The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) announced its 2024 Induction Class today at the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The 36th Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Induction Celebration, which will formally usher the Class of 2024 into the MSHFA, will be held in the Hall’s home in Daytona Beach, Florida, in March of 2024.
The Class of 2024 includes the all-time winningest NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car crew chief Austin Coil (Drag Racing), six-time INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon (Open Wheel), HANS Device inventors Jim Downing & Dr. Robert Hubbard (Technology), desert racing legend and Hollywood stuntman Bud Ekins (Motorcycles), seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (Stock Cars), four-time SCCA national champion and eight-time IndyCar title-winning owner Paul Newman (At Large) and 1966 Can-Am champion and championship-winning constructor John Surtees (Sports Cars). Two additional Historic Category inductees will be announced this summer.
Dixon competes this weekend in the 48th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, a race Dixon and Ganassi combined to win in 2015.
“I’m extremely honored to be thought of in this way and mentioned among many of the greats across so many forms of motorsports. The first thing that comes to mind is how I was able to get here. A single person can never do it alone. I’m grateful to Chip, the team and everyone who has helped make this possible over the last 20 years, and then going back to the start of it all with my parents and the group that helped me along. But it comes down to racing for me and the pure love that I have for this sport across every different category. First and foremost, I am a racing fan and that’s where the desire comes from. I’m extremely lucky to be able to do what I do and I am grateful for everybody that has helped give me the possibility, and this is in their honor.”
Scott Dixon
One of the most successful and longest running team-and-driver combinations in motorsports history, Dixon has never raced in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for a team other than Ganassi’s after joining the organization in 2002.
“There is not a more deserving driver that’s currently in the series for the Hall of Fame, and I know there’s even more work still to be done.”
Chip Ganassi
The nine Class of 2024 honorees will be formally brought into the Hall in the 36th Annual Induction Ceremony, the traditional black-tie gala that is the crowning event of the two-day, multi-function MSHFA Induction Celebration. The Induction Ceremony, which was sold out for the Class of 2023 celebration, will be preceded the night before by the traditional “Heroes of Horsepower” reception and strolling dinner at the MSHFA Museum on the grounds of Daytona International Speedway.
