June 17th, 2011 
Journo On Tuesday, the NASCAR Hall of Fame announced the inductees for next year’s class. Making the cut were Dale Inman, Glen Wood, Cale Yarborough, Richie Evans and Darrell Waltrip.
Though there were a lot of tears surrounding the announcement, all I could feel was indescribable joy at the realization that I wouldn’t have to listen to the sob stories of Darrell Waltrip and why he hasn’t been inducted yet, ever again. Thank you to the voters for sparing us all another year.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two years you’ve no doubt been witness to the frequent campaigning by the three-time champion. He was visibly devastated by not making last year’s class – he said “my, feelings are hurt” – and many went on to ask why he wasn’t included.
Waltrip is no doubt worthy of the honor of the Hall of Fame – he has three Cup Series championships and is tied with Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon for the third spot on the all time wins list (though technically Allison has one more win than Gordon and Waltrip). And there is little question about his contributions to the sport since his retirement from driving. Few people are as visible as he is.
Still, I’m a firm believer that there are some things in life you really shouldn’t ask for. Induction into a Hall of Fame – any Hall of Fame – is one of those things. It’s just… tacky.
Isn’t it more genuine to be given an honor or award when you don’t have to ask for it?
Along the way Waltrip had a lot of supporters – many decrying what they perceived as a snub. And to some extent they were probably right – politics played a role in Waltrip not getting inducted last year. But that doesn’t mean last year’s inductees were any less deserving than Waltrip.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame was not created to glorify one single driver or drivers – it was created to celebrate the sport and those who have made it great. Turning the selection process into an open campaign and the analysis of that process into a blood sport is disrespectful to those who await induction and to those who have already been inducted.
For all those lucky enough and worthy enough to be considered for induction, the time will eventually come.
May all future Hall of Fame inductees heed Burton’s wisdom, and take note of this very long spectacle and not repeat it.
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I have lost all respect for Darrell Waltrip these last five years. The man has single-handedly cost himself all the goodwill he had built up over a career. DW has become the human vuvuzela on television and I have come to prefer a police scanner for audio over him.
DW was getting on my last nerve. I don’t know how he defines the term, humility, but maybe it needs to be on his public Bible studying list.
Thank you Journo for this post. While I agree DW belongs in the HoF, I found it a complete lack of sportsmanship for him to whine and cry about his feelings being hurt. Now maybe he will shut the h*ll up and move on.
Amen.
If DW’s whining made you sick, just wait. His bragging will surely make you hurl!
Sorry, but I’ve known Mr. Ego for over 40 years (and raced against him in lower series and worked in racing) and I and most of my peers think DW needs to just go away and doesn’t deserve the HOF.
Thank you for this, Jorno!
Now we’ll be subjected to “…and back to the booth to NASCAR Hall of Fame Driver Darrell Waltrip, with Mike Joy and Larry Mac!”
With the ego he has, it’s just gone monumental.
ugh
So he’s better than which of last years inductee’s – David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett, Bud Moore. Only in his own mind and in his mind NASCAR wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for him. Yes, you’re right – I’m not a DW fan and it really aggravates me that FOX just did a 2 year contract extension. BIGGEST NASCAR TURN OFF = DW. I listen to radio broadcast and scanner when FOX airs the race.
Am I the only one somewhat bothered by personal opinions influencing Hall votes? I feel like an individual’s career speaks for itself. DW’s open campaigning for induction may have left some voters sour, but I don’t see how that should be relevant. Either the man had a good enough career to be inducted or he didn’t. Personal biases should not factor into the votes, in my opinion.
I did not like DW’s lobbying to get into the HOF. And, I cannot believe he really thinks he was worthy of being in the inaugural class, but his career numbers were probably good enough to get him into 2011 class. I can understand his disappointment of not getting in last year, but he should have kept his pie-hole shut!
“DW has become the human vuvuzela on television”
Love this Robert & couldn’t agree more. That is the perfect description of DW.
DW’s whining about the “snubs” is in character with him though. I just tuned him out like I do on the television. It sure is tacky like Journo said. Glad you called him on it.
While I’m not a huge Bobby Allison fan (Cale was my guy when I first started watching NASCAR), thanks for mentioning that his win total is actually greater than Waltrip’s and Gordon’s. I think – and please correct me if I’m wrong – that a field was short, so they let Allison enter his Busch car (or whatever it was then) in the Cup race, and he won. He didn’t get credit for it because he wasn’t driving a Cup car.
Best piece I’ve read about his being inducted. Thank you for saying what so many of us believe. I think he’s a jerk.
DW lost his honored place in the history of racing by becoming an ego driven loud mouthed shill on TV. History and fans will remember the modern nightmare of DW and not the driver. He should have retired from racing before he bacame a pathetic backmarker and he should have been selective in his public appearances. He will be remember as a pathetic hanger on and not as a great driver.
Amen Journo! Ol’ DW would have been inducted at some point anyway, so all the crying was definitely in poor taste! None of the other men actively campaigned for their inductions. If DW felt he was snubbed, then the same could be said of other deserving inductees who came and went before ol’ Jaws arrived on the scene! Thank you for the article!
Ron King – I nearly spit my coffee on the iPad! LOL!
Okay, now that DW is in, can they please move to induct more of the old school guys like Fireball and Herb Thomas, etc. ?
DW has the same sense of entitlement that Kyle Bush has. He cannot write an article or comment on most anything without there being an I, a me, myself, in there someplace. DW and for that matter Mikey have unabashedly sold out the sport for their own benefit. DW has sold out to Toyota openly and openly shows that bias. Mikey has sold out to any and everything. They do not represent the sport nearly as much as they represent themselves. Neither are class acts as DW has shown over the past two years in his begging and pouting over the “HALL”. Now all we’ll hear is his being voted in and how he deserved it. Next it’ll be Mikey actually believing he deserves to get in and probably on the next ballot for all his accomplishments.
I still think, aside from BIG Bill France, the true founding fathers are getting the shaft. They just wouldn’t draw newer fans to the Hall. Simple as that!
dw will lose all credibility when he lobbies for his brother during the induction speech.
dw is like the nba, if he was gone tomorrow, i would never miss him.
I lost all respect for him when he didn’t qualify for a race & bought Carl Long’s spot in the race. Poor Carl had been bustin’ his behind off to make a race & when he finally does ole DW makes him an offer he can’t refuse. PITIFUL…!!!
Steven, “Shut the h*ll up and move on”. Are you kidding me?? This is the great and wonderful DW. This is only going to make him worse. He will now brag more and be MUCH MORE ARROGANT!!! I must admit last year I chuckled a little when he didn’t get in and Bobby Allison, who I like and respect did get in. What a hopeless shame he will never understand how to act and why people are respected. Capable humble people are often respected but pompous braggers are rarely respected, plain and simple.
Waltrip is one reason I have basically stopped watching NASCAR. (I am a fan from the last 60′s when all you could get on TV was a segment or two on Wide World of Sports). He is horrible as a broadcaster. No objectivity, constantly shilling for Toyota, and making me ill with his man crush on Kyle Busch. I though the announcers were supposed to comment and educate us on what is happening on the track, not hit us over the head with “back when I was driving” or, trying to (incorrectly) guess what the drivers are thinking. Don’t get me srtared on The 3 B thing at the start of races. He was a great driver, but has become something of a joke post race career. You have to admire his enthusiasm but he needs to step back and stop making eevery Fox race about himself.
I agree with all of you who know what a shill both of the Waltrips are. I disliked them as drivers and that has continued. Their “it’s all about me ” attitudes are just sickening. It’s my opinion that at least 95% of the NASCAR drivers would privately agree with you Journo.
ESPECIALLY since there was no chance he wasn’t getting in eventually. The rules are 5 people per year, and this is only the third year. So you have every single person involved with NASCAR’s 50+ year history to look at. Its going to take awhile until the Hall is filled with *all* the right guys. And I have no problems with that.
Jerome has stated my opinion completely. Can’t add anything better than what he said except, now that D.W. is in the Hall of Fame, can he jsut go away!! Please!!
What they said.
Waltrip deserves to get in, but there are many who preceded him that deserve entry as well. I would have frozen him out until 2015. Maybe he would have quit his broadcasting job and gone to sulk in the corner. There are only three words in his alphabet I, M, E.
DW has always been tacky. A lot like Kyle Bush. Lots of talent behind the wheel & a tacky person.
While I completely stand behind everyone’s freedom to say what they want on their own blog (and everyone freedom to express their opinion in the comments, within the bounds of the blog owners’ rules), this post saddened and disappointed me as soon as I read it. It wasn’t because I respect DW and what he did (and continues to do) for the sport. It wasn’t because I think he rightfully deserves his place in the Hall.
It was because I knew it would bring on an onslaught of haters. In fact, I purposefully waited a few days to post my opinion because I didn’t feel like coming back later in the day to read about how stupid or brainwashed I am for holding my opinion. While I may be a relatively young NASCAR fan (I’m smack-dab in the middle of Gen X), my earliest memories are of watching Cale in the Hardee’s car and Bill Elliott in the McDonald’s car, and my mother is a NASCAR fan, so I was taught (and I value) the history of the sport, including the rivalries.
And while there are people who I absolutely can’t stand in the sport, if they are fortunate enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the sport I love and cherish, I will respect their achievements and I will not incite those who share my dislike of those people to jeer at them in what should be their moment of glory.
Wow, I cant believe we all agree! There you go DW, you created a group of people that support NASCAR that agreed on a subject!
Yes, you should have one day been inducted, but you knew the risk was that as time went by your personality would dwarf your achievements and you would be overlooked. I wonder how long before you start lobbying for your bro to get in?
There are many, many guys that have added so much more to NASCAR than DW, so I suspect he will be a passing moment in its history, thank goodness.
People have started to dislike DW more and more over the years. You wonder if this is the reason he tried so hard to get in so soon. Maybe he thought in another few years people will totally despise him and won’t ever vote him in the Hall.
People call him an emabassador for the sport. Really? 3 boogities before every race constitutes an embassador? Nascar for years has been trying to shed the “redneck” moniker and make it more mainstream. The boogities actually make it worse.
The only thing that could be worse than hearing DW cry about not getting into the HoF is bragging about making it into the HoF.
I’m so tired of him.