KNOXVILLE, Iowa — SPEED SPORT co-owner Ralph Sheheen and driver Joey Saldana headlined a class of 13 individuals who were announced on Friday morning as the 2023 class of inductees to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
The announcement was made live on Facebook by Hall of Fame executive director Bob Baker.
Sheheen was selected in the promoter-official-media-sponsor class for championing sprint car racing in his role as a television announcer, columnist and media member.
Saldana, meanwhile, headlined a talented class of five drivers who gained election into the Hall of Fame, sharing the bill with Chad Kemenah, Ken Hamilton, Cory Kruseman and Bobby Marshall.
Saldana raced with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series for 17 seasons and his 105 victories ranks seventh all time. Saldana, whose father, Joe, is also in the Sprint Car Hall of Fame, also won 74 All Star sprint car features, including 18 in 1995. He won two Kings Royals and a pair of Gold Cup Race of Champions features.
Kemenah, a contemporary of Saldana, drove to six All Star Circuit of Champions titles and he was also named rookie of the year with the World of Outlaws. Kemenah owns 35 All Star victories and six with the World of Outlaws.
Racing primarily on pavement, Ken Hamilton made a name for himself racing in the Western half of the country. He was well known for driving the Pink Lady sprint car, winning 19 features in 22 starts in one season. A driver for nearly 50 years, the two-time Copper World Classic winner, was later promoter of Idaho’s Meridian Speedway.
Non-winged sprint car and midget racer Cory Kruseman operates a driving school today, but he’s prowess on the race track was legendary during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Kruseman won 123 non-winged sprint car features with various sanctioning bodies including USAC and CRA. He was a two-time Indiana Sprint Week champion and he also won the Chili Bowl Nationals driving a midget.
The final driver selected this year, Marshall, was one of the original Outlaws. The 1972 Texas Sprint Ass’n Rookie of the Year, Marshall is credited with 108 sprint car victories and he’s a two-time Devil’s Bowl Speedway track champion. Marshall died on Dec. 29, 2021.
Elected to the Hall of Fame in the owner-mechanic-builder category were Johnny Capels, Paul Hazen and Tommy Sanders
Capels started his career as a driver and later became a master mechanic and team owner. He earned three USAC sprint car titles as a mechanic and one as a team owner. Capels later became chairman of USAC. Capels died on June 9 of this year at age 86.
Gaining huge popularity among drivers and fans alike, Paul Hazen is one of non-winged sprint car racing’s most successful team owners. While too many drivers to count wheeled the familiar No. 57 machine, Tony Elliott earned 75 victories and nine championships driving for Hazen.
Finally, Sanders was one of the best known car builders of his time, building machines wheeled by Bobby Allen, Brad Doty, Doug Wolfgang, Sammy Swindell and Keith Kauffman, among others.
Joining Sheheen in the promoter-official-media-sponsor category will be longtime SPEED SPORT photographer Max Dolder, promoter Alan Kreitzer and USAC team owner Johnny Vance.
Dolder may have taken more photographs of Hall of Famers than nearly any other photographer and his work has also appeared in Open Wheel, SprintCar & Midget Magazine and Circle Track Magazine, among others.
Kreitzer, who continues to promote at Pennsylvania’s Lincoln Speedway, founded Pennsylvania Speedweek in 1991 and still operates the annual series. Over the years, Kreitzer has also promoted racing at Silver Spring Speedway, Susquehanna Speedway, Selinsgrove Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway.
First getting involved in racing as an official, Vance won USAC sprint car titles with Steve Butler and Tony Elliott and fielded cars for many of the best racers of all time. Vance was also instrumental in the creation of the 4-Crown Nationals at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.
The final inductee, elected in the pre-1970 category, is Joie Ray. Ray was the first black driver to compete in a sanctioned race and he was a frequent competitor with IMCA, CSRA and AAA.
All inductees will be honored on June 3 at the Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa.