Posted 10/14 at 09:13 PM (0) Comments

NASCAR’s inaugural Hall of Fame class was released Wednesday with some scrutiny, but scrutiny always seems to follow polls and elections anyway. The group consisted of Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Bill France Sr., and Bill France Jr. Not a bad group, obviously. Each were major contributors to the growth and prosperity of the sport.

But if I were voting ... here’s my top five in no particular order: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr., Junior Johnson and David Pearson. The difference in my five and the inaugural class is Pearson and France Jr. Nothing against the Frances, but I’d prefer to see one NASCAR czar enshrined at a time instead of taking up 40 percent of the class. Big Bill had his era and get inducted first. His son followed with growth in the 80s and 90s. Let him get inducted in the second class.

David Pearson is the only driver besides Richard Petty to amass more than 100 wins (105). I’m not sure if he wasn’t better than Petty or Earnhardt.

So with the first class chosen, here’s how I would vote the 2010 class (not that NASCAR will ask): Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Lee Petty. If Waltrip is inducted next year, I hope the man doesn’t ham it up and grab all of the attention. The spotlight should fall on five winners, not one.