The International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) is a hall of fame located adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway (formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway) located in Talladega County, east central Alabama. It enshrines those who have contributed the most to motorsports either as a developer, driver, engineer, or owner.
History
20th century
The IMHOF was established in early 1970 following NASCAR founder Bill France Sr.'s decision to hire short track racing promoter Don Naman to build a museum and hall of fame in order "to preserve the history of motorsports and to enshrine forever the people who have been responsible for its growth." France donated of land from former race car driver Johnny Ray's family. France opted to build the IMHOF in Alabama rather than in his hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida because Floridian politicians threatened to levy a tax on Daytona International Speedway. The first phase of construction consisted of the building of three of the first six planned buildings on the IMHOF. A groundbreaking ceremony occurred at the site on the afternoon of March 26, 1981, with approximately 100 individuals such as Wallace, Bill France Sr., and Bill France Jr. present. The first half was opened on April 28, 1983, and the second half on July 28, 1990. The first induction ceremony was broadcast live on The Nashville Network, and was hosted by country music record artist and car sponsor T. G. Sheppard at the Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center Theater, in Birmingham, Alabama, on the evening of July 25, 1990. Induction ceremonies were held on the Wednesday evening prior to the Winston 500 in October at Talladega before being moved to December for both 1993 and 1994. After the Speedvision Dome was opened in 1996, all subsequent induction ceremonies took place there, Until 1996, 10 or more motorsports individuals were inducted annually, before no more than 10 nominees qualified for the final ballot, and a limit of six inductees for every subsequent year was imposed. All nominees had to be retired from participating in their respective categories for at least half a decade; they could be active elsewhere in their respective series in a different capacity. Some active racers could be inducted if they were over the age limit of 61. Individuals had to wait 15 years before become eligible for induction, with a 51 percent vote share required for induction. Unlike other sports halls of fame, waivers were not granted to major racing figures to enable their induction before the five-year waiting period had elapsed.
21st century
A total of 145 individuals were inducted during the period the hall of fame was active in most years from 1990 to 2013. The 20 inaugural members, Buck Baker, Jack Brabham, Malcolm Campbell, Jim Clark, Mark Donohue, Juan Manuel Fangio, France Sr., Graham Hill, Tony Hulman, Junior Johnson, Parnelli Jones, Stirling Moss, Barney Oldfield, Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, Jackie Stewart, Mickey Thompson, Bobby Unser, and Smokey Yunick, were inducted in 1990. the two other female inductees were multiple NHRA Top Fuel dragster champion Shirley Muldowney in 2004, and Janet Guthrie, who was inducted two years later. Wendell Scott, the first African American driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series event in December 1963, was the first African American to be inducted into the hall of fame in 1999. No one was added in each of 1995 and 2010 and nobody has been inducted since 2014.