Busch, Capps, Cope, Force, Roger and Casey Mears, Noffsinger, Woodside voted to 23rd class
BAKERSFIELD, California (June 28, 2026) – The late Kyle Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and winner of 234 NASCAR national series races, heads the list of 2026 West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports inductees.
The additional seven racing industry figures set to be enshrined later this year are National Hot Rod Association Funny Car legends Ron Capps and John Force; NASCAR national series crew chief and competition director Ernie Cope; Off Road Hall of Famer Roger Mears and his son, Casey Mears; National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Brad Noffsinger and 1999 NASCAR ARCA Menards Series champion Sean Woodside.
Busch is the second member of his family to be inducted into the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame, joining elder brother Kurt Busch, a 2023 inductee. The enshrinement of Roger and Casey Mears continues the induction of Bakersfield’s Mears Gang –brother and uncle, respectively of Rick Mears, the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion inducted in 2020.
Cope’s induction also continues a family tradition: his cousin, Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope, was enshrined in 2013.
Complete biographical information for each inductee is attached to this release or can be found at www.westcoaststockcarhalloffame.com
“In reviewing the 2026 final list of inductees, I am simply overwhelmed with the diversity and the tremendous talent voted in,” said Ken Clapp, Chairman and CEO of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame. “I feel compelled to tell the public that prior to our loss of Kyle Busch, he already had enough votes to be inducted with the Class of 2026. That’s just further testimony to his tremendous talent and contributions he made to the sport over the past 25 years.”
The Hall’s 2026 Heritage class of Chris Evans, David Fuge, the late Jim Michaelian, the late John and David Philpott, Chris Pook and the Stockman family were previously announced. Also named was the 2026 Pioneers of Speed comprised of Clint Brawner, Jimmy Bryan, Al Dean, Bill Deschamps, Jim Dunn, Vic Edelbrock Sr., Joe and Walt James, The Morales Brothers, Ed Pink, and George and Harold (Hal) Robson. All but Dunn and members of the Morales family are deceased.
Inductions will be held on October 1 at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada. The sixth Kickin’ Doorz Down Philanthropist of the Year by 51FIFTY will be announced during the festivities.
The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame gala, presented by Wide World Technology Raceway at Gateway, kicks off a weekend of speed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. NASCAR ARCA Menards Series West racing takes place at The Bullring short track on October 2, followed by the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (October 3) and NASCAR Cup Series (October 4) on the 1.5-mile track.
2026 West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Image Gallery
Left to right, top to bottom Kyle Busch, Ron Capps (NHRA photo), Ernie Cope, John Force (NHRA photo),
Roger and Casey Mears, Brad Noffsinger, Sean Woodside.
2026 West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductees
Kyle Busch. The late Kyle Busch is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, winning titles in 2015 and 2019 for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the younger brother of Kurt Busch, the 2003 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee. The younger Busch won a combined 234 times in NASCAR national competition: Cup Series, 63; O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, 102 and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 69. In 2010, Busch set a Modern Era single season record with 24 victories across NASCAR’s three national series. As an owner, Busch is a seven-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, his drivers winning a pair of titles – Erick Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2015). The Las Vegas native began shortly after his 13th birthday and won 65 Legends Car races between 1991 and 2001. Racing at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kyle won 10 Late Model Stock Car events in 2001 and joined Roush Racing for a limited NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule at age 16. His son, Brexton, competes in a variety of open wheel cars. Busch died from complications of pneumonia at age 41 in May 2026.
Ron Capps. Ron Capps was born in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and became involved in drag racing at a young age, attending races with his family and learning to work with his father on race cars. Capps began his professional Funny Car career in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), driving for such notables as Don Prudhomme and Don Schumacher. He won the NHRA Funny Car championship in 2016 and 2021-22. The third of the three titles was notable for winning for his own NAPA Toyota team during its rookie season. Capps is the second winningest Funny Car driver in NHRA history with more than 75 national event wins including the 2022 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. He’s also an eight-time Funny Car event winner at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway. Capps also has competed in short track stock car competition.
Ernie Cope. Ernie Cope is a native of Spanaway, Wash. whose father and uncle built professional dragster engines. His cousin, Derrike, is a Daytona 500 winner and West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee. Cope began racing in the NASCAR Northwest Series at the age of 19, posting 24 top-five finishes in the late model stock car touring series. He finished third in the championship in 1994 and moved to the ARCA Menards Series West the following year, scoring two victories in Lew Miller’s Chevrolet en route to a second-place points finish. Cope swapped driving gloves for a crew chief’s headset, competing in more than 400 national series races. He won nine times in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – six of them with Kevin Harvick. Cope’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series record shows 285 races, 16 poles, 15 wins, 106 top fives and 170 top 10s. His drivers finished runner-up in two seasons – Elliott Sadler in 2011 and Chase Elliott in 2015. Cope is part owner and competition director for Hyak Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series.
John Force. John Force is a 16-time National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) champion and the winningest driver in NHRA history with 157 career victories. Force, born in 1949 in Bell Gardens, Calif., briefly attended Cerritos Junior College to play football before pursuing a career in drag racing. He began his professional career in 1974. Force won Funny Car titles in 1990-91, 1993-2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2013, making 269 final round appearances as well as 166 No. 1 qualifiers. John Force Racing, based in Brownsburg, Indiana, is one of the premier NHRA nitro teams. Under Force’s leadership, the team has won 23 championships and produced multiple champion drivers, including his daughters Brittany Force, Ashley Force Hood and Courtney Force, as well as drivers Austin Prock and Jack Beckman. The Force family is collectively known as the First Family of Drag Racing.
Roger and Casey Mears. Roger and Casey Mears – father and son – are part of the Bakersfield, Calif. “Mears Gang” that includes four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and 2020 West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Rick Mears. The eldest Mears is a member of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, a winner of 20 World Off-Road Championships at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway; four Baja 1000 wins; two HDRA/SCORE titles and a Mickey Thompson Stadium Series Truck crown. He competed in two Indianapolis 500s among 31 U.S. Auto Club and Championship Auto Racing Teams events. Casey Mears began his racing career in karts and off-road Super Lites. He entered the Indy Light Series in 1996, was points runner-up in 1999 and won his first race in 2000. Mears competed in five CART events with one top-five finish. Mears won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving for Rick Hendrick. He has competed in 496 Cup events with 51 top-10 finishes and three poles. Mears’ O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career of 107 races featured one victory, at Chicago Speedway. He won three ARCA Menards Series events in 2003 and teamed with Scott Dixon and the late Dan Weldon to win the 2006 Rolex Daytona 24 for Chip Ganassi.
Brad Noffsinger. One of the West’s premier competitors in non-winged sprint cars, Brad Noffsinger also raced in the NASCAR Cup Series, became a Cup crew chief and – for 20 years – was an instructor at the Richard Petty Driving School at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Noffsinger, from Huntington Beach, Calif., began his sprint car career in 1979, becoming the California Racing Association’s Rookie of the Year the following season. He won back-to-back CRA titles in 1986-87, at the wheel of the Jack Gardner Jr. sprinter. Noffsinger won 50 CRA features. Noffsinger also competed part-time in USAC’s Silver Crown division, winning once at Memphis Motorsports Park. He moved to the NASCAR West Series (now NASCAR ARCA Menards Series West) in 1987, then to the Cup Series where over portions of three seasons competed in 17 events, with a best finish of 19th at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In 1997 Noffsinger joined SABCO Racing as the crew chief for Wally Dallenbach Jr. The No. 46 team competed in 18 races with a best finish of 10th at The Glen. Noffsinger was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2013.
Sean Woodside. The Saugus, Calif. competitor won the 1999 NASCAR West Series (now NASCAR ARCA Menards Series West) championship, following two seasons of second-place points finishes. Woodside drove for two West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees – Bill McAnally in his championship season and Ray Claridge. He won seven times – five in Claridge’s Pontiacs and two as a McAnally Chevrolet driver. Three quarters of Woodside’s 74 series starts resulted in top-10 finishes (49). Woodside also won 12 poles. The competitor also raced in the NASCAR Elite Series Southwest Tour, winning twice and pursued limited schedules in NASCAR Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck series.
About the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame:
The West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame was conceived in 2001 as a means of recognizing significant contributors and contributions to the sport of stock car/motorsports competition. The mission of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame is founded to preserve history and heritage of the important role west coast stock car and motorsports figures have played in the sport’s development and continuation and to recognize, through annual enshrinement, of outstanding individuals and groups within the sport such as, but not limited to, designers, engineers, mechanics, drivers, race track owners, promoters, publicists and members of the motorsports media.
The Hall is a 501(c)3, soon to be (c)4 charitable organization, dedicated to supporting a variety of organizations and groups from coast to coast. The Hall has raised more than $1 million during the past seven years for youth, health and safety, hospitals, animal rescue, military and other charitable causes.
For more information on the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame visit: www.WestCoastStockCarHallofFame.com
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