The 11th Annual Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Owensboro Science and History Museum’s, Speedzeum, which serves as home to the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame.
The Speedzeum was created in 2003 by former racing competitors Cooper Hayden, Army Armstrong and several others in town, as a way to pay tribute to the incredible amount of motorsport talent that has come out of Owensboro.
“This is the only city in America that had six NASCAR drivers on the track at the same time,” Hayden said. “Three Greens, the two Waltrips and Jeremy Mayfield.”
This year was referred to as an “Owensboro-dominated induction,” with six of the nine inductees claiming Owensboro as their hometown.
While recently retired NASCAR racer and two-time Daytona 500 champion, Michael Waltrip could not attend the event, he sent a personal message attributing his success to his Kentucky roots and sharing his joy as he joined his older brother Darrell in the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame.
–
“I’m so proud to call Owensboro, Ky. my home,” Waltrip said. “Growing up and watching my big brother blaze the trail for so many, today couldn’t be more special; I’m joining him in the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame.”
Waltrip has garnered national attention for his job as broadcaster for the Fox Sports Network, in addition to a career of standout NASCAR victories and a championship in the NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series at the start of his long career.
In a larger than normal class, the voting panel discussed at length the merit of voting individually or as a group the Owensboro-born NASCAR affiliated Green Brothers, David, Jeff and Mark. With all three showing merit to being voted in this year, it was voted the three brothers would enter the Hall as one. Mark Green was at the ceremony to receive the award on behalf of the three.
“To think that three kids from the same house in a small town got all the way where we got, I mean what’s the chances?” Green said. He added that it all began with a $500 KMS sponsorship from the local Budweiser distributor 30 years ago.
“Businesses in Owensboro took care of the racers, and it took this small town for this to happen,” Green said.
The three brothers join their father, David Sr., who was inducted as a Pioneer designee two years ago after beginning careers on go-karts and moving up the ranks of asphalt racing.
With the previously announced inclusion of International champion Nicky Hayden, the four Owensboro racers were joined by a fifth Owensboro native, Tim Banks, who put together varied forms of motorsports involvement during his life to gain access to the Hall of Fame.
“I raced cars, motorcycles, built bikes,” Banks said. “I’ve had three or four careers where everybody else had one career, so that makes me feel a little better because I excelled at all three of them.”
Banks, a noted custom motorcycle builder across the nation, stood with his world-renowned Marine Corps motorcycle, which he designed especially for the Toys for Tots program. Banks paid his dues with circle track racing starts before becoming a highly regarded fixture in the motorcycle culture, turning heads in show circles, as well as performance exhibitions. Banks has also won 14 EasyRider Nationals, which he says may be the most anyone has won in the United States.
The November 3rd induction ceremony also saw noted stock car racing inductees Jack Boggs and Bill Clary. Boggs of Grayson, KY was a multi dirt track racing champion across the country, while Clary was a car owner and motorsports contributor in the Louisville, KY asphalt community.
Journalist Neill Tyler rounds out the nine inductees as the Louisville Courier-Journal sports reporter enters for his continuous efforts of reporting and including motorsports among the other sports of the daily and weekly publications of the Louisville-based statewide newspaper.
