Hall of Fame inductions on Saturday
Two World 100 winners, two of Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway’s favorite sons and two current voices on the microphones for national touring series are among Class of 2022 inductees for the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame to be inducted Saturday during the Sunoco North-South 100 weekend at Union, Ky.’s Florence Speedway.
Two-time World 100 winner Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, Iowa, the driver whose Slide Job Heard ’Round the World won Eldora Speedway’s prestigious event in 2002, is among five driver inductees that includes 2014 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion Don O’Neal (pictured, No. 71) of Martinsville, Ind., and 2009 World 100 winner Bart Hartman (pictured, No. 75) of Zanesville, Ohio. Joining those three national touring stars are another Hoosier driver, two-time Battle of the Bluegrass DirtCar champion Mike Jewell of Scottsburg, a nine-time winner of Richmond (Ky.) Raceway’s Butterball Wooldridge Memorial, along with a second Iowan, West Liberty’s Steve Boley, the 2000 NASCAR O’Reilly All-Star Tour champ and two-time Yankee Dirt Track Classic winner.
Contributors to the sport selected by Hall of Fame voters are Michigan’s Dick Beebe, founder of the MARC Times and the American Racing Congress, and 40-plus year announcers Rick Eshelman (currently with the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series) and James Essex (the lone announcer in the 17-year history of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series).
Additionally, the late C.J. Rayburn will receive the Earl Baltes-Bob Memmer Award while Lifetime Achievement Awards will go to late manufacturing representative Dewayne Ragland and motorsports historian Bob Markos, a key figure in the Hall of Fame’s development.
The invitation-only Hall of Fame Induction luncheon is scheduled for noon with ceremonies beginning at 12:45 p.m. Watch live at MavTV on FloRacing.
Following the induction ceremonies will be a fundraising auction for the Hall of Fame with racing memorabilia and other items available; bidder signup is 3 p.m. with the auction beginning at 3:30. (Anyone with items they’d like to donate can drop them off earlier in the weekend.) The weekend’s 50-50 raffles will also benefit the Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame is open to the public at 2 p.m. Thursday and noon Friday through race time; Saturday’s hours are 10-11:30 a.m. and again following the auction.
