Names like “Cannonball,” “Slick” and “The Bomb” drove their ways into regional racing history Friday night when they were inducted as the 2009 Georgia Racing Hall of Fame class.

The racing hall of fame, located at the Dawsonville Municipal Complex, was founded in 2002 to recognize prominent members of Georgia’s racing heritage.

The 2009 inductees include Bob Burcham, Luther Carter, Herb “Tootle” Estes, Tommie Irvin, Ronnie “The Bomb” Sanders, Leon “Slick” Sells, Charles “Buck” Simmons and Katron “Cannonball” Sosebee for their contributions to regional racing history.

Emcee Capt. Herb Emory recalled the events that led to their inductions as legends of motorsports, who sat together on stage before a crowd of more than 300.

Stories included Simmons winning with more than 1,000 wins in his 41 year career and Sanders racing in the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s Super Bowl, three different years.

Kim Cornelison, administrator for the City of Dawsonville, thanked the crowd for showing their support for the local racing greats and made an assurance the hall of fame and museum would be a around for many more years to come. 

The hall of fame will begin accepting nominees for the next class of inductees in early 2010.

The 2010 inductees will be announced next summer.