NASCAR HOF Induction Process Announced

After much to do about waiting with a little bit of intensity of wondering just how NASCAR is going to decide who gets into their Hall Of Fame.

Here's the process:

Each year the HOF will have five inductees.
They'll be selected by a voting panel consisting of NASCAR industry leaders, manufacturer representatives, former competitors, the media and fans.
Inductees will be chosen from a list that has a maximum of only 25 candidates.
The main criteria for nomination and induction would be one's accomplishments and contributions to NASCAR.

Eligibility includes former drivers having competed for 10 years in NASCAR.
Be retired for a minimum of three years.
Non-drivers must have worked at least 10 years in the industry.
(Potential candidates with shorter careers may be considered if there are special circumstances.)

After the 20-member committee selects the candidates, the voting will entail a total of 48 ballots.
Twenty ballots will be from the nominating committee;
27 ballots will come from a group consisting of former drivers, former owners, former crew chiefs, manufacturer representatives and media;
one ballot will represent the results of a nationwide fan vote.  (Wow, the power!)

The inaugural list of candidates will be announced in June.
Voting will be completed by Sept. 15.
Results will be announced in October.

Following are breakdowns of the nominating committee and the voting committee.

Nominating Committee – 20 members
• Seven NASCAR representatives.
• NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director.
• NASCAR Hall of Fame Historian.
• Two track owners from International Speedway Corporation.
• Two track owners from Speedway Motorsports Incorporated.
• Track owner from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• Track owner from Dover International Speedway.
• Track owner from Pocono Raceway.
• Four track owners from historic short tracks:

Bowman-Gray Speedway in Winston-Salem, N.C.;
Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C.;
Riverhead Raceway in Riverhead, N.Y; and
Toyota Speedway at Irwindale in Irwindale, Calif.

Voting Committee – 47 members plus one fan vote
• 20 members of the nominating committee.
• 14 media representatives:
Three each from the National Motorsports Press Association, the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Eastern Motorsports Press Association;
one each from FOX, Turner, ESPN, Motor Racing Network and Performance Racing Network.
• One representative each from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota.
• Three retired drivers.
• Three retired owners.
• Three retired crew chiefs.
• Fan vote.

There ya have it.  Everyone but my mother will vote in the candidates.  There might be a bit of a flaw with track owners voting from SMI and ISC.  Would that be just 2 votes?  Otherwise it seems to be a fairly comprehensive voting process that involves a lot of folks with different disciplines of perspective.

Now we wait and see who gets nominated and who gets in.
Any guesses folks?

[source:  NASCAR]