FITCHBURG, Mass. — The New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame is one step closer to inducting its 25th class of honorees.
The NEAR Hall of Fame selection committee met on Tuesday, May 9, to discuss and choose candidates to be enshrined in the NEAR club’s annual gala in November.
Seventeen members of NEAR’s selection committee and board of directors – including new NEAR president April May Preston-Elms – met at Ron Bouchard’s RB Racing Museum for four hours of nomination, discussion, deliberation, and voting. Nearly 100 worthy candidates were discussed at the meeting, including nominations from committee members and the public at large.
From that list, the selection committee whittled the pool down to 12 names through three rounds of polling to be placed on the official Hall of Fame voting ballot, which will be sent out to selection committee members and previous NEAR Hall of Fame inductees at the end of May.
The class of 2023 will be the top six vote-getters, determined solely by voting ballot responses, which remain sealed until a date to be determined for the official ballot counting day.
Several candidates were also discussed at the May 9 meeting for NEAR’s additional annual honors including the Mitchell-Ratta Media Award, the Ron Bouchard Award, and the Frank Maratta Award, as well as potential Hall of Fame inductees to be voted on by the NEAR veterans committee.
“The selection process for the NEAR Hall of Fame is one that everyone in the room holds in extremely high regard,” Preston-Elms said. “It was my first time at the selection committee meeting, and I was impressed with the professionalism and respect that the committee members showed for every person mentioned.
“Our policy is to keep the names of the nominees private until we announce the final class of 2023, racing fans can trust that no matter who the final six are, it will be a truly deserving group that gets honored.”