WALTON, Ky. – National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame Vice President James Essex formally announced the 2021 Class on Saturday at the Dirt Track World Championship, held at Ohio’s Portsmouth Raceway Park.

The class includes five drivers – two each from Iowa and Georgia, along with one from Kentucky, and three contributors to the sport will scribe their names into history as members of the 21st class during a ceremony at the Hall of Fame building planned for Aug. 14, 2021 during North-South 100 weekend at Florence Speedway.

Drivers to be inducted include: Iowa’s Bob Shryock; Georgians Wade Knowles and Clint Smith; Kentucky’s Darrell Lanigan and Jeff Aikey also of Iowa.

The three contributors to be inducted include chassis builder Audie Swartz, former car owner Bobby Allen and Arizona Sport Shirts’ Gerald Newton, who also serves as the President of the Hall of Fame currently.

The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame is comprised of drivers and other contributors to the sport who have been the cornerstone of building dirt late model racing into the prominence it enjoys today.

Each year more than 70 racing industry voters from all around the country cast their votes on ballots which are built from nominations from the Nomination Committee as well as the public at large. To date more than 120 drivers, 57 contributors and many special award winners have been enshrined in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.

The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame is a 501c3 non-profit organization which is maintained and operates solely on donations and fund-raising efforts.

The Hall of Fame annually hosts a large memorabilia auction in conjunction with the induction event which is on the same weekend as Florence’s North-South 100. The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame also handles the 50/50 ticket sales at Florence Speedway, the Gateway Dirt Nationals, the Dirt Track World Championship and other select events.