{"id":23100,"date":"2019-01-24T15:42:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T21:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=23100"},"modified":"2019-01-27T15:54:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T21:54:25","slug":"nascars-cat-in-the-hat-to-become-the-cat-in-the-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/nascars-cat-in-the-hat-to-become-the-cat-in-the-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR\u2019s \u201cCat in the Hat\u201d to become the \u201cCat in the Hall (of Fame)\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – His name is spoken in automotive rarefied air. And as a NASCAR<\/a> team owner, an engineer, an innovator and all-around highly respected member of the sport, Jack Roush<\/strong> will be formally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on February 1.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Team owner Jack Roush stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 24, 2012 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

For so many, Roush\u2019s official new title as \u201cNASCAR Hall of Famer\u201d was inevitable and necessary. Not only did the former Ford Motor Company engineer field championship cars at every level of NASCAR competition, he is considered one of the sport\u2019s most important innovators.<\/p>\n

From helping to create the \u201croof flaps\u201d installed to keep cars from easily launching off the ground to running championship race teams across all of NASCAR\u2019s primary series, the 76-year old Roush has been a staple of the sport and now he will be ceremoniously celebrated as a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2019.  He joins team owner Roger Penske, the late Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, the late Davey Allison and four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon in this year\u2019s highly-regarded Hall of Fame class.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome and on the back of giants,\u2019\u2019 Roush said after his name was announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho would have thought it,\u2019\u2019 he added. \u201cThirty-one years ago when we first got started, I was just hoping to stay in the sport a little while.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot imagine my name is with the 45 people already inducted and all the things they accomplished. And of course with Mark [Martin] being in there, Roger Penske being in there and my Wood Brothers friends being in there. It\u2019s rarefied air and I have to take a while to think about it and all it means to me. But it\u2019s certainly taking my breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jack Roush, owner of Roush Fenway Racing, poses with his team’s trophies during the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway on January 24, 2012 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/p><\/div>\n

Roush\u2019s former and longtime Cup series driver Mark Martin \u2013 a 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee himself \u2013 wasn\u2019t surprised about his longtime friend and team owner earning the sport\u2019s greatest honor. A Hall of Fame voter, Martin was among the very first to congratulate Roush and remind everyone of the important contributions his friend has made to NASCAR and racing in general.<\/p>\n

 \u201cIt means everything in the world to me,\u2019\u2019 Martin said. \u201cI\u2019m so happy with this class and so happy for Jack.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack Roush did so much for so many people, not just for me, in giving me my second chance when no one else would but so many other great race car drivers and all the other people in the shops he mentored, encouraged and gave the all the tools that were it not for Jack Roush wouldn\u2019t have had the opportunity to succeed. \u2026 Just the kind of person Jack is and has been and what he\u2019s meant to all those people we celebrate today because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roush joked that he was just hoping \u201cto stay in the sport awhile\u201d when he initially became involved in NASCAR 31 years ago after a celebrated career at Ford Motor Company \u2013 an association still so important to Roush today that he has only ever fielded Fords in competition.<\/p>\n

His first fulltime Cup season was 1988 when he fielded a Ford for Mark Martin. The team\u2019s first victory came the following year at Rockingham, N.C.  And Martin answered that maiden win with three more the following season and finishing runner-up to the late Dale Earnhardt by 26 points in the Cup championship.<\/p>\n

Including that first victory at Rockingham, Roush has 137 total wins at the Cup level \u2013 second only to fellow Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick. He led his team to back-to-back Cup titles \u2013 for Matt Kenseth in 2003 and then Kurt Busch in 2004. And in addition to the big trophies, he finished championship runner-up another eight times – including four seasons with Martin.<\/p>\n

Roush teams earned 137 wins in the Xfinity Series and five championship trophies, including current Roush Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.\u2019s back-to-back titles in 2011-12. His last came with driver Chris Buescher in 2015.<\/p>\n

His teams have 50 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series wins and the 2000 series championship with driver Greg Biffle. Twice more Roush truck teams finished runner-up with Biffle in 1999 and Kurt Busch in 2001.<\/p>\n

In all, Roush has an amazing 324 NASCAR premier series victories \u2013 most all-time. Fellow Hall of Famer Rick Hendrick has 301.<\/p>\n

And yet if you were to ask Roush what he considers the most important victory of all, he undoubtedly will say his very first.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most proud of winning that first race with Mark in 1989 in Rockingham, because what it meant to me was I could find a sponsor to keep going. And what it meant to Mark, the team would be solid and keep putting cars under him,\u2019\u2019 Roush explained. \u201cThere was some doubt in both our minds if we were going to be able to turn the corner and both stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

That staying power has been crucial and well-praised.  Even at the age of 76 he is a staple in the garage and on the pit box. This season he will field Fords in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Newman. The expectations remain the same through all these decades. Succeed and lead. It\u2019s a theme Roush has stayed true to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve been the recipient of so much great schooling and great support to accomplish all the things I dreamed of and some of the things I never dreamed of,\u2019\u2019 Roush said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, FL – His name is spoken in automotive rarefied air. And as a NASCAR team owner, an engineer, an innovator and all-around highly respected member of the sport, Jack Roush will be formally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on February 1. For so many, Roush\u2019s official new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":23102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[670,16],"class_list":["post-23100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-jack-roush","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Roush-Trophies-012412.jpg?fit=3000%2C1996","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-60A","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23103,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23100\/revisions\/23103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}