NEAR Hall of Fame Announces 26th Class of Inductees
The New England Auto Racers (NEAR) President April May Preston-Elms is honored and pleased to announce the 2024 NEAR Hall of Fame Class. The landmark 26th class for the region’s most highly regarded motorsports shrine will be formally inducted into the NEAR Hall of Fame on Sunday, November 3, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
A wide-ranging group of announcers, drivers, crew chiefs, car owners, fabricator, and promoters Skip Barber, Peter Daniels, Russ Dowd, Mike Greci, “Radical” Rick Martin, Paul Newman, Bobby Seymour and Dale Shaw will join the NEAR Hall of Fame, raising the total to over 280 members enshrined.
Paul Newman, driver/owner Connecticut, had his first start at Thompson Speedway. He began his driving career in cars owned by NEAR Hall of Famer Bob Sharp. As co-owner of Indy cars with Carl Haas, Newman recorded 107 wins with drivers Mario and Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Christian da Matta, Sebastian Bourdais, Bobby Rahal Sr, and others. His Newman/Haas racing team won eight CART/Champ Car championships. In his only appearance at the 24-hours of LeMans. Newman, with co-drivers Dick Barbour and Rolf Stommelen, finished second overall, first in class. With Sebastian Bourdais as co-driver, Paul Newman finished first in class in the 1995 24-hours of Daytona. Newman won the August 1982 Brainard Trans Am and August 1986 Lime Rock races. He won the SCCA Runoffs four times and won SCCA National Championships three times. With an interest in all forms of racing, he drove a Supermodified with guidance from NEAR Hall of Famer Bentley Warren, a center-steer dirt modified guided by Will Cagle and he drove a dirt track Sprint Car. In 1982, driving a car numbered 82, which at the time was his age, Paul Newman won the final race he drove, a sports car event at Lime Rock.
Skip Barber, driver/promoter Connecticut, has had three successful racing careers. He was a champion race car driver, competing in and winning at many levels of road racing. He won three consecutive SCCA championships: 1971, ’72 and ’73. He was the 1969 and ’70 Formula Ford champion. He competed in Grand Prix events globally. Barber founded and operated one of America’s top racing schools, the Skip Barber Racing School in 1975 which continues to operate today. Barber transformed Lime Rock into one of the world’s premier racing destinations. There are racing schools, track time, special events and lots of racing, and for 37 years he owned and operated the facility.
Russ Dowd, driver/announcer/promoter, Connecticut, raced Go-Karts , Mini Midgets, and Modifieds before retiring from behind the wheel. He helped build the Pomfret Speedway and held a track record there. Undoubtably his claim to fame in the racing world comes from his voice. Don Hoenig is quoted “that Voice, it was fantastic, just a natural.” Dowd announced Go-Kart races at the Woodstock Fairgrounds as a teenager in the 1960s. He announced throughout New England and as far away as the Carolinas. He announced for 13 years at Stafford. He announced at Pocono, Riverside Park, Waterford, and Westboro. Dowd was the “Voice of Thompson Speedway” for 35 years. He was named the General Manager at Thompson in 1998. Later, he was named Director of Operations.
“Radical” Rick Martin, driver/fabricator Massachusetts, still holds the record as the winningest driver at Seekonk Speedway with his 110th coming on opening day in 2024. Martin has a racing career that spans over five decades. In total to date Martin’s wins exceed 130. While competing in the Pro Stock Touring Series throughout New England, he has racked up wins at Thompson Speedway, White Mountain Motor Sports Park, Riverside and Groveton Speedways. He holds championship titles in both Pro Stocks and Sports Trucks at Seekonk, and Pro Stocks at Thompson Speedway. Not just a driver but a chassis builder as well at Martin Race Cars, he has built racecars and sport trucks for himself and other competitors.
Peter Daniels, driver New Hampshire, became one of the most decorated drivers at Claremont Speedway. He won multiple titles in Pro Stocks and Modifieds. He also competed for two seasons in the NASCAR Busch North Series and three years in the Valenti Modified Racing Series. Daniels at the age of 44, became the 17th driver to win the NASCAR Whelen All American weekly racing series National Championship in its 42-year history of the series. The series consisted of over 80 short tracks competing for national recognition across the country. He was the second consecutive New England Region driver to win the national title, following in the tire tracks of 2001 national titlist NEAR Hall of Famer Ted Christopher, Plainville CT., with only one other New England driver claiming the championship honors in 2010, Keith Rocco, Wallingford, CT.
Dale Shaw, driver/crew chief/fabricator Maine, known and admired for his skills as a driver, fabricator, and crew chief, Shaw has won at virtually every level in New England in all three of his chosen disciplines. Shaw started racing at age 17 scoring his first win at Oxford Plains Speedways. He spent time in NASCAR’s National Busch (Xfinity) Series, Busch North Series, and Molson North Tour, the American-Canadian Tour’s Pro Stock and Late Model divisions, and Pro All Stars Series Super Late Models and Modifieds. His 19 career Busch North wins record is still ranked 4th all-time. In 1993 he won the ACT Maine State Late Model Championship. In 1994 the Busch North championship, aboard Quint Boisvert’s famous No. 7 Skoal Bandit ride. Shaw has operated Dale Shaw Race Cars in Conway, N.H., since the 1980s. It is safe to say that virtually every track and series in New England and eastern Canada has seen a Dale Shaw-built car in victory lane. His latest accomplishments have come with his son, D.J. Shaw, who is a five-time PASS champion and two-time ACT champion. Current top drivers in Shaw-built equipment include Joey Doiron, Jimmy Renfrew Jr., Bobby Therrien, Joe Pastore, Christopher Pelkey, Quinny Welch, Jimmy Hebert, Kaiden Fisher, Tommy Carey III, and many others.
Mike Greci, car owner/crew chief Connecticut, has helped to shape the careers of many successful drivers in New England and beyond. He first rose to prominence as the car owner and crew chief for Modified driver NEAR Hall of Famer Ray Miller in the mid-1970s. The “No-Style Racing” No. 01 (a tongue-in-cheek spinoff of Bob Armstrong’s dominant Nu-Style No. 1) and was a regular winner through the early ‘80s. Greci’s H&H Motorsports team boasts a long line of racing lineage with NASCAR Busch North drivers Mike McLaughlin, Kenny Schrader, and NEAR Hall of Famers Jeff Fuller, Andy Santerre, Mike Stefanik, Jerry Marquis, and crew chief Greg Zipadelli. In 1999 Greci made the trip south to crew chief for Santerre in the Busch (Xfinity) Series. He remained in the Xfinity Series as a crew chief through 2014, working with Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Armando Fitz, with drivers Tim Fedewa, Martin and Ryan Truex, Kerry Earnhardt, Paul Menard, and Danica Patrick. During that time, Greci headed up Michael Waltrip Racing’s efforts in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East from 2009 through 2012. Greci took on the role of Competition Director at Turner-Scott Motorsports in 2013, with drivers Dylan Kwasniewski, Ben Rhodes, William Byron, and Justin Haley. He was General Manager at Hattori Racing Enterprises when Brett Moffitt won the NASCAR Truck Series championship in 2018. Greci became General Manager at Spire Motorsports in 2022, where he leads operations for NASCAR Cup Series drivers Corey LaJoie, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, and Truck Series drivers Rajah Caruth and Chase Purdy.
Bobby Seymour, driver/fabricator/promoter Massachusetts, started in racing driving Quarter Midgets at the Marlboro Airport quarter midget track for his father NEAR Hall of Famer Boston Loui Seymour. He worked on the Seymour Enterprises team that fielded Boston’s Sprint Car and Silver Crown cars. He was a team member when Billy Cassella swept the USAC Dirt and Silver Crown championships in 1976. He was the 1987 North Eastern Midget Association (NEMA) Midget champion. It is the last time an owner-driver won the championship. As a driver Seymour is credited with twenty-six Midget wins, as an owner over a hundred wins with drivers Jeff Abold, Bobby Santos, III; Mark Buonomo, Randy Cabral, Lou Cicconi, Jr., Doug Coby Ian Cumens, Shaun Gosselin, Chase Locke, Anthony Marvuglio, and David Moniz. Anthony Nocella, P.J. Stergios, Jake Trainor. Notable victories are with Ken Schrader who won USAC Midget races at Rosemont in 1986 and Nashville in 1988. He has owned Seymour Performance Products in Marlboro, MA, a racing parts supplier, since 1991. Under the Seymour Enterprises banner, he designs and builds his own chassis. He founded and promoted the Racers Expo trade show in Marlboro, MA c. 2011-2017. It included seminars, vendors, and go kart racing at F1 Boston called Kart Klash. He is also the promoter of the NEAR Hall of Famer Boston Louie Seymour Memorial which has been held since 1997 for the NEMA Midgets and Lites.
The New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame held its first induction ceremony in 1998. The 26th Annual NEAR Hall of Fame induction dinner will be held for the Class of 2024 on Sunday, November 3, at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Still to be announced are recipients of NEAR’s annual special awards including the Mitchell-Ratta Media Award, the Ron Bouchard Award, and others. Ticket forms are now available. If you would like to congratulate an inductee in our HoF coffee table booklet please consider purchasing an ad in our HOF ceremony program.
