Brian McLeod

Three home-state Late Model standouts among winter inductees into the Talladega Short Track Hall of Fame, the Eastaboga, Ala., track announced today.

Former Southern All Star champion James Cline of Oxford, seven-time SAS winner Ted Lackey of Munford and late Gadsden racer Kevin Henson will enter the track's Hall of Fame inductions at the Feb. 15 awards banquet along with longtime team owner Gary Kilpatrick and longtime chief scorer Lisa Lancaster.

Cline (pictured), a longtime competitor and fabricator, was a three-time Southern All Star winner, twice at Talladega, and the 1988 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series champion while competing at his home track. He made six Ice Bowl starts at Talladega with a best finish of fifth in 2001. His richest victory of $10,000 came in 2000 at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway in the James King Memorial. He retired in 2011 and his final Talladega victory came in 2008.

Henson, who died in 2010 at the age of 54, was a multidivisional winner at Talladega and once had a streak of 10 consecutive victories in the Super Late Model division. His lone Southern All Star victory came at Talladega in 1984.

Lackey, who retired in 2016, scored five of his seven Southern All Star victories at Talladega, winning on the circuit between 1989-94. He also won a Rick's Furniture Late Model Series event in 1996 at Chilton County Speedway in Clanton, Ala., when he lapped the field for a $5,000 payday. He was fast qualifier at the inaugural Ice Bowl and had a best finish of second in 1994 with 11 career starts in the winter classic.

Kilpatrick owned race cars driven by his son Phillip Kilpatrick and multitime track champion Tim Busha of Boaz, Ala. He supported TST with pace vehicles from his Kilpatrick Chevrolet and Toyota dealerships. Lancaster has worked at the track since its founding along with many family members, including her daughter and niece who are current employees.