CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The NASCAR Hall of Fame announced its Class of 2025 on Tuesday, introducing two of the sport's winningest drivers of their respective eras as well as one of its all-time greatest car builders and one of its most notable safety pioneers. Ricky Rudd and Carl Edwards were the two candidates named to the Hall of Fame from the Modern Era ballot, while Ralph Moody was named from the Pioneer ballot designated for NASCAR figures whose careers began in 1965 or earlier.
The Class of 2025 was decided on by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel comprised of racing industry figures, as well as defending Cup champion Ryan Blaney, who chose from a group of 10 Modern Era nominees and five Pioneer nominees. Ricky Rudd received 87% of Modern Era ballot votes and Carl Edwards received 52%, with the runner-ups being Harry Gant, Jeff Burton and Harry Hyde. Ralph Moody received 60% of Pioneer ballot votes, with "Mr. Modified" Ray Hendrick being the runner-up.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025 induction ceremony will take place Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 at the Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center. Here is a look at the new class of hall of famers as well as the recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025 pic.twitter.com/G8shDiedXO
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) May 21, 2024
NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025
Ricky Rudd -- Known as "The Rooster," Ricky Rudd was notorious for his toughness, his longevity and his skill in a Cup career that spanned from when he was 18 in 1975 until he was 50 in 2007. Rudd's 906 Cup Series starts rank second all-time only to Richard Petty's 1,185, and his 788 consecutive starts stood for 13 years as the sport's all-time "Ironman" record. Rudd earned 23 career wins during his career driving for a host of legendary car owners, including Junie Donlavey, DiGard, Richard Childress, Bud Moore, Kenny Bernstein, Rick Hendrick, Robert Yates and the Wood Brothers. Rudd also served as an owner/driver from 1994 to 1999, earning his most prolific victory -- the 1997 Brickyard 400 -- in his own car.
The legend of Rudd developed not just for the races he won, but also for an exceptional level of toughness that stood out even among his contemporaries. After violently flipping his car in the 1984 Busch Clash at Daytona, Rudd famously taped his swollen eyes to race in the Daytona 500, then won the very next week at Richmond. In 1998 at Martinsville, Rudd endured extreme heat -- his cooling system failed early in the race on a hot day -- to take the win despite suffering burns and blisters all over his body.
Rudd finished his career with 23 wins, 194 top fives, 374 top 10s (seventh all-time), 29 poles, and a best finish of second in the championship standings in 1991.
Carl Edwards -- An endearing figure throughout his career and beyond it, Carl Edwards once handed out business cards while he was working as a substitute teacher simply to get an opportunity in NASCAR before earning his big break as a Craftsman Truck Series driver for Roush Racing. Edwards' quick success in Trucks led to a quick rise to the Cup Series by late in the 2004 season, and Edwards would become one of the defining drivers of the 2000s.
Edwards earned 28 career Cup Series victories, including both the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 in 2015, and he would contend for multiple Cup championships with a best finish of second twice. One of those came in 2011, when he tied with Tony Stewart for the Cup Championship by points but lost on a tiebreaker (Stewart had five wins compared to Edwards' one). His closest call came in his final race, when he was leading the Cup Championship Race in 2016 before crashing out on a late restart. Edwards was still in his prime and was likely set to remain a championship contender, but he retired from racing suddenly the following January.
In addition to his success in the Cup Series, Edwards also had a prolific career in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, earning 38 career wins as well as the 2007 series championship.
Ralph Moody -- One part of the famous Holman-Moody team, Ralph Moody began racing in the 1930s and then pursued it full-time in the late-1940s after serving as a tank driver under the command of General George S. Patton in World War II. Moody earned five career wins in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series, most of which came driving for former Indianapolis 500 winner Pete DePaolo, before partnering with John Holman to form Holman-Moody in 1957 and create a powerhouse race team.
Competing from 1957 until 1973, Holman-Moody would win 96 races, including the 1967 Daytona 500 with Mario Andretti, and they would also win consecutive Cup championships in 1968 and 1969 with David Pearson. Other notables who drove for Holman-Moody included Joe Weatherly, Fred Lorenzen, Fireball Roberts and Bobby Allison. Thanks in large part to Moody's mechanical skills, the Holman-Moody team also greatly advanced technology in stock car chassis, with their chassis including improvements like tube shocks, square tubing frames, and rear ends with floater housings.
Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR
Dr. Dean Sicking -- The inventor of the SAFER Barrier, Dr. Sicking has been credited with saving countless drivers from severe injury or death in the past 20 years. Following a string of fatalities in the early 2000s culminating with the death of Dale Earnhardt at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR partnered with Sicking and the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to better understand Earnhardt's accident and also prevent future deaths. Around this same time, as the rest of auto racing was also struggling with driver fatalities, Sicking invented the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier, creating a wall that reduces the impact felt by drivers in a crash by flexing and absorbing energy.
The SAFER barrier is now present at all tracks that host races in NASCAR's national touring series, and much of the plan for implementing the barriers was developed by Sicking, who studied each track's accident history and helped implement plans to cover the most dangerous areas. Thanks in part to his work, there has not been a single fatality in any of NASCAR's national touring series since Earnhardt's death in 2001.
Sicking holds multiple other patents in highway safety systems that contributed to him being awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from U.S. President George W. Bush in 2005. Sicking was also honored by NASCAR as the winner of the Bill France Award of Excellence in 2003.
