Sixteen racers were inducted into the United States Road Racing Championship Hall of Fame during the annual USRRC Tribute dinner last Saturday evening at the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona, California. The USRRC was a road racing series for big-engined sports racing cars that ran from 1963 to 1968, serving as the precursor to the fabled Can-Am series that began in ’66 and soon drove the USRRC into the history books.
This year’s inductees, listed alphabetically, are Gerry Bruihl, Bob Challman, Don Devine, Jerry Entin, George Follmer, Davey Jordan, Bill Krause, Dave MacDonald, Frank Monise, Lothar Motschenbacher, Wally Peat, Paul Reinhart, Swede Savage, Tony Settember, Ike Smith and Jerry Titus. Each inductee, or their surrogate, received a special plaque commemorating their enshrinement.
They join an impressive list of previous inductees that includes Skip Barber, John Bishop, Bob Bondurant, Ronnie Bucknum, Joe Buzzetta, John Cannon, John Cordts, Gene Crowe, Mark Donohue (above), George Eaton, John “Buck” Fulp, Richie Ginther, Jerry Grant, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall, Charley Hayes, Ludwig Heimrath, Harry Heuer, Bob Holbert, Doug Hooper, Skip Hudson, Parnelli Jones, Charlie Kolb, Ed Leslie, Pete Lovely, Brett Lunger, Bob McKee, Ken Miles, Milt Minter, Bud Morley, Rick Muther, Bob Nagel, Chuck Parsons, Roger Penske, Sam Posey, Peter Revson, Dave Ridenour, Skip Scott, Hap Sharp and Don Wester and George Wintersteen.
Also presented during the evening was the Peter Bryant Award for engineering excellence, given to early ’60s Corvette racer Ike Smith by Bryant’s widow, Lois.
