NASCAR'S FIRST CLASS

NASCAR fans and members of the media have three years to argue and debate about who should enter the Hall of Fame's inagural class.

We could take some lessons from other sports by looking at how many members they put in and the caliber of first class athletes. Among the NFL's inagural Hall of Fame inductees were Sammy Baugh and the father of the sport George "Papa Bear" Halas. Perhaps the NASCAR equivalent of those two would be the father, Bill France, and the first true motorsport gunslinger, Buck Baker.

A case could be made for many drivers, owners and crew chiefs. Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt are the obvious favorites. Petty won 200 races, 95 more than second place David Pearson, and won seven championships. Earnhardt won seven titles with only 76 wins. But what about NASCAR's first champion, Red Byron or its first three-time winner, Lee Petty? Will those responsible for the inductions look past daredevils Curtis Turner, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts and Joe Weatherly? All three of those men died in their primes and only Weatherly won championships, but they were the heroes of the early days.

Should there be special recongnition for those who perished in race-related events? Adam Petty, Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Roberts, Earnhardt, the list goes on and on. Just this week an Indy car driver lost his life in a practice session.

If I had a vote, which I don't and probably never will, my hats off to the late Earnhardt, Petty (Richard and Lee), Byron, Turner, Roberts, France, Pearson and Junior Johnson. We'll see how close my prediction is, but it will have to wait until 2009. Here's to happy voting and endless debating.