.

At Dick's request there was no funeral, and his wife Judi has asked that friends and associates remember Dick by contributing to this scholarship.

Contributions should be made directly to SEMA. Checks should be made out to: SEMA Memorial Fund earmarked: "Dick Dixon" and sent to: 1575 S. Valley Vista Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91785-0910

The following is from the SEMA website:

Writer, educator and industry speaker Dick Dixon passed away in his sleep Thursday, November 15, after battling cancer. He lived by the philosophy that life was a sandbox from which to learn, work and play. He thought of himself as an unconventional get-it-done-right guy, who "worked like a 270 Offy."

Dixon grew up in Hawthorne, California, and earned his masters degree in management and marketing at California State University Dominguez Hills. Most recently, he was the director of the International Motorsports Alliance at California State University, San Bernardino and chairman of the Automotive Trades Institute. Dixon was a lifelong automotive and motorsports enthusiast and 30-year member of the aftermarket and motorsports industry.

A three-time SEMA Ambassador of the Year and Motorsports Legends Hall of Fame inductee, Dixon received numerous industry awards and spoke at industry events nationally. He authored the Cal State/SEMA-endorsed aftermarket management and marketing education certificate program and served on the SEMA Scholarship Committee for 13 years. Dixon was a former professor and motorsports administrator at Indiana and Purdue Universities. He was also managing editor and publisher of the Hot Rod Parts Guide and chairman and CEO of the Automotive Education Alliance.

Dixon actively participated in SEMA's ARMO, HRIA, YEN, and SBN councils. He was also a SEMA-endorsed educator of automotive management and was a featured speaker on eCommerce at the SEMA Show.