DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — One inductee has won six NASCAR premier series titles as an owner. The other has won just about everything else.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owners Richard Childress and Chip Ganassi were among this year’s seven-member class inducted into the 2016 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on Wednesday evening.
For Childress, the ride to the Shores Resort & Spa, site of the induction ceremony, brought back memories.
“I passed by Nova Road and got to thinking,” the team owner said. “I remember I came down here in 1965 (working as a crewman) and we pitched a tent and camped there in a campground off Nova.
“Four years later, in 1969, I came down here and we had six people and a four-person camper. So a couple had to sleep outside on the ground.
“And now here tonight, to be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, it’s just unbelievable.”
Childress made 285 starts as a driver in NASCAR, and although he failed to win a race, he finished in the top 10 in points five times during his 12-year driving career.
Teamed with driver Dale Earnhardt, however, his Richard Childress Racing organization was nearly unbeatable from 1986-95, scoring six championships and 53 wins while finishing first or second in points eight times.
Childress will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January of 2017, an honor he said he never imagined. Likewise, his selection into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America was unexpected.
“I was just telling Rusty (Wallace), going up to Detroit when they put Dale in, man you just saw all the greats of motorsports,” he said. “To be put in this hall of fame is pretty special. In the NASCAR world, it doesn’t get any bigger than to be chosen to go into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. But in the motorsports world, this is the top.”
Earnhardt, a member of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class, was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.
Ganassi, a team owner in NASCAR since 2001, has yet to see one of his drivers capture the premier series title, although they have won some of the series’ biggest events, including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.
Ganassi’s teams have excelled elsewhere as well. He is the only team owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Now he can also add a Le Mans title to the list. His Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team recently captured the iconic 24-hour endurance race one year after the automaker announced its return to the annual event and 50 years to the day after Ford won its first Le Mans crown.
Aside from a NASCAR title, are there other worlds for the owner to capture?
“I’m sure I could think of something,” Ganassi said Wednesday night. “I’ve won some big races, sure. I’ve just been lucky. I’ve been lucky to be around great drivers and great people in my career. I just want to win. I want to win this weekend. I want to win the next race.”
Ganassi was still basking in the glow of the Le Mans victory, accepting congratulations from many of those on hand Wednesday evening.
“We were over there … and we were learning new rules like drinking from a firehose,” Ganassi said. “We raced hard and at the end of the day we were first, third and fourth and all I can say is it was one of the most exciting weeks of my life. …
“We go to victory circle and we’re shooting champagne, having a good time and you look out and there’s 100,000 people there on the frontstretch just standing there cheering at you.
“They raise the American flag behind you and they play the national anthem. And I tell you, that really hits you in your stomach. When you’re in a foreign land and they play the national anthem for you, that’s a big thing, I can tell you. That’s something in sports that’s not to be taken lightly.”
His induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame is special, he said, because “your heroes, guys you grew up emulating, are all in this thing.
“I’ll tell you what a big deal it is,” he said. “When you go to lunch and Craig Breedlove wants to get his picture taken with you and I wanted my picture taken with him. I’m thinking, ‘Man, this is a big thing.’ “
Breedlove, who set numerous land speed world records, was inducted into the Hall in 1993.
“It’s just great to get to see and meet all those guys,” Ganassi said. “And I’m shocked that they know me. They say, ‘Hey, congratulations,’ when I’m trying to introduce myself and they go ‘I know who you are.’ It’s kind of dumbfounding.”
In addition to Childress and Ganassi, others inductees were Everett Brashear (Motorcycles), Gary Gabelich (At Large), Dave McClelland (Drag Racing), Sam Posey (Sports Cars) and Bob Sweikert (Historic).
The event kicked off the Hall’s move from its previous location in Novi, Mich., to the grounds of Daytona International Speedway.