Petty Enterprises Chief Engine Builder MAURICE PETTY, former driver and current ESPN analyst DALE JARRETT, former driver JACK INGRAM and late NASCAR drivers TIM FLOCK and FIREBALL ROBERTS were announced as the '14 class of the NASCAR HOF. SMI Chair & CEO BRUTON SMITH, whose company owns eight tracks that host Sprint Cup Series races, was "not among the five" (FOXSPORTS.com, 5/22). In Charlotte, Tom Sorensen writes Smith is an “old-school promoter behind ornate sunglasses, and he’s rarely boring.” Smith “will get in eventually. ... And he should. He had better. If he doesn’t, fans will head downtown one day and the Hall will be gone” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/23).
HEAR HER ROAR: ESPNW’s Ryan McGee wrote ISC Vice Chair & CEO LESA FRANCE KENNEDY is “the most powerful woman in sports.” When it comes to the "direction of motorsports around the world, Kennedy is either directly involved in the decision-making process or at the very least in the backs of the minds of others charged with the task.” The “soft-spoken 51-year-old has been called a quiet visionary, deceptively calculating” (ESPNW.com, 5/22).
CAMERA READY: Twenty current and former NFLers “participated in the NFL’s first sports journalism and communications boot camp” last week. The four-day program at Bowling Green State Univ. was “geared toward helping prepare players for post-NFL careers by honing their skills for various media platforms.” The players received “coaching and criticism from Bowling Green faculty and industry veterans” including SI’s PETER KING and the AP’s BARRY WILNER (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 5/23).
NAMES: Broncos Owner PAT BOWLEN last night received the Mizel Institute Community Enrichment Award (DENVER POST, 5/23)....The Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches named ESPN Radio 106.3 West Palm Beach VP & GM STEVE POLITZINER The Small Business Person of the Year (ESPN Radio West Palm)....Former Bethune-Cookman Univ. football coach ALVIN WYATT was awarded “nearly $771,000 because the university breached his contract after it fired him in 2009” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 5/23)....Falcons coach MIKE SMITH along with several players and assistant coaches yesterday “hosted 30 military veterans who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan during a fishing outing and cookout” at Lake Lanier north of Atlanta (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/23)....Yankees 3B ALEX RODRIGUEZ sold his Miami Beach home for $30M (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 5/22)....Indians RF NICK SWISHER’s wife, JOANNA GARCIA, “gave birth Tuesday" to a baby girl (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 5/22)....Bruins D TOREY KRUG will marry MELANIE FLOOD on July 5 (BOSTON HERALD, 5/23).
