Dale Earnhardt Jr. says selection of his father, Dale Earnhardt, to NASCAR hall compared to a 500 win
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is thrilled that his father, Dale Earnhardt, is part of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class. // Mark Sluder, NASCAR Scene
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CONCORD, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that his father would have been just as happy being selected into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as he would have been winning NASCAR’s biggest race.
“That would be like winning the Daytona 500, I’m sure,” Earnhardt Jr. said Friday afternoon.
Dale Earnhardt was one of five people selected Wednesday for the inaugural five-member class along with NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., his son Bill France Jr., and other legendary drivers (and owners) Richard Petty and Junior Johnson. The induction will be May 23, 2010.
Earnhardt won seven titles and 76 races. He died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
“I’m real proud of him,” Earnhardt Jr. said prior to practice for the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I’m happy that my father was voted into the hall of fame, and the family, I’m sure, is just as proud, and all the fans have to be really happy about it.”
There had been little debate whether Earnhardt, a seven-time champion along with Petty, should have been selected. But limiting the class to five meant that several of the sports greatest drivers won’t be in the first group inducted.
“You could have done it a million different ways,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I don’t think what they did was wrong, but there’s a hundred of ways you could have done it. Since it was an inaugural class, they could have let all [25 candidates] of them in since they all got nominated.”
