Jim Butler

Larry Phillips, a short-track racing legend whose success in Dirt Late Models was later duplicated with asphalt racing stardom, on Tuesday was announced as a member of the Class of 2027 to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The late Springfield, Mo., driver who was elected from five pioneer ballot nominees carved out a tremendous dirt racing career that included a victory in the first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series event in 1988 before shifting to paved tracks with similar domination.

The inaugural National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee in 2001 captured as many as 2,000 feature races overall in 40-plus years of competition, including six Georgia-Florida Speedweeks races on dirt. In his asphalt short-track career that started in 1989 and continued through 2000, Phillips won five NASCAR Weekly Racing Series titles and during an eight-season span won 202 of 289 starts along with 13 championships at tracks in three states.

Phillips, who died in 2004 at the age of 62, was joined in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame by his son Terry in 2020. The younger Phillips, who once thanked his father for “teaching me everything I know,” called the honor “long overdue” and “a great deal.”

The elder Phillips in 2023 was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.

Joining Phillips in the Class of 2027 is former NASCAR Cup drivers Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton along with Lesa France Kennedy as the recipient of the Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR. The class was selected by 51 attending members of the Hall of Fame voting panel.