Third class set to be inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame

Autoracing Betting Lines

01/19/2012 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Five new members will be enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday. Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Richie Evans, Dale Inman and Glen Wood make up the 2012 class. They were voted into the NASCAR HofF last June.

The inaugural class -- Bill France Sr., Richard Petty, Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson -- were inducted when the NASCAR HofF opened in May 2010. Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Bud Moore, David Pearson and Lee Petty made up the Hall's second class last year.

Friday's induction ceremony will take place at the Charlotte Convention Center [7:30 p.m. (et)].

Yarborough became the first driver to win three consecutive championships in NASCAR's premier series (now known as the Sprint Cup Series). His string of titles from 1976-78 was unmatched until 2008 when Jimmie Johnson claimed his third series championship in a row. Johnson won his fourth and fifth straight titles in 2009-10.

In a career that began in 1957 and concluded after the 1988 season, Yarborough notched 83 Cup wins, which currently ranks him sixth on the all-time race winners list. Four of his victories came in the Daytona 500.

Yarborough finished runner-up in the series championship in 1973 and '74 and again in 1980. After the '80 season, Yarborough, whose father was killed in a plane crash when he was 11, felt he needed to spend more time with his children and never again pursued a full-time driving schedule.

"I gave up a lot, but I gained a lot more," he noted in his 1986 autobiography "Cale."

Yarborough drove for Junior Johnson from 1974-80, but after Yarborough left Johnson's team, Waltrip took over his seat. Waltrip, nicknamed "Jaws" for his outspoken demeanor during his career, went on to win three Cup championships with Johnson.

"Cale gave me the best advice that anybody could give me, and that was that he was going to leave Junior's [team], and nobody even knew of it," Waltrip recalled. "He said, 'I'm telling you something that nobody knows, and Junior likes you, and he wants you to drive his car. You need to go talk to him.' That was the best advice that anybody ever gave me, because it led to a lot of wins and three championships."

Waltrip won his titles in 1981, '82 and '85. From 1977-87, he finished no worse than fifth in the point standings. Waltrip claimed his first Daytona 500 victory in 1989, driving for Rick Hendrick.

Since retiring at the end of the 2000 season, Waltrip has served as an analyst for FOX Sports and Speed television's coverage of NASCAR.

Evans is the first of the 15 inductees without a connection to NASCAR's top racing circuit. Nicknamed the "Rapid Roman" by virtue of racing out of Rome, NY, Evans niche in stock car racing came in the modifieds. He won nine NASCAR national modified championships over a 13-year span, including eight straight titles from 1978-85. He worked on his own cars -- as many as 100 hours per week -- and almost raced every night of the week.

"Working with the car and working on it in the garage every week is an advantage," Evans once said. "While I'm working on the car, I'm thinking about every lap I rode in that thing. It's not like the mechanic who stood and watched it during the feature and then has to make some decisions."

Evans was killed in an accident while practicing for a modified race at Martinsville Speedway in October 1985. Last week, the New York State Senate adopted a resolution honoring Evans' NASCAR HofF induction.

Inman will become the first crew chief inducted into the Hall. He served as a crew chief at Petty Enterprises for nearly three decades, setting records for most championships (eight) and wins (193). Inman guided his cousin, Richard Petty, to seven titles. He won a championship with Terry Labonte when Labonte drove for car owner Billy Hagan in 1984.

Unlike his cousin, Inman never had a desire to drive race cars.

"I just didn't see me tearing up somebody else's equipment," he said. "I was always pretty well content to work on the race cars and make them better."

Wood and his brothers, Leonard, Delano, Clay and Ray Lee, went from weekend racers to one of the most accomplished teams in NASCAR, with some of the sport's greatest names driving for them. Pearson and Yarborough, as well as Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett, A.J. Foyt, Tiny Lund and Marvin Panch drove for the Wood Brothers.

"I didn't come here alone; I had a lot of help," Wood said. "There's five of us brothers, and all of those have helped at one time or another. Leonard had been there all along for the whole 60-something years. Of course, we've had so many good drivers too. All of that led to where we are."

The Wood Brothers have won 98 Cup races, including five Daytona 500s, from 1950 to present. In just his second start with the team, Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500 one day after turning 20 years old.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.