The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America has named it’s seven inductees for 2013, and leading the way is Jack Chrisman, one of drag racing’s biggest stars. Others to be added to the honor roll this year are Alessandro Zanardi, Bud Moore, Harvey Firestone, Masten Gregory, Brad Lackey and Robert E. Petersen, 

Jack Chrisman (Photo Courtesy Motorsports Hall of Fame of America)

Chrisman was a Dust Bowl refugee from Oklahoma, who became part of the California hot rodding scene and was the National Hot Rod Association’s first big star. He grabbed his first NHRA Championship in 1961 driving a twin-engine Chevy-powered dragster. Then, Chrisman teamed up with Bill Stroppe to create the progenitor of today’s funny cars, a nitro-fuel injected engine-powered Mercury Comet that Chrisman piloted.

Alessandro Zanardi, a two-time CART champion and Formula 1 veteran, suffered a crippling crash in 2001, but now races hand-controlled touring cars and is a world-ranked hand cyclist.

D-Day hero Bud Moore operated championship NASCAR (Moore is also enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame) and Trans-Am teams. Harvey is THE tire magnate of Firestone fame.

Bud Moore (Photo Courtesy Motorsports Fame of Hall of America)

Maston Gregory became the first American born driver to regularly compete in the international Formula 1 arena, and won at Le Mans in 1965 teamed with Jochen Rindt, the first overall win at Le Mans for an American team.

Brad Lackey was one of the top riders in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the AMA 500cc National Motocross championship in 1972 and a decade later became the first American to win the 500cc World Motocross Championship.

Robert E. Petersen started Hot Rod magazine in 1948, and founded the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

These seven will be enshrined during a Detroit induction ceremony, Wednesday, August 21, at the Fillmore Theater. For more information, visit MSHF.com.