Rick Ware, AJ Allmendinger, and Justin Marks will be inducted into the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame, as part of the Class of 2025.
The three NASCAR personalities will be joined by Chuck Gurney, Davey Hamilton, Jeff Jefferson, and Boris Said, as the seven-person class is inducted on March 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ware is the owner of NASCAR Cup Series organization Rick Ware Racing, which also fields entries in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track, and FIM World Supercross Championship.
“It’s truly an honor to be part of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2025,” Ware said. “I’m a proud Californian and growing up on the West Coast put me right in the heart of racing and hot-rod culture. For me, there was no better place to be, and to join such an esteemed group of racers who came from the same region of the country as me is an incredible, full-circle moment.”
The Los Angeles, California native began his motorsports tenure as a driver, competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road racing divisions, before moving to NASCAR in the early 1980s.
After injuries forced Ware out of the driver’s seat, he, along with his wife Lisa, formed Rick Ware Racing in 1995. In the three decades since its formation, the team has grown majorly, expanding into several different divisions globally.
“We do it because we love it,” Ware said. “Racing is hard, really hard. So, you’ve got to have a passion for it. The hard times make you appreciate success so much more, and our success comes from our people. We have excellent people at RWR and I’m proud of their skills and their spirit. This honor is directly attributable to them, and I’m very thankful.”
AJ Allmendinger is a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver for Kaulig Racing. Since joining the organization in 2019, the Los Gatos, California-native has undergone a career resurgence.
In five years, Allmendinger has collected 16 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and a pair of victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, all while driving for Kaulig Racing.
This past season, running full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Allmendinger made it to the Championship 4, but came up just short of his first NASCAR championship, losing out to Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer.
Justin Marks is the co-owner of NASCAR Cup Series team Trackhouse Racing, which fields three full-time entries in the series for Ross Chastain, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Daniel Suarez.
Marks began his career as a driver, competing in NASCAR’s National Series as early as 2007, where he took on a schedule that mostly consisted of road courses — his specialty.
As a driver, Marks captured a single NASCAR victory in the Xfinity Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, one of the first NASCAR National Series events run with rain tires.
Marks founded Trackhouse Racing in 2020, and began fielding a NASCAR Cup Series entry in 2021. In just four short years, the Rocklin, California-native has made major waves.
Trackhouse’s PROJECT91 program, designed to bring drivers from other series into the NASCAR Cup Series, as a way to bring international flair, brought in Shane Van Gisbergen, who won on debut at the Chicago Street Race in 2023.
That, coupled with the team’s development program, has quickly brought the three-time Supercars champion up to speed, as he has moved to the United States to pursue a full-time NASCAR career.
Ware, Allmendinger, and Marks will be officially inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame in March 2025, in conjunction with the NASCAR weekend at Las Vegas.
