Petty advocates sport's founders
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty believes the inaugural Hall of Fame induction class should include the people who started the sport and not the ones who carried it forward.
That could leave the King out of the Hall of Fame when the inductees are announced.
"I don't know how they're going to look at," Petty said this week. "It's going to be a tough decision. Do you put both Frances in or do you put one in? Do you put Richard Petty in? Do you put [Dale] Earnhardt in? If you start looking at records, then some of our records are different and first thing you know, if you're not careful, you're going to put personalities in.
"That's not what you need in a Hall of Fame. You need the people that done the job. If I'm not one of them, that's fine with me."
Petty, Earnhardt, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and son Bill France Jr. are considered front-runners for the inaugural five-person class.
But Petty said car owner Raymond Parks and driver Robert "Red" Byron, who teamed up to win NASCAR's first championship in 1949, should receive strong consideration from the selection committee.
"We don't want to get into a deal where it's a popularity contest," Petty said. "It's going to be really hard and it's not going to be accepted by all people, no matter who they put in. ... I would put the people that got it started, the ones that planted the seed. Those are the people I think that need to go into the Hall of Fame to begin with."
The 25 nominees were announced Thursday. The inductees will be announced in October and honored next May at the new Hall of Fame facility in Charlotte, N.C.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
