The NASCAR Hall of Fame - Who Should Go In? Part 3

On Tuesday we took a look at the fact that there will be a NASCAR Hall of Fame opening in the spring of next year. We also went over how the induction process will work to select Hall of Famers. Finally we talked about the list compiled on a website made up by taking five votes from 28 folks who know their NASCAR. On Wednesday we took a look at the top two vote getters, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, and why they should be inducted. Yesterday we focused on the third highest vote getter, the co-founder of NASCAR, William Getty France Sr.

Today we'll talk about the man who tied with "Big Bill" in the poll, the driver with second largest number of wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, "The Silver Fox" David Pearson.


Before the "Modern Era", it was not uncommon for many of the sport's top stars to pick and choose which races they would run, as some races were more "valuable" in points and pay than others. David Pearson, who appeared on the scene in 1960 and continued racing until 1986, was one of those kinda drivers. Only three times in that time period did Pearson run the full schedule. All three of those times (1966, 68, and 69) he won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Pearson also had a storied rivalry with "The King" Richard Petty. Between 1963-1977, Pearson and Petty finished 1st and 2nd (not respectively) sixty-three times! Also, despite only running 574 races in his career (compared to Petty's 1184), Pearson won 105 races, the second most of any driver and the only other man to have more than 100 wins in the Series. Had Pearson raced the full schedule more often, it's not entirely improbable that he would have won more races and championships than Petty or Earnhardt. With stats like that, you'd be hard pressed to argue against putting David Pearson in the Inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Class.

Richard Petty and David Pearson

Tomorrow we'll profile the final top-five vote getter, a man who was hard to beat in an automobile, whether he was haulin' ass on the track or hauling 'shine on dirt roads. We'll also take a look at some other NASCAR legends whose names and credential make it worth considering their induction in the first class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. See ya tomorrow.