West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame names Heritage Class of 2025
The racing Unser family, comprised of nine-time Indianapolis 500 winners Al Unser, Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Unser, headlines the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame’s 2025 Heritage Class.
Additional Heritage inductees are three generations of the Hunt family – Joe, Tommy and Tony; California supermodified champion Mike Sargent; and two-time United States Auto Club national midget champion Sleepy Tripp.
They join the previously announced Class of 2025 inductees AJ Allmendinger; Chuck Gurney, Davey Hamilton; Jeff Jefferson; Justin Marks, Boris Said; and Rick Ware. The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame next will reveal its second 10 Pioneers of Speed, most of whom began their careers prior to World War II.
The 2025 induction ceremonies, presented by World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, will be held Thursday, March 13 as kick-off of the March 14-16 NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The gala will be held at the South Point Hotel and Casino and will feature the naming of the 5th Annual Knockin Doorz Down Philanthropist of the Year presented by 51FIFTY.
“The upcoming induction will be by the most spectacular gala and celebration in the 24-year history of the Hall,” said Ken Clapp, West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Chaiman and CEO. “With a few surprises in store, the attendees will be in for a most memorable evening.”
The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame annually nominates for induction worthy individuals who competed in traditional stock car racing as well as other racing vehicles under international and national sanction by the FIA, IndyCar, International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), United States Auto Club and the Sports Car Club of America. The Hall is also open to winners and champions of other forms of racing, as determined by the Hall’s nominating committee.
To obtain media credentials for coverage of the 24th West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame dinner and awards, please contact Owen A. Kearns at 661-342-2983. To obtain details about table sponsorship for the 2025 awards dinner, please contact Ken Clapp at ckcdeee@gmail.com.
About the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame:
The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame was conceived in 2001 as a means of recognizing significant contributors and contributions to the sport of stock car/motorsports competition. The mission of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame is founded to preserve history and heritage of the important role west coast stock car and motorsports figures have played in the sport’s development and continuation and to recognize, through annual enshrinement, of outstanding individuals and groups within the sport such as, but not limited to, designers, engineers, mechanics, drivers, race track owners, promoters, publicists and members of the motorsports media.
The Hall is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, dedicated to supporting a variety of organizations and groups from coast to coast. The Hall has raised more than $1 million during the past 6-1/2 years for youth, health and safety, hospitals, animal rescue, military and other charitable causes.
2025 Heritage Inductees
The Hunt Family
· Three generations of the Hunt family have made significant and lasting contributions to the racing industry – as innovator, sanctioning body official and a United States Auto Club multi-national champion.
· Joe Hunt, a young aircraft mechanic during World War II, saw first-hand how an ignition system relying on a magneto – rather than batteries – could put out the hottest spark at maximum engine speed.
· Post war, Hunt adapted the magneto to race cars and motorcycles, making headlines when Johnny Parsons’ magneto-equipped car won the 1950 Indianapolis 500. His magnetos quickly became standard circle-track equipment.
· Tommy Hunt, upon his father’s death, continued to run the firm until its sale in 1986, when he was hired by USAC as its West Coast Director. He became USAC Vice President of Western Operation in 1988. During his tenure with USAC he formed a road racing series with the Russell School and later F-2000, the Ford Focus Midget Series and Western State Sprint Series.
· He was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2015 and currently serves as the group’s Vice President and board member. He has promoted events at Calistoga Speedway since 2008.
· His son Tony Hunt is a multiple U.S. Auto Club champion – with nine sprint car titles, 50 main event wins and 50 pole positions. He won his first USAC championship in the 1992 Formula Russell Series, as well as several kart titles.
· Hunt competed in NASCAR’s ARCA Menards Series West. Hunt is an automotive brand ambassador, driving instructor and a stunt driver, most recently as the double for Christian Bale’s portrayal of Ken Miles in the 2019 film Ford v Ferrari.
Mike Sargent
· Mike Sargent is the son of West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Marshall Sargent. He drove a stock car in his first race at Altamont (Calif.) Speedway and switched to Supermodifieds the following year.
· Sargent won his first main event at the paved San Jose (Calif.) Speedway in 1973 and followed NASCAR to the San Jose Fairgrounds dirt track when the Tully Road facility closed. He won more than 75 main events at the two tracks including the prestigious Johnny Key Classic and Lloyd Beard Memorial.
· He joined Marshall Sargent as the first father-son San Jose Speedway champions in 1977. He won three Fairgrounds championships and the 1984 Baylands Raceway Park title. Sargent, a winner at eight Central and Northern California tracks, was NASCAR’s State of California champion in 1977, 1984-85.
· Sargent was inducted into the San Jose Speedway Hall of Fame in 1999 and is a member of the Motor Sports Press Association Hall of Fame.
Sleepy Tripp
· Ron (Sleepy) Tripp of Costa Mesa, Calif., scored more United States Auto Club midget victories (national and regional) than anyone in history. His total of 161 total wins ranks third in all-time USAC behind Rich Vogler (171) and A.J. Foyt (162).
· Tripp won back-to-back USAC national midget titles in 1975-76 and seven championships in the USAC Western Series. Tripp won the 1987 Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas.
· He also earned notoriety with his exploits in Australia and New Zealand, including nine wins in the prestigious 50-lap classic in Auckland. Tripp’s final race took place at Stockton 99 Speedway in California.
· As a youth, Tripp began his competitive career in quarter midgets and on motorcycles. He was captain and MVP of his football team at Newport Harbor High School. Tripp was inducted into the National Midget Hall of Fame in 1986 and USAC Hall of Fame in 2015.
The Unser Family
· The competitive genealogy of the Unser family began with a trio of brothers – Jerry, Louis and Joe – who competed in open wheel cars in the 1930s, most notably at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado. Louis won the event a record nine times between 1934 and 1953 until his nephew, Bobby Unser, erased the mark with a 10th victory.
· Jerry’s sons, Bobby and Al, became motorsport’s stars of the 1960s and 70s, racing out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bobby Unser won the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, 75 and 81 – the latter from the pole – and was United States Auto Club (USAC) champion in 1968 and 74.
· Al Unser did his brother one better – capturing the 500 in 1970-71, 1978 and 1987. He won USAC and Championship Auto Racing Team (CART) titles in 1970, 1983 and 1985, as well as two Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona races. Both won International Race of Champions titles.
· A third brother, Jerry, was the first Unser to compete in the 500 but was killed in a practice accident in 1959. His son, Johnny Unser, competed five times in the 500; as did Bobby Unser’s son, Robby Unser who made two 500 starts.
· Al’s son Al Jr., known as “Little Al,” kept the Unser family tradition, winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1992 and 1994 and the CART title in 1990 and 1994. Al Jr. won the 1992 Canadian American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) in 1982, the 1986-87 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and a pair of IROC titles in 1986 and 1988. Bobby Unser and Al Unser died in 2021 at the ages of 87 and 82, respectively.
