Todd Gilliland becomes youngest ARCA winner in history: Todd Gilliland briefly doubted himself Sunday afternoon during the closing laps of the Menards 200 at Toledo Speedway. Any doubts he had were quickly erased, however, when the 15-year-old sailed to the win in the ARCA Racing Series race. In doing so, he became the youngest winner in ARCA Racing Series history - the win coming just two days after his 15th birthday. "Wow, I can't believe this is happening," Gilliland said following the race. "Just, wow." He eclipsed the youngest race winner mark previously held by Kyle Benjamin. Gilliland - the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver #38-David Gilliland - was making his ARCA debut. He took the lead for the first time on lap 197 of the 200 lap race and beat Tom Hessert and Josh Williams to the finish line. Hessert held on for second with Williams trailing in third. A.J. Fike finished fourth and Kyle Weatherman finished fifth. Gilliland was fastest in Saturday's practice session and qualified fifth. He stayed near the front all day Sunday, surviving two red flags, one for a brief rain shower and the other for a late-race accident involving the leaders. Austin Wayne Self finished sixth, Brian Finney a career-best seventh, Bobby Hamilton Jr. eighth, David Levine ninth and Matt Wallace 10th in his ARCA debut.(
ARCA Racing)(5-18-2015)
NASCAR Hall Of Fame Class Of 2016 To Be Announced: The NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 and winner of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR will be announced following a vote by the
NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel on Wednesday, May 20 at 6:00pm/et at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. The five NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees will be selected from the list of 20 nominees: Buddy Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Jerry Cook, Ray Evernham, Ray Fox, Rick Hendrick, Harry Hyde, Bobby Isaac, Alan Kulwicki, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Hershel McGriff, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, Larry Phillips, O. Bruton Smith, Mike Stefanik, Curtis Turner and Robert Yates.
The second Landmark Award recipient will be chosen from the list of five nominees: Harold Brasington, H. Clay Earles, Raymond Parks, Ralph Seagraves and Ken Squier. The announcement will air live on NBCSN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and NASCAR.com.(NASCAR)(5-18-2015)
My Picks:
Benny Parsons
Alan Kulwicki
Buddy Baker
Curtis Turner
Mike Stefanik
And
H. Clay Earles
Henry Clay Earles was the founder and chairman of the board of Martinsville Speedway, a NASCAR stock car racing track that Earles built in 1947 in Ridgeway, Virginia that was one of the circuit's first paved oval tracks and stands as one of its shortest.
Timeline
1913: Born in Axton, Virginia on August 11, 1913, Earles started making money as a five-year-old, selling unwanted leaves from his father's tobacco farm.
1946: Having seen the crowds attracted by car racing at temporary tracks at fairgrounds, he built a track on 30 acres (120,000 m2) of land he had purchased in 1946.
1947: The first scheduled race, predating the establishment of NASCAR, took place on September 7, 1947, drawing more than 6,000 spectators at a facility that only had 750 seats; Seating capacity had grown to 86,000 by the time of Earles' death.
1964: Earles began a tradition in 1964 of distributing grandfather clocks to race winners, with Richard Petty receiving a track-record of 12, and would have received three more for wins that predated the inception of the practice.
1999: Earles died at age 86 on November 16, 1999 at his Martinsville home.