Yahoo Autos 3 Women Highlight 9-Member Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Class of 2021
The 33rd Motorsports Hall of Fame class is the first with three women in the group.
This class also gives the Hall its first husband-and-wife inductees.
The MSHFA is located in the Ticket and Tours Building at Daytona International Speedway.
Nine notables from the world of motorsports, including three female honorees, were named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) as the 33rd class was unveiled on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway in advance of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The 33rd Hall class is the first with three women in the group.
The Class of 2021 includes one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers, Davey Allison (Stock Cars), three-time land speed record holder John Cobb (Historic), three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon Jr. (Drag Racing), Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR trailblazer Janet Guthrie (Open Wheel), 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky “Kentucky Kid” Hayden (Motorcycles), legendary Indy correspondent Robin Miller (Media), seven consecutive APBA Gold Cup winner Fran Muncey (Powerboats), multi-time USAC and NASCAR champion Ray Nichels (Historic) and world class timer/scorer Judy Stropus (Sports Cars).
“The Class of 2021 is history-making in so many respects,” said MSHFA president George Levy in a press release. “Janet Guthrie, Fran Muncey and Judy Stropus comprise the first-ever class with three female inductees. Fran joins inaugural class inductee Bill Muncey as the only husbanda-and-wife inductees. And Davey Allison, Bobby Allison and Donnie Allison join Bobby Unser, Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. as the only families with three individually inducted members.”
The MSHFA is located in the Ticket and Tours Building at Daytona International Speedway. Access to the MSFHA is included with every Daytona International Speedway tour, which run throughout each day, or as a museum-only ticket. The attraction is open daily nearly year-round except holidays and on major DIS race and event days.
The MSHFA is the only hall that honors all American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, airplanes, off road and powerboats. Its mission is to celebrate and instill the American motorsports values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition.
Each of the MSHFA’s inductees is elected by a vote of 200 motorsports experts. Past inductees make up half of the voters.
Guthrie, Muncey and Stropus increases the number of women enshrined in the Hall to 10.
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Class of 2021:
Davey Allison (Stock Cars)
Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers, the eldest son of Hall of Famer Bobby was on his way to becoming one of its all-time greats when his life was cut short at 32 by a helicopter crash. Allison joined his father as a Daytona 500 winner in 1992 and would finish with 19 wins. His career winning percentage put him well ahead of several Hall of Famers and just behind superstars like Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. The 1987 NASCAR Rookie of the Year topped the series in races led (23) in 1991 and laps led (1,377) the following year. Allison won a career-best five races both seasons.
John Cobb (Historic)
Englishman John Rhodes Cobb earned prominence in the U.S. by setting the Land Speed Record on the Bonneville Salt Flats. In 1939, he drove his piston-engine, wheel-driven Railton Special to a new world mark of 369.70 MPH. In 1947, Cobb upped his own record to 394.2 MPH in a completely redesigned Railton Mobil Special. Cobb’s record lasted longer than any other LSR for the flying mile, finally surpassed by Craig Breedlove (MSHFA Class of 1993) in his jet-powered Spirit of America (407.45 MPH) in 1963 and the Summer Brothers’ piston-engine, wheel-driven Goldenrod (409.277 MPH) in 1965.
