CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson is retiring from full-time racing and will
turn his focus toward spending time with family.

He figures his future schedule will include no more than
10 bucket-list events, but the 47-year-old had no idea
Monday what that schedule will look like. He turned
47 September 17th.

NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2023 ballots had four new names
added Those names are Matt Kenseth, Tim Brewer, Sam Ard, and
A.J. Foyt Nominees for the Landmark Award were also announced
Voting for the Class of 2023 begins May 4.

Attached to the Charlotte Convention Center, the NASCAR
Hall of Fame is a 86,500-square-foot, bold swoop of a
building that recalls the shape of a racetrack.

On February 21, 1948, the National Association for Stock Car
Racing, —or NASCAR, as it will come to be widely known—is
officially incorporated. NASCAR racing will go on to become
one of America’s most popular spectator sports, as well as a
multi-billion-dollar industry.

The driving force behind the establishment of NASCAR was
William “Bill” France Sr. (1909-1992), a mechanic and auto-
repair shop owner from Washington, D.C., who in the mid-
1930s moved to Daytona Beach, Florida.

William Henry Getty France
(September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992)

JOHN BELMONT

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr.
(April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)

Lee Petty No. 42 and Johnny Beauchamp No. 73 battle on the last lap
of the 1959 Daytona 500.

The 1959 First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at
Daytona (now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was
the second race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series
season. It was held on February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921
spectators. It was the first race held at the 2.5-mile Daytona
International Speedway.

Lee Petty’s 1959 Oldsmobile 88 hardtop at the Richard Petty
Museum in Randleman North Carolina.