COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
LONG BEACH, California \u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) announced its 2027 Induction Class at the 51st running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 39th MSHFA Induction Celebration presented by Toyota Gazoo Racing, which will formally bring the Class of 2027 into the MSHFA, will be held in the Hall\u2019s home of Daytona Beach next March.<\/p>\n
The Class of 2027 includes four-time INDYCAR race winner and multiple USAC Champion\u00a0Gary Bettenhausen\u00a0(Open Wheel), three-time NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car champion and number two all-time Top Fuel Funny Car winner\u00a0Ron Capps\u00a0(Drag Racing), founder of the successful Dyson Racing and a winning Rolex 24 At Daytona driver\u00a0Rob Dyson\u00a0(Sports Cars), two-time Daytona 500 Champion and winner of 15 straight NASCAR Most Popular Driver Awards\u00a0Dale Earnhardt Jr.\u00a0(Stock Cars), the executive who led GM’s racing operations to unprecedented results\u00a0Herb Fishel\u00a0(Business), a two-time Indianapolis 500 winning car owner and three-time second-place finisher at the Brickyard as a driver\u00a0Harry Hartz\u00a0(Historic), the two-time Unlimited Air Racing champion and a world speed record setter for piston-engine planes\u00a0Steve Hinton\u00a0(Aviation), three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion and the winner of 46 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle races\u00a0Angelle Sampey\u00a0(Motorcycles), the first woman to win Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year\u00a0Lyn St. James\u00a0(At Large) and one of NASCAR\u2019s most successful engine builders and a winner of 57 races as a team owner\u00a0Robert Yates\u00a0(Stock Cars).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s an honor for the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America to be welcomed each year to make this important announcement at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach,” said MSHFA president\u00a0Daren Lucas. “We want to thank the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, INDYCAR, IMSA and so many other top organizations and individuals who make this possible every year. The Class of 2027 is as accomplished as any group of iconic motorsports inductees in our nearly 40-year history, all still revered and admired today, and their legacies and achievements will now be forever memorialized at the Hall of Fame of\u00a0ALL\u00a0motorsports.\u00a0Congratulations\u00a0to the Class of 2027!”<\/p>\n
Lucas was joined by INDYCAR President\u00a0J. Douglas Boles\u00a0and IMSA President\u00a0John Doonan\u00a0in making the Class of 2027 announcement and lauding some of next year’s incoming inductees. COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
An unknowing representative of the Class of 2027 was St. James (pictured above at Phoenix International Raceway in 1993 and today below) who attended the press conference as the co-founder and past President of WIMNA (Women In Motorsports North America) but instead found herself as one of the announced inductees. Lucas, Boles and Doonan combined to surprise St. James – the first woman to win Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1992 – with the news and then invited her to join them at the podium and head table.<\/p>\n
St. James joins Sampey as the first women inductees since the late sports car driver and journalist\u00a0Denise McCluggage\u00a0(At Large) was enshrined in 2022. In 2021, an all-time class high three women were inducted, an illustrious list that includes\u00a0Judy Stropus\u00a0(Sports Cars),\u00a0Fran Muncey\u00a0(Power Boats) and, the first woman to race in the Indianapolis 500,\u00a0Janet Guthrie\u00a0(Open Wheel). Including Sampey and St. James, a total of 13 women are Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductees.<\/p>\n
COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
The Class of 2027 also completes two more father-and-son MSHFA inductee combinations. Just last month,\u00a0Kenny Roberts\u00a0(MSHFA Class of 1990) had the opportunity to induct his fellow World Champion son\u00a0Kenny Roberts Jr.\u00a0as the Motorcycle inductee in this year’s MSHFA class. Next year, Earnhardt Jr. takes his place in the Stock Cars wing of the Hall alongside his legendary father\u00a0Dale Earnhardt\u00a0(MSHFA Class of 2002). Additionally, Bettenhausen will be brought into the same Open Wheel category next March that his father\u00a0Tony Bettenhausen\u00a0(MSHFA Class 1997) will have been a part of for 30 years.<\/p>\n
Now, the Earnhardts and the Bettenhausens join the Roberts,\u00a0Mario Andretti\u00a0and son\u00a0Michael Andretti,\u00a0Lee Petty\u00a0and son\u00a0Richard Petty,\u00a0Al Unser Sr.\u00a0and\u00a0Al Unser Jr.,\u00a0Bobby Allison\u00a0and son\u00a0Davey Allison,\u00a0Bill France Sr.\u00a0and\u00a0Bill France Jr.,\u00a0Don Schumacher\u00a0and son\u00a0Tony Schumacher\u00a0and\u00a0Ned Jarrett\u00a0and son\u00a0Dale Jarrett\u00a0in a high-speed honor roll of father-and-son MSHFA inductees.<\/p>\n
The 10 Class of 2027 honorees will be formally brought into the Hall during the 39th Annual Induction Celebration presented by Toyota Gazoo Racing, which culminates with a traditional black-tie gala that is the crowning event of the two-day, multi-function MSHFA induction event. The Induction Ceremony will be preceded the night before by the traditional “Heroes of Horsepower” reception and strolling dinner at the MSHFA Museum on the grounds of Daytona International Speedway. Honda presented this year\u2019s Heroes of Horsepower reception.<\/p>\n
Through last month\u2019s Class of 2026 induction, 314 “Heroes of Horsepower” are currently in the MSHFA, a number that will grow to 324 with the 39th Induction Class. COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of AmericaThe Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Class of 2027:<\/p>\n
Gary Bettenhausen (1941-2014) \u2013 Open Wheel:\u00a0Son of 1997 inductee Tony, Bettenhausen was one of the greatest sprint car drivers of his generation and dominated the 1972 Indianapolis 500, leading 138 laps before engine failure sidelined him with 24 remaining, handing victory to Penske teammate\u00a0Mark Donohue. Bettenhausen was also fastest qualifier for the 1991 event. Bettenhausen scored four IndyCar wins despite rarely being in a top car. His best Indy 500 finish was third in 1980. “Gary B.” won the 1969 and \u201971 Sprint Car titles before a 1974 crash badly damaged his left arm. He eventually recovered enough to capture the 1980 and 1983 USAC Silver Crown championships. Bettenhausen scored four Top 10s in eight NASCAR Cup Series starts. He was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1993 and National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1998.<\/p>\n
COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
Ron Capps (1965-) \u2013 Drag Racing:\u00a0The three-time NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car champion (2016, 2021, 2022) is also No. 2 all-time in Top Fuel Funny Car wins with 75 (through 2024), behind only inductee\u00a0John Force\u00a0(155) and ahead of\u00a0Robert Hight\u00a0(65),\u00a0Matt Hagan\u00a0(52) and brothers\u00a0Tony Pedegron\u00a0(43) and\u00a0Cruz Pedegron\u00a0(38). He got his shot at driving in 1995, scoring a win in a\u00a0Roger Pimm\u00a0Top Fuel Dragster. He moved to Funny Cars in 1997 for inductee\u00a0Don Prudhomme\u00a0(pictured below with Capps after he won the 2023 U.S. Nationals), then inductee\u00a0Don Schumacher\u00a0in 2005. He started Ron Capps Motorsports in 2021. Capps\u2019 2022 season was his 28th in the sport and one of his best. In addition to his second consecutive championship, he grabbed five wins, six No.1 qualifiers (a career best) and his first U.S. Nationals. Capps has driven occasional oval races, including a remarkable 4th at the 2006 Prelude to the Dream, ahead of multiple NASCAR stars and Hall of Famers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rob Dyson (1946-) \u2013 Sports Cars:\u00a0Robert Dyson is founder and principal of Dyson Racing, one of the most successful in sports car racing history to date and the winner of 19 championships, 70 races, 69 pole positions and 215 podiums, including championships in ALMS, IMSA, USRRC, and Grand-Am. Dyson started driving a Datsun 510 in club racing in 1974, winning the 1981 SCCA GT2 national championship. Turning professional in 1983, Dyson won four races overall as a driver during the height of the IMSA GTP era, including the 1997 24 Hours of Daytona. Dyson Racing Team drivers won the Porsche Cup North America four years consecutively (1985-88). Championships include The IMSA Drivers and Team Championship (1997-98); USRRC Drivers and Team Championship (1998-99); ALMS LMP900 championship (1999) and Grand-Am Drivers and Team championships (2000-01). Dyson retired from driving in 2007 but remains the organization\u2019s leader, supported by son\u00a0Chris Dyson, who has won multiple championships for the team.<\/p>\n
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1974 – ) \u2013 Stock Cars:\u00a0In a 19-year NASCAR Cup Series career, the younger Earnhardt won 26 races, including two Daytona 500s (2004, 2014) and captured the Most Popular Driver Award a record 15 straight times (2003-2017). The streak ended only when he retired from full-time driving. His 26 wins put him 32nd all-time, tied with\u00a0Fred Lorenzen\u00a0and ahead of other MSHFA inductees, including\u00a0Joe Weatherly,\u00a0Terry Labonte,\u00a0Benny Parsons\u00a0and\u00a0Buddy Baker. He was phenomenal on restrictor plate tracks. From 2001 – 2003 he won four straight races at Talladega Superspeedway. In addition to his two Daytona 500 victories, he finished second in the 500 four times. Although his highest ranking in Cup Series points was third (2003), Earnhardt Jr. won two Xfinity Series championships as a driver (1998, 1999) and five as an owner (2004, 2005, 2014, 2017, 2018), helping\u00a0Martin Truex Jr.,\u00a0Chase Elliott,\u00a0William Byron\u00a0and\u00a0Tyler Reddick\u00a0advance to the top level. Since retiring from driving, he\u2019s become a popular author, podcaster and a television color analyst. Earnhardt was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
Herb Fishel (1941-) \u2013 Business:\u00a0When the Winston-Salem native graduated from nearby North Carolina State University with a mechanical engineering degree, he wanted to work for a NASCAR team. Instead, he was hired by General Motors, where he rose to run a racing operation that achieved unprecedented results. During Fishel\u2019s tenure, GM won 25 NASCAR manufacturers\u2019 championships \u2013 11 consecutive (1981-91) \u2013 12 Indy 500s and numerous drag, off-road and sports car racing titles. He was also a pivotal figure in the Corvette programs that scored overall and class wins at Daytona and Le Mans and made \u201cAmerica\u2019s sports car\u201d a world-class winner. Much of the success achieved by inductees like Dale Earnhardt,\u00a0Tommy Kendall,\u00a0Junior Johnson\u00a0and\u00a0Darrell Waltrip\u00a0is directly attributable to him. In the early 1990s, Fishel led the effort to install black boxes in racecars, dramatically improving driver safety. He was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 2005, the Corvette Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2006.<\/p>\n
Harry Hartz (1896-1974) \u2013 Historic:\u00a0Born in Pomona, California, Hartz won the Indy 500 twice as an owner and finished second three times as a driver. He also won the AAA national championship as a driver (1926) and owner (1930). Hartz began as a riding mechanic before moving behind the wheel full-time with a Duesenberg in 1922. At Indy, Hartz collected top-four finishes five straight years (1922-6), placing second in 1922, \u201923 and \u201926. He won the 1926 AAA national championship by a wide margin, taking five of 19 races. His biggest was a 300-miler on the Atlantic City board track at a world-record 134.091 mph. Hartz was number five all-time in board-track wins (7) and No. 2 in prize money. He retired from driving after a 1927 accident sidelined him for two years but returned to motorsports building the Miller-powered FWD cars\u00a0Billy Arnold\u00a0(1930) and\u00a0Fred Frame\u00a0(1932) drove to Indy 500 wins. Hartz was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1963 and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1998.<\/p>\n
Steve Hinton (1952-) \u2013 Aviation:\u00a0Hinton won two Unlimited championships and set the world speed record for piston-engine planes \u2014 and that\u2019s just what he did in his spare time. He also worked as a pilot and aerial coordinator for television and motion pictures, like TV\u2019s\u00a0Baa Baa Black Sheep\u00a0and films like\u00a0Pearl Harbor. The charter member of the Motion Pictures Pilots Association competed in the Unlimited class for 13 years, piloting \u201cRed Baron,\u201d John Sandberg\u2019s \u201cTsunami\u201d and the All Coast \u201cSuper Corsair,\u201d winning two Gold National Championships in Reno (1978, 1985), the 1979 Miami Gold, 1990 Texas Gold and two Mojave Gold Unlimited air races. The record he set in \u201cRed Baron\u201d in 1979 (499.046 mph) stood for a decade. Since 1990, Hinton has continued his relationship with air racing as official Reno National Air Races Unlimited pace pilot, president of the Planes of Fame Air Museum and owner of Fighter Rebuilders, a world-renowned warbird restoration firm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
Angelle Sampey (1970-) \u2013 Motorcycles:\u00a0She\u2019s not just one of the most successful female racers in drag racing history, she is one of the most successful in motorsports history. Over the course of her career, the hugely popular New Orleans native has won three NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championships (2000-02) and, as of 2024, remains third all-time in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle wins with 46. Sampey, 1990 inductee\u00a0Shirley Muldowney\u00a0and Pro Stock champion\u00a0Erica Enders-Stevens\u00a0are the only women with more than 10 NHRA event victories. After Enders\u2019 six, Sampey and Muldowney are the only women with three NHRA championships. Sampey\u2019s career began when she took her then-fianc\u00e9\u2019s street bike to the local strip. It took off when she met\u00a0George Bryce, an instructor at the\u00a0Frank Hawley\u00a0Drag Racing School, who became the guiding force behind her championships and most of her event wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lyn St. James (1947-) \u2013 At Large:\u00a0The first woman to win Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year (1992), St. James built on the work of inductees Janet Guthrie, Denise McCluggage and others to open doors for women at the highest levels of American racing. St. James won numerous sports car events, including IMSA GTO victories at Sebring in 1990 and the Rolex 24 At Daytona in1987 and 1990. Her best GTP finish was third at Watkins Glen in 1984 with\u00a0Howdy Holmes. She also competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. St. James made 16 Indy car starts (1992 – 2000), with a career-best eighth at Walt Disney World in 1996. She qualified sixth for the 1994 Indy 500 (224.154 mph) and was the first woman to lap an oval at over 200 mph in 1985, later upping her women\u2019s closed course speed record to 227.32 mph. One of the foremost female drivers of her era and an inspiration to others, St. James was named one of the\u00a0Sports Illustrated\u00a0Top 100 Women Athletes of the Century.<\/p>\n
Robert Yates (1943-2017)\u00a0\u2013 Stock Cars:\u00a0Yates was one of NASCAR\u2019s most successful engine builders before becoming a Daytona 500 and NASCAR Cup Series champion team owner. A graduate mechanical engineer, he joined Holman-Moody in 1967 and began building engines for H-M,\u00a0Junior Johnson,\u00a0Richard Petty\u00a0and the\u00a0Wood Brothers,\u00a0all MSHFA inductees. Yates\u2019 engines won 77 Cup races, including five Daytona 500s and two championships. Robert Yates Racing opened in 1988 with inductee\u00a0Davey Allison\u00a0behind the wheel. It was a constant title threat throughout the \u201890s, finishing fourth or better from 1991 through 2001, except 1993 to ’95 when lead drivers Allison and\u00a0Ernie Irvan\u00a0were lost in mid-season accidents. Yates and Allison won the 1992 Daytona 500 and finished a fighting third in the 1991 and \u201992 point standings. Inductee\u00a0Dale Jarrett\u00a0won the 1999 Cup title and 2000 Daytona 500 for Yates. Overall, Yates won 57 races and 48 poles as a team owner. Yates received the\u00a0Bill France\u00a0Award of Excellence (2000) and\u00a0Buddy Shuman\u00a0Award (2007) and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2018.<\/p>\n
COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America<\/p>\n
For more information or to purchase Class of 2027 Induction tickets, visit the MSHFA at\u00a0www.mshf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The MSHFA is located in Daytona International Speedway’s Ticket and Tours Building. Access to the MSFHA Museum is included with every Daytona International Speedway tour, which runs throughout each day, or as a museum-only ticket. The museum is open daily 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. except for major holidays. It is visited by more than 150,000 guests each year from every state in America and countries all over the world. For museum tickets call 1-800-PIT-SHOP.<\/p>\n About the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America:\u00a0The MSHFA is the only hall that honors all major American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, airplanes, off road and powerboats. Its mission is to celebrate and instill the American motorsports values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition. Founded by\u00a0Larry G. Ciancio\u00a0and led by first President\u00a0Ronald A. Watson, it held its first induction in 1989. Watson spent the next 30 years tirelessly building it into the nation\u2019s premier such hall until his passing in 2019. Originally based in Novi, Mich., it relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2016 and greets more than 150,000 guests a year in its museum. MSHFA is operated by the nonprofit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc.<\/p>\n If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine.\u00a0CLICK HERE<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe.<\/p>\n Want a taste of Old Cars magazine first? Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter and get a FREE complimentary digital issue download of our print magazine.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.collect.com\/<\/a>We know you love old cars, but do you collect anything else? Ever wonder about the baseball cards in a box in the basement or Grandma\u2019s old coins in a jar?\u00a0 Do you love history or spin vinyl? Head on over to Collect.com and see what you are missing. Collect.com is the who, what, when and where of the collecting world! https:\/\/www.collect.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COURTESY OF \u00a0Motorsports Hall of Fame of America LONG BEACH, California \u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[119872,119873,119874,119875,119876,131,133,132,119877,119878,119879,119880,119881,119882],"class_list":["post-277725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-angelle-sampey","tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","tag-gary-bettenhausen","tag-harry-hartz","tag-herb-fishel","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-lyn-st-james","tag-motorsports-hall-of-fame-of-america","tag-rob-dyson","tag-robert-yates","tag-ron-capps","tag-steve-hinton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}