Introduced by three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, Lorenzen, from Elmhurst, Illinois, was one of the first "northern" drivers to gain acceptance in what was, at the time, a predominantly Southeastern sport. Though Lorenzen never competed in more than 29 races in a single season, he won 26 times in 158 starts, a remarkable winning percentage of 16.46.

"One of the most pivotal moments of dad’s career came on Christmas Eve 1960, when Ralph Moody called dad and asked him to drive for Holman Moody," said Lorenzen’s son, Chris, in accepting induction on behalf of his father.

"Soon after, there he was at Darlington driving his Holman Moody Ford signature pearlescent white No. 28 to Victory Lane … Dad always said, ‘The sky is the limit, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.’ That has been dad’s most important saying in life, and he certainly lived by it."

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon introduced the late Wendell Scott, whose Dec. 1, 1963 victory at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, stands as the first win by an African-American driver in NASCAR’s top series.

In a career that included 495 starts, Scott recorded 147 top-10 finishes.

"We have been led to this great celebration and enshrinement tonight because of the character, tenacity and determination of Wendell O. Scott Sr.," Scott’s son, Franklin, said in accepting induction on behalf of his father. "I believe dad envisioned a night such as this comprised of his family, friends and fellow competitors. Unfortunately, the love of his life, Mary Scott, is not here physically because of health reasons, but her spirit is definitely here in a very profound way.

"The legacy of Wendell Scott depicts him as one of the great vanguards of the sport of NASCAR racing. Daddy was a man of great honor. He didn’t let his circumstances define who he was. The Bible teaches that before a person can have honor, they must first have integrity and humility. In addition another one of his great attributes was perseverance. There were two words that were forbidden for us to use growing up in the Scott household. Those words were ‘can’t’ and ‘never.’

"In spite of the many obstacles, struggles and hardships he faced, he persevered. What seemed to be insurmountable odds to others, daddy considered it an opportunity. His intestinal fortitude to follow his dreams has placed him among the greatest to ever compete in the sport he loved — racing."

Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick took the dais to introduce the third new member of the Hall of Fame, 1960 champion Rex White, who collected 28 victories and 36 poles in his 233 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.

"Words can’t express how honored I am to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame along with the other Hall of Fame members, especially my 2015 fellow inductees," White said.

"No driver wins a championship by himself, and nobody enters the Hall of Fame alone. I am the symbol of a team effort. From my first race in 1953 until now, this effort spans 62 years."

Brad Keselowski, 2012 NSCS champion introduced Joy Barbee, niece of the late Joe Weatherly, who won championships in 1962 and 1963 before a crash in the fifth race of the 1964 season, at Riverside (Calif.) Raceway took his life.

Known as the "Clown Prince of Stock Car Racing" for his gregarious nature and proclivity for practical jokes (rubber snakes were a favorite), Weatherly won 25 races and 18 poles in 229 starts.

"Being the youngest of seven, I was only two-and-a-half when Joe was killed, so I really don’t remember him at all, but what I can share with you is a memory that I will hold forever in my heart and that is a memory about the love of a brother and a sister, Joe and my mother Betty.

"I feel like I knew Joe through her, through the stories she would tell us as kids, and the passion you could hear in her voice when she spoke of him … I must say that standing here tonight is such a great honor, and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be here accepting this award on behalf of my Uncle Joe."

Kasey Kahne, who took over the No. 9 car from Elliott, introduced his racing hero, "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville," the most prolific winner of the 2015 Hall of Fame class with 44 victories in NASCAR’s top series, 16th on the all-time list.

Elliott won the Cup championship in 1988 after becoming the first driver in series history to claim the Winston Million in 1985 with victories in the Daytona 500, Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway and Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Champion crew chief Ray Evernham performed the official induction of Elliott, who advanced to NASCAR’s highest level from a small family operation in Dawsonville, Georgia.

"It’s just an honor to be here, guys," Elliott said. "If you look on the walls here at the people who are already inducted into this great Hall of Fame, it’s just incredible … One thing that I look at out here today, guys, is one common bond with all these racers is the hard work and the dedication all these guys had.

"And for me to stand up here among the guys that have already been here is totally incredible."

Anne Bledsoe France, wife of founder and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill France Sr., was honored with the first Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. Familiarly known as "Annie B," Anne B. France handled the business end of NASCAR racing while "Big Bill" grew the sport into a national phenomenon.

Lesa France Kennedy, CEO of International Speedway Corporation, accepted the award on behalf of her grandmother.

Renowned Charlotte Observer racing writer Tom Higgins received the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence, joining Ken Squier, Barney Hall and the late Chris Economaki. NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes aptly referred to the quartet as the "Mount Rushmore" of motorsports journalism.

Elliott, 59, and his family are an integral part of that thread. George, the patriarch, ran a small building supply business in Dawsonville, Georgia. "A hole-in-the-wall deal," Bill says today. The elder Elliott also built race cars, helped other local racers and fielded entries in NASCAR as early as the 1960s.

"Daddy carried cars to Daytona in the early ’60s, he would carry two cars down there and run a Sportsman or a Modified or some kind of race," Elliott said.

Box vans used in the family business served as transporters for the race cars. "He’d back the trailer down there to the loading dock and he’d load them up in the van trailers and carry them down there, then try to find a place to unload them,” Elliott said.

"It was like the Clampetts went to Daytona."

It wasn’t much but as Elliott noted, it was a common sight among those who chose the stock car racing path at that time.

"Back then, such a different way of doing things. Anybody could come show up at Daytona with some kind of race car," he said.

"I think those are the things that I look back on and were so much fun early on. You go to our little garage down there, you could just throw something together. I remember going to one of the shops of one of the guys Daddy was helping. They were putting a ’63 Ford together. They had taken a car out of the junkyard, were taking the interior out and welding the roll bar in it, getting it ready to go. But I mean it was just a stock ’63 Ford. Whatever it came with, that’s what it had. And those days are gone."

Elliott made his first start in what is now NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series in 1976, driving for his family-run team that included brothers Ernie and Dan Elliott. But it wasn’t until ’82, when the team was purchased by businessman Harry Melling, that Elliott became an "overnight success."

By the time his career had ended (he made his last official start in 2012), Elliott had won 44 races, one series championship and was voted the series’ most popular driver 16 times.

His wins came on stages big and small — few bigger than the Daytona 500, which he won twice, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Southern 500 at rugged, old Darlington Raceway.

RELATED: Read Bill Elliott’s Hall of Fame capsule

It was at Darlington that Elliott officially picked up another moniker, "Million Dollar Bill" when a Southern 500 win in 1985 earned him the Winston Million bonus.

Elliott’s move into stardom coincided with a rise in speed on the race track. Before the advent of restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega, speed grabbed headlines. And no one went faster than Elliott, who ended his career with 55 pole positions.

His qualifying mark of 212.809 mph at Talladega remains the fastest qualifying lap ever for a NASCAR event.

But that feat wasn’t the record that stands out in his mind, he said.

"If I was outside looking in at my career, the biggest thing that impresses me was running 210 (mph) at Daytona in 1987," Elliott said. "I sat there and I watched Cale (Yarborough) try to run just 200 (in 1983) and turn over off Turn 4. We came back, ran 205 in ’85 and we came back in ’87 and stepped it up five more mph average. That was with no technology. That was just the luck of the draw and the things we did at that point in time; that’s what really impressed me.

"When I first went there I think I ran 171 or something and I thought, ‘Man I’m out of control. How can you run any faster?’ "

Elliott’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame comes just as his son, 19-year-old Chase, prepares to begin his own Sprint Cup career. It was announced earlier this week that Chase would run five Sprint Cup races for Hendrick Motorsports this season, then take over the organization’s No. 24 Chevrolet when four-time champion Jeff Gordon steps down at year’s end.

RELATED: Gordon: Chase is the ‘total package’

The younger Elliott didn’t witness a lot of his father’s exploits as they took place. But he’s relived them through video replays.

"There were a lot of races where he took it to ’em, man," Chase Elliott said. "He wore them out. That’s cool to look back on and see.

"I have a lot of respect for what he has done and for what they did. To do it with what they had (at the time) was very, very impressive. I think a lot of people let that slip by.

"They were kind of on their own there in Georgia and a lot of people don’t realize that. They didn’t have a lot of help; they didn’t have a big team. It was just them. It’s very, very impressive to see what they were able to do."