- Three-Time Indianapolis 500 Winner and Reigning IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion Helio Castroneves Chairs Class of 2020

- Eight-time NHRA Top Fuel Winner and Don Schumacher Racing Driver Leah Pruett to Chair Class of 2021

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 12, 2021) — Two of today’s premier driving talents will serve as Honorary Chairpersons for the upcoming Motorsports Hall of Fame of America’s first-ever dual induction ceremonies at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan September 27 – 29, 2021.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will be Honorary Chairperson for the Class of 2020 induction on the evening of September 27. Eight-time NHRA Top Fuel winner Leah Pruett will be the Honorary Chairperson for the Class of 2021 induction ceremony on September 29.

“They are called Honorary Chairpersons,” said MSHFA President George Levy, “but really it is we who are honored to have them take time from their race schedules to address these two great groups of inductees and hundreds of special guests who will be in attendance.”

Castroneves, who was set to serve as the Honorary Chairperson of last year’s postponed induction ceremony, and the Class of 2020 will finally be able to come together for their long-awaited induction celebration.

“It is a huge honor to be asked to be the Honorary Chairperson,” Castroneves said. “When you look through the names in this prestigious fraternity, it is staggering to think of the combined talent represented. There are many members of this hall that have had a huge impact on my career, none more so than Roger Penske (MSHFA Class of 1995), and I hope to join them in the Hall one day. It is going to be a great night for motorsports, and I am grateful for this opportunity.”

Pruett recently accepted the invitation to preside over the Class of 2021, which includes an unprecedented three female inductees.

“It is such an incredible honor to be selected as the Honorary Chairperson of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America’s 2021 class, especially this year since three of the nine inductees are women, the most of any class in the Hall’s history,” Pruett said. “These women have helped to knock down barriers and pave the way for other females, like myself, to have an opportunity to compete on an even playing field. The women who came before me helped to redefine how women were perceived in motorsports, and it’s my goal to help contribute to their legacy.”

A native of Brazil, Castroneves joined Team Penske in 2000 and quickly established himself as a force in American open wheel racing. He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2001, 2002 and 2009 to anchor a tally of 30 career IndyCar wins (12th all time), 51 poles, 93 podiums and 167 Top 10 finishes.  

In addition to his IndyCar wins, he was runner up for the IndyCar Series championship in 2002, 2008, 2013 and 2014. He became a fan favorite when, after his first IndyCar win at Belle Isle in Detroit in 2000, he climbed a fence and adopted the "Spider-Man" nickname. He became even more popular nationally when he won the fifth season of the hit TV show “Dancing with the Stars” in 2007, partnering with Julianne Hough.

Castroneves seeks a fourth Indy 500 win later this month driving for Meyer-Shank Racing but his success in recent years has been achieved at the wheel of Acura Daytona Prototype International (DPi) cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He co-drove to the 2020 DPi season championship with Team Penske and was part of Wayne Taylor Racing’s victorious driver lineup in this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

A Southern California native, Pruett got her start in the sport in the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League at age eight and has been racing ever since. She celebrates her 25th consecutive season in the NHRA in 2021.

As soon as she was old enough, Pruett got behind the wheel of a full-size drag race car. At 18, she built a Nostalgia nitro Funny car with her father Ron, a former Bonneville Salt Flats record holder, and became the first woman to run in the five-second range in a Nostalgia Funny Car.

Quickly climbing the quarter-mile ladder, Pruett was a three-time Pro Mod winner in 2011 and 2012. She made her Top Fuel debut two years later and began her tenure with Don Schumacher (MSHFA Class of 2019) and Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) in 2016. Seven of her eight Top Fuel victories have been earned with DSR.

At eight events during the 2021 NHRA season, Pruett pulls double duty, competing in both the Top Fuel and Factory Stock Showdown Series, a championship she won in 2018 in her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak.

Castroneves will speak before the MSHFA Class of 2020, which includes NASCAR’s first-ever champion Robert “Red” Byron (Historic), flat-track impresario Chris Carr (Motorcycles), early motorcycle racer, promoter and publisher Floyd Clymer (At Large), driver, official and safety advocate Wally Dallenbach, Sr. (Open Wheel), Rick Hendrick, one of NASCAR’s most successful owners (Stock Cars), Daytona 500 champion Tiny Lund (Historic), Can-Am and Rolex 24 At Daytona champion Jacky Ickx (Sports Cars), quarter-mile racing legend “Ohio George” Montgomery (Drag Racing) and multi-time Baja 1000 and SCORE Champion Ivan "Ironman" Stewart (Off-Road).

Pruett will address the MSHFA Class of 2021, which includes one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers Davey Allison (Stock Cars), three-time land speed record holder John Cobb (Historic), three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon Jr. (Drag Racing), Indy and NASCAR trailblazer Janet Guthrie (Open Wheel), 2006 MotoGP World Champion “Kentucky Kid” Nicky Hayden (Motorcycles), legendary Indy correspondent Robin Miller (Media), seven consecutive APBA Gold Cup winner Fran Muncey (Powerboats), multi-time USAC and NASCAR champion Ray Nichels (Historic) and world class timer/scorer Judy Stropus (Sports Cars).

Past honorary chairpersons for MSHFA induction ceremonies include Mario Andretti, Kurt Busch, Chase Carey, Willie G. Davidson, John Force, Lesa France Kennedy, Bob Lutz, Ralph Gilles and more.

Both events are open to the public, but tickets are going fast and must be purchased in advance. To reserve yours, visit the MSHFA at www.mshf.com or contact George Levy at (248) 895-1704 or glevy@mshf.com For MSHFA tickets, call 1-800-PIT-SHOP.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MotorsportsHOF/ and Instagram and Twitter at @MotorsportsHOF.

About the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America: The MSHFA is the only hall that honors all American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, airplanes, off road and powerboats. Its mission is to celebrate and instill the American motorsports values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition. Founded by Larry G. Ciancio and Ronald A. Watson, it held its first induction in 1989. Watson spent the next 30 years tirelessly building it into the nation’s premier such hall until his passing in 2019. The original museum in Novi, Mich., relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2016 and greets more than 100,000 guests a year. MSHFA is operated by the nonprofit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc.