NASCAR Cup Series

Hard choices: Insider's view of NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel

Published May. 20, 2015 6:30 p.m. ET

Tom Jensen

Every year, the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting process gets more and more difficult.

There are no more slam dunks to vote for, no Earnhardts or Pettys or Allisons or Woods or Waltrips. All of the obvious choices for inclusion into the hall have been made already.

This year, my first as a member of the voting panel, featured 20 nominees, every one of whom was worthy of inclusion into the hall and almost all of whom will get in eventually. With 59 members on the voting panel, debate was spirited but collegial at the Charlotte Convention Center on Wednesday, when the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016 was elected.

There was much to consider: Should the Class of 2016 be all or mostly all drivers, or should it feature a more diverse mix with owners, crew chiefs and mechanics included? Should nominees still active in the sport be voted in? Should there be one or more short-track racers in the mix? How many pioneers of the sport should go in and how many younger nominees? Tough choices, all.

Ultimately, the five individuals voted into the Class of 2016 were: Bruton Smith, Terry Labonte, Curtis Turner, Jerry Cook and Bobby Isaac.

Here's who I voted for:

Curtis Turner -- Known as "the Babe Ruth of stock-car racing," Turner was legendary for his skill behind the wheel and his larger-than-life personality. More than half a century before social media became a thing, everyone in the South who knew anything about stock-car racing had heard of Turner. He was fast, flamboyant and wide open off the track, too.

Bruton Smith -- The chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., Smith built Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1959 and expanded it into an empire of tracks from Atlanta to New Hampshire to Sonoma. Smith's facilities have always been first-rate and he and his company have been largely responsible for innovations like lights and trackside condos.

Ray Evernham -- Taking nothing away from Jeff Gordon's prodigious talent and Rick Hendrick's managerial genius, there is no question that Evernham played a key role in elevating Hendrick Motorsports from a good team in the early 1990s to a great one just a few years later. Evernham was a three-time championship crew chief and a game-changer in how the position was defined. After Hendrick, he launched Dodge's return to NASCAR, building a competitive organization from scratch.

Terry Labonte -- Another tough choice here, with drivers like Mark Martin, Buddy Baker and Bobby Isaac also up for nomination. Martin and Isaac won more NASCAR Premier Series races in their respective careers, but the bottom line for me was this: Labonte was the only eligible multi-time series champion who wasn't already in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. That was the tipping point.

Jerry Cook -- Short-track racers are a huge part of NASCAR's history and culture. There were three fantastic choices here with Cook, Mike Stefanik and Larry Phillips, each of whom was more than worthy. Cook won six consecutive NASCAR Modified Series championships, including four in a row, in an era when NASCAR Hall of Fame member Richie Evans dominated the Northeast Modified ranks.