“To still be here,” Mike Helton, the Vice President of NASCAR, said when questioned about what still amazes him. When it comes to stock car racing, Helton has probably seen, been a part of, and contributed everything everywhere more than anyone else in the sport.
That’s why he was recently announced as the recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
Helton, the first person outside the France family to be named the President of NASCAR, will be awarded with the honor in next year’s Hall of Fame ceremony. His association with the sport started in 1980, and forty years later, he’s still here, something he opened up on in an interview.
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“Along the way, you just have so many milestones that when you look back at it, you think, ‘I don’t remember that.’ And then you look down the road and all of a sudden, you’ve been doing this for over 40 years,” he said.
“It’s pretty amazing to still be part of the sport. It’s pretty remarkable.”
Mike Helton, who will be honored with the 2023 Landmark Award for contributions to the sport, jokes that he’s amazed he has had executive roles in the sport for 40 years: pic.twitter.com/7jQwdC5lkY
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 4, 2022
Mike Helton never considered himself worthy of any Hall of Fame
After the NASCAR Hall of Fame announcement, Mike Helton looked back on the other honors he has been awarded and claimed that in his humble opinion, he didn’t deserve any of them.
“It’s overwhelming. You have the NMPA Hall of Fame in Darlington, the International Hall of Fame in Talladega and other state sports and motorsports hall of fames. I never considered myself worthy of any of them,” Helton said.
“I got to a point in my career where I inducted different people into the halls. That was fun and exciting.”
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“I just never thought of myself to share a plaque with the names that are on the Landmark Award or in this building (the NASCAR Hall of Fame),” he added.
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But whether he considered himself worthy or not, the fact is, he is worthy. Soon his name will be cemented alongside the very greats of the sport, and that’s only fair. Mr. Helton is one of the greats.
