Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion turned team owner Jimmie Johnson has been inducted into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame Class of 2024 along with his long-time Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus with the ceremony taking place at the North Carolina Convention Center on January 19, 2024.
Former NASCAR driver Donnie Allison has also been voted in NASCAR’s 14th Hall Of Fame class. Speaking about the news, Johnson tweeted saying:
It is an incredible honor to be voted into the @NASCARHall with the Class of 2024.
What makes this moment even more special is being inducted with @chadknaus. We re-wrote the record books together, so it’s only fitting we are inducted together. Congratulations also to Donnie… pic.twitter.com/HQSeBTmISo
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) August 2, 2023
Former NASCAR driver Janet Guthrie has been announced as the recipient of the Landmark Award. In 1977, Guthrie became the first female racing driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, the Greatest Spectacle In Racing.
Janet Guthrie moved on from a successful career as an aerospace engineer in the early 1960s, trading equations for a wheel to become a full-time racer in 1972. A true pioneer in motorsports, Guthrie became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR premier series superspeedway race when she drove to a 15th-place finish in the 1976 World 600. The next year, she piloted cars in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, becoming the first female to participate in both events. Guthrie steered her car to a sixth-place finish at Bristol in 1977, one of five career top-10 finishes. Overall, the University of Michigan graduate made 33 premier series starts. Guthrie was a member of the first class inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. Her helmet and firesuit are on display at the Smithsonian Institution.