CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In some ways, it was like an early Halloween gathering Wednesday at the Charlotte Convention Center, where the inaugural five-member class for the soon-to-be-opened NASCAR Hall of Fame was announced with much fanfare.

The treats went to the France family, which saw both Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr. included in the historic group; to drivers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, who share the record for most Cup championships with seven each; and to Junior Johnson, who rounded out the field on the strength of 50 wins as a driver and six championships as a car owner.

The first class

Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Jr., Junior Johnson and Bill France Sr. will be enshrined in May 2010.

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"It's great man. Anytime you're in a race -- and this kind of felt like a race -- if you finish amongst the leaders, then you feel good," Petty said.

Brian France, chairman and CEO of NASCAR, stood afterward with his sister, Lesa France Kennedy, and proclaimed it "a great day for the sport."

It wasn't a bad one for the France family, either, but then NASCAR and the France family always have been intertwined so deeply as to make it impossible most days to differentiate from the two.

"It certainly was gratifying to see our father and our grandfather amongst the first five inductees," Brian France said.

Lesa France Kennedy added: "For us both to be here together to witness our father and our grandfather being inducted is one of the most significant moments in our family's history. We just really appreciate it."

The trick to their treats

The trick was on David Pearson, who was the most notable odd man out when the 51 votes by the nominating committee were tabulated (well, 50 members of the nominating committee and one vote that was the composite of online balloting by fans). Officials from NASCAR would only confirm that drivers Pearson, Cale Yarbourgh and Bobby Allison finished sixth, seventh and eighth, but not necessarily in that order, in the balloting.

So while the others celebrated their good fortune -- Dale Earnhardt Inc. even had young ladies in fake mustaches handing out invitations to a cocktail party to celebrate Earnhardt's election -- Pearson obviously didn't feel like joining in. He muttered answers to precious few questions and said he had to be getting back on the road to Spartanburg, S.C., having driven fellow NASCAR legend and future Hall of Famer Cotton Owens, whom Pearson said needed to return home to be with his ailing wife.

"If someone didn't like me, they had to vote for someone else," Pearson said. "But when I saw the two Frances go in, I knew I didn't have a chance."

There is little doubt that Pearson is now a lock to be at the forefront of the Hall of Fame Class of 2011. But his exclusion Wednesday begged for the question to be asked: Did the voters get this first class right?

The first three choices for the Hall were considered a given: NASCAR founder Big Bill France, plus record-setting drivers Petty and Earnhardt. These three -- icons all -- represent the Holy Trinity of stock-car racing's very foundation. No one in their right mind would deny that all three needed to be included in the inaugural class, although King Richard pleaded with all those who asked beforehand -- and even afterward on Wednesday -- that his father, Lee, and "some of the other old-timers who made the sport what it is" go in before him.

“

Anyone who won 105 races and didn't make the cut, somebody ain't adding right.

”

RICHARD PETTY

Deserving though Lee Petty is in his own right -- with three championships and 54 race wins, plus a formidable stint of his own as car owner -- that discussion didn't carry as much weight as the one, detailed as "spirited" by voting members, of whether or not Pearson should have gotten in at the expense of Bill France Jr. or possibly Junior Johnson.

The bottom line

In fact, as fierce as his belief is that his father deserved to get in, Petty insisted that if he had been asked to fill out a ballot for Wednesday's first class, Pearson's name would have been the first one he wrote down.

"Anyone who won 105 races and didn't make the cut, somebody ain't adding right. That's my opinion," said Petty, who, of course, won a record 200 races himself (but in 1,185 starts compared to just 574 for Pearson).

Even Brian France admitted that he was concerned to some degree about the perception of both his father and grandfather being included in the inaugural class at the expense of others, especially drivers.

"Believe it or not, I didn't know [the results] until I read them [on stage]. There was a lot of discussion about having two France family members in the same year. So I was surprised," France said. "Look, all the [nominees] easily could have been named on this first ballot. But I also know how hard my dad and my grandfather worked and how much they put into this sport. So it's a proud day for the France family, I can tell you that."

That is as it should be. It's difficult to argue against either France, with Big Bill having founded NASCAR and Bill Jr., after taking over in 1972, presiding over its phenomenal growth from a regional sport to a national one.

And with that, the France family was left to its own private celebration. Others followed the Earnhardt-mustachioed crowd to that costume party, while presumably Petty and Johnson went off to celebrate on their own as well.

Pearson loaded up the car with Owens and headed south on the highway. This was one race that he didn't control and could not win.

Now he'll just have to wait until next year.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

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