Motorsports Hall of Fame announces class of 2011 inductees
The class of 2011 includes Donnie Allison, Sid Collins, Roger McCluskey, Ed McCulloch, Augie Pabst, Bruce Penhall and Ed Winfield.
“This class is an extraordinary group of pacesetters," said Ron Watson, president of the Motorsports Hall of Fame, “not only on the track, but in the engineering department and the broadcast booth, as well."
The inductees will be enshrined during a celebration on Aug. 24 in Detroit.
The class:
Donnie Allison
Allison joined the NASCAR Cup series in 1968 after having won close to 400 short-track races. He started 242 races during his 20-year NASCAR career. He won 10 races, 17 poles and finished in the top ten 115 times. Allison also was the 1970 Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year.
Sid Collins
He also started the Indianapolis Motor Speedway radio network in 1952. Since its launch, the company has grown from 26 to 1,200 stations under Collins's supervision.
Roger McCluskey
McCluskey won the Sprint Car Championship in 1963 and 1966, the National Stock Car championship in 1969 and 1970, and the Indy-car title in 1973. He retired in 1979 and became the USAC’s vice president and director of competition.
Ed McCulloch
McCulloch, nicknamed "The Ace," had a 30-year career during which he split time between Top Fuel and Funny Car drag racing. He won 18 Funny Car races, four Top Fuel races and was Driver of the Year in 1973 and 1988. He was enshrined in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2000. McCulloch continued to work in drag racing as a tuner and crew chief between 2001 and 2010.
Augie Pabst
Pabst won the USAC and SCCA road-racing titles in 1959 and 1960 while driving a Meister Brauser Scarab. He won 13 major races during his career, including three wins in the Road America 500.
Bruce Penhall
Penhall won the world championship in speedway motorcycle racing in 1981 and 1982. He was the first American to win the title in 44 years.
Ed Winfield
Winfield made his first performance camshaft in 1914 at the age of 13. He is known as one of motorsports' great mechanical minds and is responsible for developing the Novi engine with his brother, Bud. The Novi engine was a supercharged V8 engine with dual overhead cams.