Worth the wait

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If such a thing is possible, David Pearson is at once both a humble and proud man.

Pearson won't go to great lengths to boast of the immeasurable talent he had behind the wheel of a race car, but he's darn sure not going to deny it, either. Quiet for the most part by nature, he can and will get very much fired up about all things NASCAR -- including his exclusion from the inaugural class of inductees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Class of 2011

David Pearson, Bud Moore, Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett and Bobby Allison honored for careers.

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Video highlights

Relive the moments as Brian France reveals the second five voted to the Hall of Fame.

• Selection 1: David Pearson
• Selection 2: Bobby Allison
• Selection 3: Lee Petty
• Selection 4: Ned Jarrett
• Selection 5: Bud Moore

Countless people came to Pearson's defense, including Richard Petty, who wondered along with everyone else how a man with 105 careers victories doesn't get in the first time around. To his utter credit, Pearson accepted the announcement with an outward dignity a good many wouldn't have been able to exhibit.

Yet, inwardly, leave no doubt whatsoever. The snub stung Pearson.

"It's just like racing ... you always want to be No. 1," Pearson said late last year. "I would've liked to have went in the first time, I'm not lying about it. Since I'm not, you know, I don't care whether I even go in or not now, if you want to know the truth."

If it sounds like nothing more than sour grapes, it's not. If going over the century mark in career victories seems impressive -- and it should -- consider this: Only four times in a career that stretched from 1960 to 1986 did Pearson run even remotely close to a full schedule. In three of those years, Pearson captured the championship.

The what-ifs are simply astounding. What if Pearson had run entire seasons more often? How many championships would he have won? If you're into revisionist history, there's also this: If Pearson had concentrated on running for the title more often, he surely would've won it at least a few more times. How many of those theoretical crowns would've come at the expense of Petty's legendary total of seven?

Petty's 27-win season in 1967 has long been considered as the benchmark against which all other seasons are measured, and that's as it should be. Yet in 1973, David Pearson started 18 of the year's 28 races for the famed Wood Brothers, winning an absolutely stunning 11 of them. Twice, Pearson finished second, and once he finished third. In his other four starts that year, Pearson fell out early.

Sit back and ponder that one for a minute.

Neither will Pearson waver when it comes to where he ranks as a driver in NASCAR history. He didn't blink late last year, and he didn't when asked about it Wednesday. He's No. 1, he says, hands down, without any politically correct fluff whatsoever.

"If you don't feel like you're the best out there, you're gonna get beat, no doubt about it," Pearson said. "I never will forget ... Rusty Wallace one time said Earnhardt was the best guy out there driving, he's the best driver there are out there. And I said right then, 'Rusty, if you don't feel like you're the best one out there, he's gonna beat you every time.' Earnhardt liked to have killed him three or four times, wrecking him and everything else, but yet [Wallace] always said that about him. I ain't never felt that way. I felt like if anybody else can do it, I can do it."

For the second class of inductees, little time was wasted in announcing Pearson. His name came first this time, and immediately, he received a standing ovation. Later surrounded by a throng of reporters three and four deep, Pearson kept his answers brief, maybe a little bit of the shy, decidedly old-school competitor coming out in him.

One of the first and most obvious questions was whether the wait to gain a spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame had bothered him. He insisted it hadn't. Ultimately, 94 percent of the 53 ballots cast Wednesday named Pearson. That, he figured, was enough.

"That's a lot of votes," Pearson began. "I'm just proud that many thought enough to vote for me. [The delay] didn't matter. At least I'm in. I appreciate it."

Asked to describe his emotions when Brian France announced his name as the very first inductee into the second class, Pearson said very simply, "I don't know ... I can't tell you how it felt ... it felt good. I was really surprised, especially being the first one to go in like that. It felt good, and I appreciate the ones that did vote for me."

The class act that Pearson is, Pearson was quick to give credit to others who'd helped him along the way. His pick for next year?

"There's no smarter man than Leonard Wood, as far as working on cars," he said. "I feel like if a mechanic goes in, Leonard Wood ought to be the one."

The current drivers Pearson figures most closely resemble his driving style aren't really all that much of a surprise, guys such as Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon -- the "smart" ones, Pearson calls them.

"To win the championship, you've got to take care of your equipment, don't run it no harder than you have to, right at the end, start going for it then," Pearson concluded. And that, really, is David Pearson in a nutshell. Not flashy, not trying to lead every lap just because he could -- unless, of course, there was a lap bonus involved. Just stick around to the end and see what happens.