David Pearson tops NASCAR’s HOF class

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

David Pearson had a pretty good idea he would be part of the second five-member class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Pearson had good reason to feel that way. He had 105 victories, second on the all-time list, and is considered the best driver ever by many, including 200-time race winner and seven-time champion Richard Petty.

After Pearson on the all-time win list are Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip with 84 wins each and Cale Yarborough with 83. It would have been no surprise if all three of them had joined Pearson in the second Hall class.

But that won’t happen when the class is inducted in May 2011. The panel of 53 voters selected Pearson and Allison, along with legendary drivers Lee Petty and Ned Jarrett and team owner Bud Moore, leaving many surprised that Waltrip and Yarborough were left out.

Pearson, who won three Cup titles (1996, 1968, 1969) and the 1976 Daytona 500, was named on 94 percent of the 53 ballots.

“I heard I was in, and was going to definitely be in, which I heard that last year but wasn’t,” Pearson said Wednesday after the election at the Hall of Fame. “You never know what’s going to happen. It makes you feel good and I’m glad and … I am just proud that that many people thought enough to vote for me.”

No inductee got more than 70 percent of the vote besides Pearson. Allison and Petty were on 62 percent of the ballots, while Jarrett was on 58 percent and Moore 45 percent. They will be inducted into the Hall next May, joining the inaugural class of Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr., who all were inducted when the Hall opened last May.

Lee Petty was the first three-time Cup champion (1954, 1958, 1959) and the first winner of the Daytona 500. The father of Richard Petty, Lee collected 54 career victories and was the patriarch of Petty Enterprises, the winningest team in the sport’s history with 268 Cup victories.

“I am glad Richard’s in it, but Lee ought to have got in first ’cause if it hadn’t been for Lee, Richard wouldn’t have had a shot to get in it,” said Richard’s brother, Maurice.