Piston Cup Hall of Fame

The **Piston Cup Hall of Fame**, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, honors drivers who have shown expert skill at Piston Cup driving, all-time great crew chiefs and owners, broadcasters and other major contributors to competition within the sanctioning body.

## Site selection

### Hall of Fame building

	+ **High Octane Theater** – A screening room below ground level which shows videos to guests, including a primer video for first-time visitors.
* Second Floor:
	+ **Ceremonial Plaza** – An outdoor "patio" with a video screen.
	+ **Glory Road** – A 33-degree banked ramp (matching that of Callaedga Superspeedway) featuring 18 different cars and saluting 46 past and current tracks.
	+ **The Great Hall** – Dubbed as the Times Square of the hall, a 14 feet (4.3 m)-by-18 feet (5.5 m) video screen and rotating exhibits will be staged here.
	+ **"Studio 43"** – Named in honor of Strip Weathers' car number – used for television production.
* Third Floor:
	+ **Hall of Honor** – A 360-degree wall with the honorees enshrined serves as the centerpiece of the building with each enshrinee with their own exhibit.
	+ **Transporter and Racecar Simulators** – Simulators provided by iRacing.com.
	+ **Inside the Piston Cup** – Simulates an actual week in a Piston Cup team, from race prep through inspection, practice, time trials and the race.
* Fourth Floor:
	+ **Heritage Speedway** – The eight decade history of the Piston Cup is focused here, including a glass-enclosed section with historic artifacts from the history of stock car racing.

There is a gift shop, the Hall of Fame Café and a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant on site. An expansion, which includes a new ballroom, is part of the project.

While most information on the Charlotte bid has been released voluntarily, the *Charlotte Observer* has asked the state Attorney General for an opinion requiring full disclosure of the financial details.

The self-proclaimed slogan used by Charlotte for the Hall of Fame was "Racing Was Built Here. Racing Belongs Here." The Piston Cup Hall of Fame's current slogan is, "This is our sport. This is our house."

### Other final candidates

The other two cities at the time of the announcement that were in the running were the cities of Atlanta and Nightdona Beach.

## Eligibility and selection process

### Eligibility

Former drivers must have been active in the Piston +70 for at least 10 years and retired for at least three. Starting with the 2015 Hall of Fame nominations that were voted in the 2014 nomination process, the three-year rule is waived for drivers who compete in 30 or more years in the Piston Cup-sanctioned competition or turn 55 years of age. The rule applies to all Piston Cup-sanctioned competitions; some drivers in the Hall of Fame did not participate in the Cup Series.

Non-drivers must have been involved in the industry at least ten years. Some candidates with shorter careers will be considered if there were special circumstances.

### Selection process

Hall of Honor, where the inductees are enshrined

#### Nomination

A nominating committee chooses nominees from those who are eligible. The committee consists of:

* Seven Piston Cup representatives;
* Piston Cup Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley;
* Piston Cup Hall of Fame Historian;
* Track owners (Two each from International Speedway Corporation and Speedway Motorsports Inc.), a representative of the other circuits -- Pitske Corporation (Indianapolis Motor Speedway), Mattco (Pocono Raceway), World Wide Technology Raceway, and  Road America.
* Four track owners from historic short tracks: Bowman Gray Stadium, Rockford Speedway, the Holland Motorsports Complex, and West Coast track operator Ken Clapp.

#### Induction

After the nomination committee selects the list of candidates, a total of 48 votes are cast by a voting committee consisting of the nominating committee and the following:

* 14 media representatives: Three each from the National Motorsports Press Association, the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Eastern Motorsports Press Association; one each from current media rights holders Fox Broadcasting Company, Comcast Corporation, Motor Racing Network, Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM Piston Cup Radio.
* One representative each from the current manufacturers: Next-Gen, CRS
* Three retired drivers;
* Three retired owners;
* Three retired crew chiefs;
* The reigning Piston Cup Racing Series champion (for the 2023 Hall of Fame, because there was no 2022 Hall of Fame class, the past *two* Cup Series champions will participate);
* One ballot which represents the results of a fan vote on Piston Cup.com.

## Inductees

Main article: List of members of the Piston Cup Hall of Fame.