By Bob Baker
KNOXVILLE, IOWA (May 26, 2012) – The Indianapolis 500 is all about tradition and so is the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame (NSCHoF). For the twenty-third consecutive year, the NSCHoF induction banquet in Knoxville, Iowa, will follow the Indy 500 by less than one week, taking place on Saturday, June 2, this year. According to curator Tom Schmeh, “Back in 1990, we purposely scheduled the banquet for the weekend following the Memorial Day classic, making it easy for people to remember year-after-year. And next weekend will be our 23rd annual induction banquet, where we will be honoring Johnny Anderson, Thad Dosher, Chuck Hulse, Ron Shaver, Bobby Ward and seven others. And over the years we’ve been fortunate to have stars like Johnny Rutherford, Parnelli Jones and Jim McElreath attend the banquet on their way home from Indy.”
Amongst those that will be honored posthumously are Sam Hoffman, Colby Scroggin, Harry Hosterman, C. Henry Meyer, A. Earl Padgett, Gary Sokola and W.H. “Bill” Vandewater. The banquet is set for Saturday afternoon, June 2, in the Dyer-Hudson Hall on the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville. Once again, Dave Argabright and Pat Sullivan will emcee the affair. Additionally, many current National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees are expected to be in attendance, including Harold Leep, Steve Stapp, Bob Trostle, Jack Elam, Kenny Woodruff, Ray Lee Goodwin, Bill Utz, Casey Luna, Ralph Capitani, Lanny Edwards, Newton “Buzz” Rose, Lynn Paxton, Tom Bigelow, Shane Carson and Bill Hill.
Those wishing to acquire twenty-five-dollar ($25) banquet tickets can contact museum administrative assistant Lori DeMoss at 1-800-874-4488 or via e-mail at ldemoss@sprintcarhof.com.