Dale Earnhardt won seven Cup championships. Credit: ASP

Earnhardt heads '06 Motorsports Hall class

Roush, Gant, Guthrie and Wheeler round out inductees

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- The late Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time NASCAR champion, heads the latest class of inductees to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Earnhardt is joined by team owner Jack Roush, NASCAR ace Harry Gant, female racing pioneer Janet Guthrie and racing executive H.A. "Humpy'' Wheeler in the class to be inducted April 27.

	Credit: ASP
	Inside the Numbers Dale Earnhardt's Cup career Starts 676 Wins 76 Top-5s 281 Top-10s 428 Poles 22 Laps 202,888 Laps Led 25,707 Earnings $42,001,697 Avg. Start 12.9 Avg. Finish 11.1

"This is one heck of a class for 2006,'' Jim Freeman, executive director of the Hall, said Wednesday.

Earnhardt became one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR history, posting 76 victories and 281 top-five finishes en route to winning more than $40 million. He was a three-time Driver of the Year who also won 21 Busch races and four IROC Series championships.

He was killed in a crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.

Roush Racing team has claimed championships in the Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck series. Roush's five-car team has won the last two Cup titles.

Gant won more than 300 short-track races, including 21 in the NASCAR Sportsman series, now the Busch series. Gant left Winston Cup in 1994 with 18 wins and 17 poles. He also raced in a limited number of truck series races in 1996.

In 1977, Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and in the Daytona 500. She finished ninth in the 1978 Indianapolis 500 with a team she formed, owned and managed. It was the best showing for a woman at Indy until Danica Patrick's fourth-place finish this season.

Guthrie's top Cup finish was sixth at Bristol in 1977, and she qualified ninth at both Talladega and Bristol that year.

Wheeler has been the innovative president and general manager of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., for nearly three decades. The track was the first to use an advanced lighting system to host night races and offer extensive VIP suits and condominiums.