CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Amid a handful of humorous moments and many sentimental expressions of thanks, five legends of stock car racing were added to the ranks of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday night.
Led by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, the Hall of Fame’s 11th induction class was officially enshrined in the Crown Ballroom of the Charlotte Convention Center, joining the ranks of the best ever in the sport in the process.
Stewart, fellow Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte, five-time champion team owner Joe Gibbs, legendary engine builder and crew chief Waddell Wilson and the late Buddy Baker comprised the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020, bringing the total number of inductees to 55 through 11 years.
While each of this year’s five inductees was linked in some way, they all featured their own unique stories as well.
Wilson led off the list and became the fourth crew chief to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
He turned the wrenches and built engines for numerous NASCAR stars, including Baker, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Benny Parsons – all NASCAR Hall of Famers in their own rights.
Wilson guided Baker to the 1980 Daytona 500 victory – just his second start as a Cup Series crew chief – and went on to a total of 22 wins and 32 poles as a crew chief.
Those performances, of course, came after the more than 100 race wins that Wilson accrued as an engine builder, many with the powerhouse Holman-Moody operation that dominated the 1960s.
While all those moments made for countless stories, Wilson didn’t want to focus on those moments during his speech on Friday night.
“I have plenty of stories about races and individuals that I could share, but I don’t want to tell my stories,” said Wilson, who was inducted by daughter Lisa Hawkins and sons Gregg and Freddie Wilson. “What I want to do is to thank all of the people that helped me throughout the years. I have been blessed to work with some of the best and most talented people in NASCAR, and I will always be grateful.”
Baker followed his former crew chief as the second member of the Class of 2020, with his sister Susie Baker accepting the Hall of Fame ring for her late brother, who passed away in 2015.
The six-foot-six star driver won 19 times in NASCAR’s premier series, including three of NASCAR’s majors: the 1970 Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, the 1972 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and that 1980 Daytona 500 win, where he set the event speed record that still stands.
Baker was inducted by NASCAR Hall of Fame executive director Winston Kelley and famed Charlotte Motor Speedway promoter H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler.
Gibbs led off his two star drivers, the third member of the 2020 class to enter the Hall of Fame, after capping his year last fall with a fifth NASCAR Cup Series championship – earned by Kyle Busch.
Busch’s victory at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway was JGR’s 19th win in 36 races, a modern-era Cup Series record by one organization.
It also capped a bittersweet year for the Gibbs family, after the passing of Gibbs’ son and team president J.D. Gibbs – an integral cog in the Gibbs juggernaut – on Jan. 11, 2019.
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