I was reading an old Stock Car magazine from 1992 and low and behold there's an article about The Dirt Hall of Fame & Museum funded by Glenn Donnelly of NY.
Now anyone that is not a dirt track fan would think "WTH is there a museum and HOF for DIRT?" accept for maybe farmers. Tssh!

I've know Pete Corey Jr. for about a year now and he's mentioned the HOF a few times but I always shrugged it off, not until I read the article and seen the facility and the cars that are on display, not to mention the vintage display of cars brought in on special occasions that FILL the parking lot. What an impressive place and worth a trip to go see in Weedsport, NY. Also home of Weedsport Speedway where Pete Jr. raced.

Nine of the thirteen Dirt HOF's first inductees were present at the first induction: Frank Andre, Will Cagle, Dutch Hoag, Cliff Kotary, Elmer Musclow, Billy Raftner, Frankie Schneider, Bill Wimble and Pete Corey. Posthumous awards were given to Budd Olsen, Al Tasnady, and Dick Tobias. Awarded but not present was Gerald Chamberlain.

I am just so impressed with how the drivers of the northeast done so much to preserve their modified racing heritage and what an impressive group of drivers they are. Who needed NASCAR in the northeast when they already had their own series that, in my opinion, was as big as Bill France's NASCAR, though France did a better job of promoting, those drivers from the northeast could not be bought and would not be sold. Pete Jr. tells me a story of his father Pete Sr. who run a NASCAR sanctioned race one week, win and earn the points, and run a non-NASCAR race the next and have his points stripped and he didn't give a damn, he just wanted to race.

And then there's NASCAR, after 60+ years the France family FINALLY builds a HOF with their OWN money. NEWS FLASH: NASCAR is a little behind the 8-ball as Jim Shampine might have said.

(Photo of Alan Johnson at Weedsport around 1978)