The 37th class of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) was introduced to the world at the start of the 49th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday, April 19th. Comprised of standout racers from all forms of motor sport, this Hall of Fame is both diverse and legendary.
This year, as is its custom, the Motorsports Hall Of Fame of America chose to honor outstanding contributors to the ongoing history of racing in a variety of categories: sports cars, open wheel, at-large, stock car, drag racing and off-road. Two historic category inductees, as is the Hall’s custom, will be announced at a later date.
Starting chronologically, as opposed to alphabetically, the Hall celebrates 102-year-old “Camfather” Ed Iskenderian, who is being honored in the At-Large category. Iskenderian’s production facility has been building camshafts and ancillary products since he came out of the Army following the second World War, but its founder has been involved with engines since his high school days. Not only did he and 2011 MSHFA inductee Ed Winfield grind their own camshafts and valve gear as young men, Isky ran his Model T hot rod at dry lakes and was a major player in the early days of Bonneville and NHRA straight-line racing.
While he died in 1995, Bill Stroppe is remembered for his proficiency behind the wheel – of track-going and off-road entries during his long career. Stroppe is being inducted in the off-road class for his capabilities in constructing both engines and NASCAR-like chassis for use in the Carrera Panamerica road race as well as in 1960s NASCAR races. His Mercury vehicles – Stroppe was a Ford partner nearly his entire career – won the 1963 Pikes Peak Hill Climb and the 1964 USAC title. Stroppe, who often joked he was a “can-opener engineer” found his greatest success in the desert. He convinced 1992 MSHFA inductee Parnelli Jones to race off-road and garnered attention for that aspect of the sport. His Ford Bronco race trucks were legendary in off-road competition.
Carl Haas – and his omnipresent cigar – are being recognized in open-wheel racing. Haas’ multi-championship-winning Newman/Haas Racing Formula 5000 and INDYCAR team was a force throughout his life, but Haas’ Carl A Haas parts business was equally as impressive as his teams, providing parts for the cars being raced against his own team. The company is still active in racing. His partner in the NHR team, Paul Newman, became a MSHFA inductee last year, and the team produced championships throughout the years for such diverse racers as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Cristiano da Matta and, most recently Sebastien Bourdais. With 11 titles over three decades, he was certainly one of the “most powerful men in the history of auto racing,” as cited by USA Today.
While Skip Barber is known today for the racing schools that bear his name, John “Skip: Barber III won three straight SCCA national titles before founding his schools that have schooled generations of racers. Barber is being recognized for his capabilities in sports cars next year, after guiding racers like Paul Newman, Michael Andretti, Jeff Gordon, Danny Sullivan, Hello Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya and a host of others, into the professional and amateur realms of racing. He’s also, in the cockpit, won back-to-back SCCA Formula Ford national crowns, Formula B, and he entered six F1 races, with a best finish of 16th at the 1972 U.S. Grand Prix. Barber has also owned the Lime Rock Park racing facility in Connecticut.
Dale Jarrett, a second-generation NASCAR racer, has the nod in stock cars, as did his father Ned, inducted in 1997. After turning down a full golf scholarship to follow his father into stock car racing, Jarrett earned the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series championship and has three Daytona 500 victories on his resume. Jarrett succeeded in marquee events like the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400, also winning three Busch Clashes in his driving career. After stepping from the driver’s seat, Jarrett became a lead analyst on NASCAR broadcasts, again following his legendary father.
Miguel Duhamel, the Quebec-born second-generation motorcycle rider, is the third-winningest rider in AMA Superbike history, with 32 overall victories and five Daytona 200 laurels. As of this year, Duhamel is tied with fellow nominee Scott Russell for all-time Daytona 200 wins. A 1998 accident looked to derail his riding career, but on the 1999 Daytona 200 grid, there was Duhamel – with a cane – riding his motorcycle. “I was thinking that I just wanted to get some points to start the season, but I wound up winning both races – the 200 and the Supersport,” he recalled.
The youngest inductee in this 2025 class is still racing and winning. Tony Schumacher, son of fellow inductee, the late Don Schumacher (2019 class) is a force in NHRA’s Top Fuel class, owning 86 dragster victories, 62 No. 1 qualifiers and eight Top Fuel championships, more than any other Top Fuel racer. Schumacher was the first dragster driver to eclipse the 330-mph mark in the current 1,000-foot era and made the final round in his first-ever 1996 U.S. Nationals, also the first event he entered in that nitro class. His 2008 championship run was ultra-dominant, as Schumacher aced 15 races, including seven consecutively, with 18 final round appearances. After taking some time off, Schumacher returned to full-time competition in 2022.
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America induction ceremony, presented by Toyota Racing, is set for March 10-11, 2025 in Daytona Beach.