Ray Hendrick, known as “Mr. Modified” during his 36-year racing career and a five-time track champion at South Boston Speedway, was elected to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame on Monday.
Hendrick joins a stellar list of auto racing legends already in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame — Danville native and NASCAR pioneer Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly, Curtis Turner, Paul Sawyer and Ricky Rudd. Glen and Leonard Wood were inducted in 2006 and Glen Wood was enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame this past weekend.
The other members of the Class of 2012 includes former Major League Baseball closer Billy Wagner, former Virginia Tech wide receiver Antonio Freeman, former VCU basketball standout Gerald Henderson, former NBA official Jess Kersey, long-time Newport News Daily Press sports reporter Al Pearce and former UVa women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan.
The honor adds to the long list of posthumous awards for Hendrick, who died in 1990 at the age of 61. The Richmond native was named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers in 1998 and then was ranked No. 4 on NASCAR’s all-time top 10 list of Modified drivers in 2003.
Hendrick has also been inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (1993), the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame (2003) and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2007).
Hendrick set a track record at SoBo by winning 20 races in one season, which was matched this past season by Whelen All-American Series national champion Philip Morris. Morris won 20 times in 23 races for Danville-based Sellers Racing.
Hendrick won four Modified championships at SoBo (1961, ’63, ’66 and ’68) and won a Late Model Sportsman title in ’79.
Hendrick was also named the top driver all-time at SoBo by the Danville Register & Bee as the paper named the top 50 drivers during the track’s first 50 years on Aug. 17, 2007.
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