A few days after the induction of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s 2020 class, the Hall announced new changes to the nomination and voting process going forward on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
When all is said and done, three people will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021 — two from a so-called modern era ballot and one from a pioneer ballot.
The current nomination committee, found listed here, will select 10 nominees. These nominees will make up the modern era ballot. A new separate honors committee, “largely composed of all living Hall of Famers, Landmark Award winners and Squier-Hall Award winners” will select five additional nominees that will make up the pioneer ballot.
After the nominations, the voting panel will meet on May 20, the Wednesday before the NASCAR All-Star Race, and ultimately vote for three nominees. After the votes are tallied, the top two modern era nominees and the top pioneer nominee will be selected as the three-inductee 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame class.
“When we opened the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010, we had to catch up on more than 60 years of NASCAR history,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps told NASCAR.com. “Our plan has always been to evaluate the process as the Hall of Fame matured. With 55 of the sport’s greatest competitors enshrined, we felt the time was right to move to three inductees, which will help maintain the high standard of enshrinement that’s been set.”
Potential nominees are eligible to be on the pioneer ballot if they have started their career more than 60 years prior to the induction class (the 2021 ballot cut-off will be for people beginning their career in 1960 or earlier), or if they have been on the modern era ballot for a decade or longer.
The requirements to be selected as a Hall of Fame nominee remain the same, with one exception: crew chiefs must now be retired for two years or longer. This closes a loophole where, say, Chad Knaus could have retired after the 2020 season and be voted into the 2022 class six months later.
Twelve members of the Honors committee will also now serve on the voting panel, adding seven new members to said panel.
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021. He moved on to Formula 1, IndyCar, and SRX coverage for the site, while still putting a toe in the water from time-to-time back into the NASCAR pool.
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About time they stopped with the 5 per year quota. In fact, why have a quota at all.
Are they down to the hot dog vendor at Martinsville at this point? Come on, their selection criteria is too broad and has taken the prestige out of the honor. Bobby Labonte, really? Looking at HIS stats, I don’t get it compared to others. Was not a real fan of Bobby, but I respected him, but HOF? Compared to others? Must be a JGR sweep thang. His stats are not what I would consider HOF at this stage in his life or removed from his last ride. Come on……..
Unpopular I am sure, but HOF is NOT all about popularity, or is it? Kinda weak the stats presented for one’s consideration. Not saying he was not good, I am not, but HOF is another animal all together…or so I thought.
They gotta dial this juggernaut back. ALOT. Maybe induction every other year? With limited potential “inductee’s”? If not one year “drivers” the “off” year the guys that made the cars run?
just wait til jr goes in….he’ll go in first time he’s eligible.
HOF is a joke until Smokey Yunick is selected. It’s all about a” you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” style of elections. There should be a process that allows l/2 the selection board members to be made up of randomly selected fans.
FYI if you want to make a real 1/2 character try holding the ALT key (to the left of the space bar) down while you type 0189
Example…. ½
It doesn’t work everywhere but it works in a lot of places. Of course you got your point across fine without using it.
So you are saying I should use 5 keystrokes instead of 3? (LOL)
Good point, but if you are ever typing a document more important than a comment on a website, you might like it to look good. Or not.
I guess I miss the dedicated fraction keys that used to be on a standard typewriter.
Half of those random fans never heard of Smokey Yunick, but I get your point. I was very surprised to see Bobby Labonte in the HoF. I always wondered if Buddy Baker’s stats were enough, but he did more than race.
They started out entering too many too fast.