NASCAR.COM - NASCAR honors first class in Hall of Fame ceremony

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NASCAR honors first class in Hall of Fame ceremony (cont'd)

In a ceremony where the families of all five inductees played pivotal roles, 16-year-old Robert Johnson inducted his father, Junior Johnson, the one-time moonshine runner.

"Although my father may be going into the NASCAR Hall of Fame [Sunday], he's always been a Hall of Fame dad in my heart," he said. "Please join me in welcoming our next inductee, my father, Junior Johnson. I love you, Dad."

Induction Ceremony

Richard Childress, Earnhardt's team owner and best friend, appeared with Earnhardt's wife, Teresa Earnhardt, sons Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt and daughters Kelley Earnhardt and Taylor Earnhardt to induct the driver known as the Intimidator. It was a rare picture of unity for a family that's been largely depicted as fractured since Earnhardt's 2001 death in the Daytona 500.

"Dale Earnhardt was definitely a hero to his family -- no one can say more about that than his children," Teresa Earnhardt said. "Through them, his friends and fans, through this Hall of Fame, through you, Dale Earnhardt, the legend, lives on."

No one was immune from the aggressive style of Earnhardt, the "champion's champion" who epitomized the blue collar spirit at the heart of NASCAR. Not even his son.

"We were in Japan racing," Earnhardt Jr. recalled. "I was racing for the first time against the Cup competitors and my father. It was late in the race. I got some new tires -- only had a few laps to make those tires work for me. I got up underneath him in Turns 3 and 4, and I just needed 2 inches to clear him.

"I didn't have him cleared. I slid across his nose, up to the wall. He carried me all the way down the front straightaway with my back tires in the air all the way into [Turn] 1. That was the day I met the Intimidator."

Earnhardt's induction was the most anticipated -- proven when a No. 3-clad fan in the back of the room cheered and raised three fingers in salute. Unlike the other inductees, whose choices for introduction and acceptance speeches were well-known, Earnhardt's representatives had been more fluid and the crowd was not certain who would speak.

Teresa Earnhardt, uncomfortable with public speaking, has been somewhat reclusive in the nine years since her husband's death. Her relationship with stepson Dale Earnhardt Jr. is strained, at best, and it's rare to see all four children in public together.

But the family attended Thursday night's gala together, and the occasion of Earnhardt's induction had marked somewhat of a coming-out party for his youngest daughter, Taylor. Once frequently spotted alongside her father at the race track, she'd been largely out of the public eye since her father's death.

The 21-year-old represented the family at several events this weekend, and was poised on stage during the ceremony.

"Everyone always tells us that we all look a little bit like Dad," she said. "I think we all act like him, too. We're determined, driven, stubborn as a fence post.

"But Dad gave all four of us something. He gave all his fans something. I think that's what makes him a true champion in everybody's eyes."

The Earnhardts closed a ceremony that was short on individual celebration. Since only two members of this inaugural class are still living, inductions and acceptances fell to family members and close friends.

"This Hall's a tribute to everybody -- it leaves nobody out," Hendrick said after the inductions. "And I'm just real thankful that they've done it as professionally as they have. And I believe it's going to stir a lot of emotion from all of the pioneers and the people [Sunday] to try to make it even better and help to grow it.

"So this was a celebration to me of a lot of things -- NASCAR, the history, these people, the fans."

Perhaps Petty, credited as the sport's first superstar, captured best the magnitude of the proceedings.

"It kind of hit me [Sunday] that it's really, really a big deal," Petty said after the ceremony, "because NASCAR's finally got their Hall of Fame, and I think it moved all of us up a notch. ... I think now we're as big-league as anybody."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Petty | Johnson | France Kennedy | Earnhardt family