Shelmerdine & McGriff’s Hall of Fame paths led through ARCA Menards Series

The recent NASCAR Hall of Fame election had a decidedly ARCA flavor.

Newly selected inductees Kirk Shelmerdine and Hershel McGriff both tasted success on the ARCA Menards Series platform, with Shelmerdine winning a trio of races in the ARCA Menards Series while McGriff is third on the all-time ARCA Menards West wins list with 34 career victories to go along with the 1986 series championship.

Shelmerdine is most known for his exploits behind the pit wall as the leader of the “Flying Aces” pit crew that carried Dale Earnhardt to NASCAR Cup Series championships in 1986, ’87, ’90 and ’91.

Shelmerdine ascended to crew chief at Richard Childress Racing in 1982, and in his decade making the calls won a pair of races with Ricky Rudd – including RCR’s first victory at Riverside International Raceway in 1983 – and then 45 victories with Earnhardt at the wheel.

Despite his success as a crew chief, Shelmerdine always had the call to drive himself. He retired as a crew chief in 1992 and climbed into the cockpit, making 26 Cup Series starts, 13 NASCAR Xfinity Series appearances and 50 starts in the ARCA Menards Series. He even qualified for the Daytona 500 in 2006, finishing 20th.

While his success as a driver never matched his success as a crew chief, Shelmerdine did win three times in the ARCA Menards Series (Atlanta 1998, Charlotte 1999 and Charlotte 2003) and earn four poles.

McGriff’s career reaches back to the early days of NASCAR. He finished ninth in a 75-car starting field in a 500-mile endurance test at Darlington Raceway in 1950, his first NASCAR start in the organization’s third season.

He would win four Cup Series races in the 1954 season, with victories coming at Bay Meadows Speedway, Central City Speedway, Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte and North Wilkesboro Speedway. He finished a career-best sixth in the series standings that season, despite only starting 24 of the 37 races.

McGriff, who also won the famed Carerra Panamericana in 1950, then turned his attention to racing on the West Coast. He scored an impressive 12 NASCAR West Series, now known as the ARCA Menards Series West, wins in 1972 but finished second in the series standings to champion Ray Elder.

The 1986 season saw McGriff win his only West Series title. He won three of the season’s eight races and won the title by 16 points over newcomer Chad Little.

McGriff’s career, which extended past his 90th birthday making him the oldest driver to compete in a NASCAR-sanctioned event, ended with 34 West wins, 100 top-five finishes, 146 top-10 finishes and 37 career poles.

The third driver elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Matt Kenseth, never raced within the ARCA Menards Series platform, but his son Ross won at Michigan International Speedway driving for Ken Schrader Racing in 2015.