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Fort Worth, Texas – Joe Gibbs, once considered a rival to many in the state of Texas as Super Bowl-winning head coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, will finally be hailed by the Lone Star State as the latest motorsports icon inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Also earning induction into the Hall is veteran motorsports writer and current RacinToday.com senior staff writer, John Sturbin.

Gibbs, who owns three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships (2000, ’02, ’05) as owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, will be honored Friday, April 16, during the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Gala in The Speedway Club’s Grand Ballroom at Texas Motor Speedway. The event is part of the Samsung Mobile 500 race weekend.

Along with Gibbs’ and Sturbin’s induction, TMS and Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter will recognize other outstanding individuals in motorsports, including: Sprint Cup Series team-owner and engine-builder Robert Yates; versatile Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch; four-time Cup  champion Jeff Gordon; JTG-Daugherty Racing’s Marcos Ambrose.

Sturbin will be the first recipient of the Excellence in Motorsports Journalism Award. A 35-year veteran of the daily newspaper industry, Sturbin spent 12 years as motorsports beat writer with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before joining RacinToday.com as a charter member of the staff in March 2009.

Gibbs, meanwhile, will become the 12th member of the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame, joining previous inductees A.J. Foyt Jr. (2003), Johnny Rutherford (2003), Terry Labonte (2004), Lee Shepherd (2004), Kenny Bernstein (2005), Jim Hall (2005), Eddie Hill (2006), Mark Martin (2007), Jim McElreath (2007), Bobby Labonte (2008) and O. Bruton Smith (2008).

“It’s a great honor to have been selected into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame and I want to thank everyone with the Speedway and all those that voted for me to receive this recognition,” Gibbs said. “I’m not so sure everyone in Texas would agree with them judging by some of the reactions I used to get on the sidelines with the Redskins. But in all seriousness, I have always felt that Texas has some of the best and most passionate fans in the country, and certainly their support of the NASCAR community has been outstanding. Any success we have had at TMS should really be attributed to our drivers, crew chiefs and all the people here at Joe Gibbs Racing.”

Gibbs will become the first Sprint Cup Series team owner to earn a spot in the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame. Gibbs has established one of the premier organizations in motorsports since opening the doors to Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992. He has won four championships in NASCAR competition (three Sprint Cup, one Nationwide Series), with his most recent coming last year as Busch was crowned Nationwide champion. Texas native and fellow Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Labonte guided the organization to its first Sprint Cup championship in 2000.

Additionally, no owner has proven to be more dominant than Gibbs at TMS. Competing in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series, his teams have combined for five wins, 18 top-five finishes, 35 top-10s and five poles at “The Great American Speedway.” In 2009, Gibbs joined Michael Gaughan as the only car owners to earn four consecutive victories at TMS, with Busch sweeping the Nationwide races here in 2008 and ’09.

Busch will be honored as Texas Motor Speedway’s Racer of the Year. Busch mastered the 1.5-mile quadoval in 2009 by earning his third and fourth consecutive victories in the Nationwide Series. He joined Brendan Gaughan as the only drivers to win four consecutive races in any major series at TMS.

Last November, Busch nearly became the first driver in NASCAR history to win three national series events on the same weekend. He captured his first career Camping World Truck Series victory at TMS in the WinStar World Casino 350k and followed with a victory in the O’Reilly Challenge Nationwide Series race the following day. Busch came up two laps short in his bid for history as he ran out of fuel on Lap 332 of the 334-lap Dickies 500 Sprint Cup race, relinquishing the lead to older brother Kurt, who went on to victory.

Yates, veteran team-owner of Robert Yates Racing and an accomplished NASCAR engine-builder, will be recognized as this year’s Bruton Smith Legends Award recipient. Yates established a dominant organization from 1989 to 2009. During that span, Yates earned 57 career Cup victories, including a pair at TMS (2001, ’04). In 1999, Dale Jarrett led Yates to his lone Cup championship. Along with Jarrett, Yates’ stable of drivers included Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Ricky Rudd and Elliott Sadler.

Ambrose and Gordon will both receive the Texas Motor Speedway Sportsmanship Award. Ambrose, in his second full season with JTG-Daugherty Racing, has continued to excel on the track. He finished 18th in Cup points last year and earned a career-best second-place finish on the road-course at Watkins Glen International. Since making the jump from V8 Supercars in Australia to stock cars in 2006, Ambrose has climbed the NASCAR ranks, starting in the Camping World Truck Series and moving up to the Nationwide Series before his rookie season in Cup in 2008. During that time, he scored two Nationwide victories.

Gordon has established himself as one of the all-time greats in NASCAR, winning Cup championships  in 1995, ’97, ’98, 2001, all with Hendrick Motorsports. His 82 career victories rank him sixth on the all-time list.

Gordon bagged his first career victory at TMS in his 17th appearance, winning the Samsung 500 last spring. His on-track success is matched by what he has accomplished off it. Gordon has exemplified the ideals of sportsmanship through development of the Jeff Gordon Foundation. He continues to make a difference in the lives of children facing critical illness, including the Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital in Concord, N.C., and through a foundation that has raised nearly $10 million.

A new twist this year will allow fans to take part in the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame ceremony by voting on TMS’ top moment from the 2009 season in the Fan Choice Award presented by 1310 The Ticket. Gordon’s first victory at TMS; Helio Castroneves’ record-tying third career IndyCar Series win in June’s Bombardier Learjet 550k and Jimmie Johnson’s early-lap wreck in the Dickies 500 that changed the complexion of the championship race are the featured moments. Fans can vote at www.texasmotorspeedway.com. One fan will have the opportunity to announce the winner and present the award during the festivities.

The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame, located in the outdoor atrium adjacent to The Speedway Club, is open year-round and free to the public. The Hall of Fame atrium features pedestals of the inductees, including their career highlights.

The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Gala benefits Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter. The organization’s mission is to care for children in educational, financial, social and medical need in order to help them lead productive lives. Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter has distributed more than $6.7 million in grants to local children’s organizations in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.

A VIP reception hosted by previous Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees will take place prior to the awards ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT on the ninth floor in the Grand Ballroom. The Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame induction ceremony will begin following conclusion of the ARCA Racing Series Rattlesnake 150.

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