BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick Mears is among six elected for induction into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.
Mears’ fellow enshrinees in the Class of 2020 – over two rounds of voting by the Hall’s board of directors – are Mike Bliss, a USAC Silver Crown and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series champion; Craig Keough, a Las Vegas team owner and track sponsor; Jim Pettit II, the 1984 NASCAR Pacific Coast Region champion; Jerry Pitts, ARCA Menards Series West championship crew chief and team owner and Tom Sneva, the 1982 Indianapolis 500 winner and a ferocious pavement supermodified champion.
The Class of 2020 – the hall’s 17th – will be enshrined June 11 during the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame’s annual induction ceremonies, presented by Gateway Motorsports Park, at the Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa, Calif. The event leads into the NASCAR Cup Series and ARCA Menards Series West weekend at nearby Sonoma Raceway.
The organization also will induct its third Heritage class of five individuals whose careers largely ended prior to 1970. The Heritage inductees will be named in April.
“Without a question, this is the most diversified class since the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame’s inception in 2001,” said Ken Clapp, Chairman and CEO of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. “From the grassroots level to the Indianapolis 500; from storied drivers to the mechanics and sponsors who make it possible, these inductees represent motorsports in its entirety.”