In between rain drops the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame presented its induction ceremony for its 2011 Class at the Florence, Kentucky Speedway prior to the running of the annual Lucas Oil sponsored North-South 100. Driver inductees Don Bohlander, William “Fats” Coffey, Kevin Gundaker, Bill Morgan and Rance Phillips were on hand to receive their accolades. Ramo Stott could not attend but was contacted via phone hook-up and interviewed during the presentation by track announcer Brad Greer. Car builder Roscoe Smith was in attendance to accept his Contributing Induction and 2004 Inductee Ronnie Johnson was there to receive induction posthumously for his parents Joe Lee and Doris Jean Johnson. During the ceremony the Hall’s annual Sportsman Award went to racer Dale McDowell while a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to long time promoter Dean Miracle. Spirit Awards were also presented to drivers Bub McCool and Jeep Van Wormer for their charity work projects. Racer Jonathan Davenport received the R.P.M. 2010 Driver of the Year Award and race promoter and 2003 Hall of Fame inductee Carl Short served as this year’s V.I.P. guest inductee.
Bill Holder, Directing Chairman of the Hall of Fame, hosted the affair, while Bret Emrick of WoO, James Essex of Lucas Oil, Chris Tilley of STARS, Tim Lee of Illustrated Late Model Magazine and Bob Markos of the Hall of Fame combined efforts to emcee the event. It was once again another touching and sentimental ceremony enjoyed by these greats of dirt late model racing and their many followers and fans.
Special appreciation goes out to the King Family and Florence Speedway for allowing the Hall of Fame time for the presentation and to Arizona T-Shirts and Hoosier Midwest for the plaques and jackets presented to the inductees. An early afternoon auction held at the Hall was well attended and quite successful to help benefit the organization. The Hall would like to send thanks for the generosity of the drivers and teams who donated items to be auctioned off.
