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The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) celebrates the achievements of US motor racing greats.
These greats include very famous names like Dale Earnhardt, A.J. Foyt and Don Garlits, as well as legends of speed on water and in the air.
In 2016, the museum relocated from Novi, Michigan to the Daytona International Speedway. The location is fitting: the first race was held in Daytona Beach – or rather, on Daytona Beach – in 1903, since when the Florida city has been synonymous with US motorsport.
Outright land speed records were broken on the beach until the mid-1930s, NASCAR was formed at the city’s Streamline Hotel in 1948 and the modern-day speedway is home to two of the world’s iconic motor races, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona and the Daytona 500.
Join us on a journey through racing history in Daytona and beyond as we tour the MSHFA ahead of the 2019 Induction, which will take place on Tuesday March 12:
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Daytona Beach
In the beginning, it was all about the sand. Daytona’s long, wide, flat beach made it perfect for motor racing pioneers and land speed record attempts in the early decades of the automobile.
Today, you can pay to drive your car out onto the famous sand for a photo op, but the speeds are a little lower…
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Corinthian Trophy
The 23 miles of firm sand between Daytona and Ormond Beach to the north were ideal for testing early automobiles. The Corinthian Trophy, which is now part of a display of Daytona racing history in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, was made by Tiffany & Co. for winners of speed trials at Ormond Beach in the early 1900s.
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Campbell-Railton Blue Bird (1935)
Dozens of international speed records were set on a measured mile of Daytona sand from 1903 (Alexander Winton, 68mph) to 1935 (Sir Malcolm Campbell, 276mph). Campbell’s 2,300hp Blue Bird belongs to the International Speedway Corporation, which owns Daytona International Speedway.
It’s displayed in the MSHFA along with two original Dunlop tires that were shredded by the sand during the 1935 record run.
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Streamline Hotel
This art deco hotel in Daytona Beach, sited at 140 S Atlantic Ave – the A1A highway that runs parallel to the beach – achieved fame as the venue for the meetings that led to NASCAR’s formation in 1948.
After decades of neglect and having acquired an unsavory reputation, the Streamline – and its rooftop bar, where Bill France Sr convened the historic gathering of stock car drivers, officials, and promoters – has been restored in recent years to its former glory.
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Daytona International Speedway
Racing on the beach of a rapidly growing tourist destination was only practical for so long. In 1953, France proposed to build a permanent speedway five miles to the west. That track became the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and opened with the first Daytona 500 in February 1959.
In addition to attending races, on most days visiting fans can take one of three different speedway tours of the historic speedway, which was extensively remodeled from 2013-16.
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NASCAR Ride Along
The Daytona tours building is also the entrance to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. The doors are modeled on the original twin access tunnels to the tri-oval’s infield.
In the lobby, the #43 race car highlights another attraction – the opportunity to ride laps around Daytona in the NASCAR Racing Experience.
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Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
The entrance ‘tunnel’ features drag racing, one of several categories of motorsports honored by the Hall of Fame. Drag racing inductees include legends such Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme, Ed Pink, Shirley Muldowney and John Force.
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Hall of Fame Inductees
Each inductee has a plaque in the museum bearing their name and likeness. They’re grouped by category; this collection of Sports Cars inductee includes Mark Donohue, Dan Gurney, Derek Bell and Carroll Shelby.
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Swamp Rat 28
Drag racer, ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits was inducted in 1989. Known for his innovative designs, all of which were known as Swamp Rat in a nod to his Florida home, Garlits popularized the rear-engined Top Fuel car with 1971’s Swamp Rat 14.
The later Swamp Rat 28 in the museum was a high-gear-only design that proved to be too far ahead of contemporary fuel-pump and clutch technology to be successful.
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Warren Johnson Firebird (1997)
Warren Johnson has more NHRA Pro Stock wins (97) than any other driver. In 1997, his Pontiac Firebird with a 500ci (8.2-liter) motor achieved the first 200mph pass in Pro Stock history.
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Henry Ford’s 999
This replica of Henry Ford and Tom Cooper’s 1902 race car, ‘999’, was built by Ford for the 1964 World’s Fair. Back in the 1900s, driver Barney Oldfield used it to beat Daytona speed pioneer and automobile maker, Alexander Winton in its debut race – the first of many Ford racing victories.
Ford himself later set a land speed record of 91.37mph in an identical machine and was inducted into the MSHFA in 1996.
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Chevrolet-Silverado Baja Racer
This beautiful Chevy truck represents the talents of two versatile owner-driver Hall of Fame inductees, Walker Evans (2015) and Parnelli Jones (1992). With support from Chevrolet, it was built in 1975 by Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing for SCORE off-road racing.
The 425hp, small-block V8-powered machine took numerous class victories over two seasons, including in the Baja 1000.
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Hudson-Hornet Stock Car (1952)
It was Hudson, not one of Detroit’s Big Three, which provided the first factory sponsorship in NASCAR in response to the success of Daytona Beach’s Marshall Teague. In 1951-53, Hornets won 108 races in the hands of Teague and others.
The Hornet later found fame with a new generation via the 2006 Pixar movie, Cars, voiced by the late Paul Newman.
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Triumph-Spitfire (1973)
John Kelly won eight national races on his way to the 1973 SCCA F Production National crown. The Spitfire, prepared by Bob Tullius’s Group 44 organization, was good for 146mph despite making only 100hp from its 1.5-liter engine. Tullius was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Bob Tullius memorabilia
As well as cars and other racing vehicles, the Hall of Fame contains cases of memorabilia from many of its inductees, including Bob Tullius. A champion in SCCA Production and Trans-Am racing, Tullius became renowned for his professionalism and marketing savvy, and synonymous with classic British car brands.
Beginning in the early 1960s, Tullius’s Group 44 team fielded Triumphs, MGs and Jaguars, culminating in the XJR-5 in IMSA GTP competition, which paved the way for Jaguar’s factory sportscar program in the 1980s.
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Chevrolet-Camaro USAC Stock Car (1978)
US racing legend, A.J. Foyt won two USAC Stock Car titles in this Camaro in 1978-79. The latter year encompassed his last championship win, last stock car win and last win on dirt.
Foyt, who was inducted into the MSHFA in 1989, won the Indy 500 four times as a driver as well as the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours.
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Dodge-Charger Cup Car (2005)
The Gen-4 NASCARs of the mid-2000s lacked the aesthetic appeal of stock cars from earlier eras and shared fewer styling cues with their street counterparts than the Gen-6 cars of today.
Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace drove this 850hp, Team Penske Charger in his final race in what was then known as the Nextel Cup, his 706th in all, at Homestead in 2005.
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Riley-Ford Daytona Prototype (2013)
During qualifying for the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Mazda driver Oliver Jarvis beat the 26-year-old lap record for the Daytona road course. That record had been set by PJ Jones, son of Hall of Famer Parnelli Jones, in an Eagle-Toyota Mk.III built by All American Racers – the race team and constructor founded by another inductee, Dan Gurney.
However, the fastest lap around the Daytona tri-oval was set in 2013 by Colin Braun in this car, a Ford EcoBoost-powered Riley Daytona Prototype, at an average speed of 222.971mph.
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Dallara-Honda IR-05 IndyCar (2008)
Five-time IndyCar Series champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner, Scott Dixon has yet to be inducted into the MSHFA, but would surely be a worthy future candidate.
His long-time team boss, Chip Ganassi, is already there. Ganassi’s cars had notched up more than 200 race victories and 21 drivers’ championships at the time of writing.
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Pontiac-Grand Prix Cup Car (1981)
Arguably US auto racing’s biggest ever star, Dale Earnhardt Sr (inducted 2002), spent most of his career in Chevrolets but also drove other marques including this 1981 Pontiac.
The ‘Jeans Machine’ was owned by Rod Osterlund; Earnhardt recorded a best finish of second before Osterlud sold out to J.D. Stacy mid-season.
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Chevrolet-Monte Carlo Cup Car (1999)
Much more recognizable as an Earnhardt car is this 1999 Monte Carlo, a replica of the #3 machine in which ‘The Intimidator’ took wins at Talladega and Bristol. Dale Earnhardt died in an accident at Daytona on February 18, 2001.
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Walt Cibor Sprint Car (1932)
Also displayed on the simulated Daytona banking inside the Hall of Fame is this parts-bin special that represents the pre-WWII short-track race scene.
Michigan native, Walt Cibor built it using a 130hp Ford Model B engine, Model A drivetrain and Model T front axle; the lever on the driver’s right controls the car’s only brakes, at the rear. Cibor raced it for nearly a decade on local tracks.
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Lola-T165 Chevy Can-Am (1970)
In need of some air in the rear tires at the time of our visit, the 450hp Chevy-powered Lola T165 was campaigned in Can-Am by 2002 inductee, Peter Gregg. Gregg’s privateer entry struggled to compete with the factory teams in one of the most spectacular series ever seen in US motorsports.
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Buick-Reatta Funny Car (1988)
Kenny Bernstein won four straight NHRA Funny Car titles in the 1980s, assisted by crew chief, former drag racer and fellow MSHFA inductee, Dale Armstrong. The pair took a pioneering, high-tech approach to competition, using a wind tunnel to shape the body of their Funny Cars and installing data acquisition equipment to monitor performance.
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Watson Roadster Leader Card Special (1959)
Front-engined roadsters dominated the Indianapolis 500 until Jim Clark (inducted 1990) won with the mid-engined Lotus 38 in 1965. The Watson on display in the Hall of Fame is a replica of the Offenhauser-powered, 1959 car in which Rodger Ward secured the first of two victories at the Brickyard.
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Chevrolet-Monte Carlo Cup Car (1986)
The 1986 Monte Carlo brings together two MSHFA Stock Car inductees, Darrell Waltrip and Junior Johnson. This Budweiser-sponsored machine took Waltrip to runner-up spot in the 1986 Cup Series in his last season driving for Johnson. They’d already racked up three titles together in 1981, ’82 and ’85.
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Pontiac-Firebird Pace Car (1967)
Dozens of racing legends signed this Firebird, which paced the 1967 Daytona 24 Hours, during that year’s Daytona Speedweeks.
Among them was 1961 Formula 1 World Champion and 1989 Sports Cars inductee, Phil Hill. After decades of display at Daytona, this first-year Firebird still only has 2,364 miles on the clock…
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Viking Spirit Race Boat (1966)
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America isn’t all about cars. One of the more eye-catching exhibits is this elegant boat from 1997 inductee, Robert (Bob) Nordskog. Known as the ‘Iron Man’, Nordskog won an astonishing 162 races in a 43-year career, including his final race at the age of 79.
With 550hp from its 427ci (7-liter) Chevy V8, the Viking Spirit was capable of 110mph. It also appeared in the 1967 Elvis film, Clambake.
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Lola-T9400 Honda IndyCar (1994)
Exhibits come at you from all angles in the museum, with a number suspended from the ceiling. This Lola T9400 was raced in 1994 by Bobby Rahal for his own Rahal-Hogan team.
Rahal, who was inducted in 2004, scored a best finish of second in Toronto as the team got to grips with the brand-new Honda powerplant.
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Non-wing USAC Sprint Car (1996)
A fuel-injected, 800hp Chevy engine in a J&J chassis powered Brian Tyler to the 1996 and ’97 USAC National Sprint Car Championships. Typical of most sprint cars is the absence of a gearbox or right-front brake.
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Harley J. Earl Trophy
Tours of Daytona International Speedway and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America end with a look at the Harley J. Earl Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Daytona 500, and the winning car from that year’s race.
At the time of our visit, Austin Dillon’s 2018 Richard Childress Racing Chevy was still on display, but it’s since been replaced by the 2019 race-winning Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry of Denny Hamlin.
The Harley J. Earl Trophy is named after the legendary General Motors design chief, who was first awarded at the NASCAR showpiece race’s inception in 1959.
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Dario Franchitti
The MSHFA Class of 2019 will be inducted on March 12. The seven-strong list of luminaries includes Augie Duesenberg in the Historic category, Phil Remington (Sports Cars), Kevin Schwantz (Motorcycles), Don Schumacher (Drag Racing), Tony Stewart (Stock Cars), Linda Vaughn (At Large) and Dario Franchitti (Open Wheel).
Three-time Indy 500 winner Franchitti is pictured here at Iowa Speedway in 2018.
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