CONCORD, N.C. – The NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2020 has been announced, and Waddell Wilson is among the five men who will be enshrined in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Wilson spent four years as a crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, working with Darrell Waltrip in 1987, Geoff Bodine in 1988 and Ricky Rudd in 1990 and ’91.
In those four years, he earned three wins for the organization – at Pocono, Watkins Glen and Darlington.
Rudd recalled that memorable win at Watkins Glen in 1990 – the driver’s first for Hendrick Motorsports. After an incident during practice caused major damage to Rudd’s ride, Wilson and the team got to work.
“I remember them working around the clock, as much as NASCAR would allow, and basically took a complete car out of the trailer, cut the back part of the body off of it and put it on the car that had gotten wrecked, and we went out and won that weekend,” Rudd recalled. “It was awfully nice to see all the effort that went out that weekend and to be rewarded with a victory. It was a great weekend.”
In his career, Wilson earned 19 wins as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series, also working with other NASCAR Hall of Famers like Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough.
He won three Cup Series championships as an engine builder in his multi-faceted, Hall of Fame career.
Wilson is joined in the class of 2020 by Tony Stewart, Joe Gibbs, Buddy Baker and Bobby Labonte.
The newest class was determined by votes cast by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel, which is comprised of representatives from NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, manufacturers, track owners, media members, drivers, owners, crew chiefs, industry leaders, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion and even a nationwide fan vote.
The official induction ceremony will take place on Jan. 31, 2020.