Nominees for 2011 NASCAR HoF class revealed

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07/01/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR on Thursday announced its 25 nominees for the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class.

Jerry Cook, Jack Ingram, Dale Inman, Fred Lorenzen and T. Wayne Robertson were new names added to the nominee list for the second class. Twenty other names on the list also appeared on the nominee roster for the inaugural induction class, which was revealed one year ago.

In May, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Junior Johnson were inducted as the first class into the new NASCAR Hall of Fame, which opened earlier in the month in Charlotte.

A 21-member committee - consisting of NASCAR officials and industry leaders, as well as owners/operators of current and historic racetracks - determined the nominees.

Next year's five inductees will be selected by a 53-member voting panel made up of NASCAR members, manufacturer representatives, former competitors, the media and fans. The voting will be completed later this year.

The 25 nominees for next year's NASCAR HoF induction class include:

(In alphabetical order)

Bobby Allison - 1983 Cup champion and 84 race wins.

Buck Baker - first driver to win consecutive Cup titles (1956-57).

Red Byron - first Cup champion in 1949.

Richard Childress - team owner who won six titles with driver Dale Earnhardt.

Jerry Cook - six-time Modified stock car champion.

Richie Evans - Modified stock car racing legend who won nine titles.

Tim Flock - Two-time Cup champion (1952, '55) and 39 race wins.

Rick Hendrick - Eight-time Cup championship team owner.

Jack Ingram - two-time Nationwide Series champion (1982, '85).

Dale Inman - eight-time Cup championship crew chief.

Ned Jarrett - Two-time Cup champion (1961, '65) and 50 race wins.

Fred Lorenzen - 26 Cup victories, including Daytona 500 and World 600 wins.

Bud Moore - team owner for 37 years with two Cup championships and 63 wins.

Raymond Parks - team owner who won NASCAR's first title with driver Red Byron.

Benny Parsons - 1973 Cup champion and first driver to qualify a stock car at more than 200 m.p.h.

David Pearson - Three-time Cup champion (1966, '68, '69) and 105 race wins.

Lee Petty - Three-time Cup champion (1954, '58, '59) and winner of first Daytona 500 (1959).

Fireball Roberts - Considered as one of the best drivers to never win a NASCAR title, 33 race wins.

T. Wayne Robertson - helped raise NASCAR popularity as RJ Reynolds Senior VP.

Herb Thomas - Two-time Cup champion (1951, '53) and 48 race wins.

Curtis Turner - Only driver to win 25 major NASCAR races in one season (1956), including 22 in the convertible division

Darrell Waltrip - Three-time Cup champion (1981, '82, '85) and 84 race wins.

Joe Weatherly - Two-time Cup champion (1962-63) and 25 race wins.

Glen Wood - legendary team owner who has been in NASCAR since 1953.

Cale Yarborough - First driver to win three consecutive Cup championships (1976-78).

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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