Dale Inman

Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three decades. and seven championships together (1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1979). Inman spent most of his career working for Petty Enterprises. He also was the crew chief for Terry Labonte's 1984 championship with Hagan Racing. He is credited for starting the main duties of the position, including preparation, and driver-pit communication. Inman has the most victories as a NASCAR crew chief at 193, 188 of which were with Richard Petty. The Petty brothers were the son of Lee Petty, who finished in the Top 5 points in NASCAR's stock car division every year from its formation in 1949 until 1959 and won the 1954, 1958, and 1959 championships. The teenage boys would attend some races and work on Lee's car after school and on weekends.

In 1967, Petty won a NASCAR-record ten straight races and 27 races during that season with Inman as his crew chief. He stayed with the team and was the crew chief for Joe Ruttman and Tim Richmond, winning two races with Richmond in 1982. For 1983 and 1984, he was hired by Billy Hagan to join Terry Labonte's team.

Awards In 2006, a national motorsports media group poll named Ray Evernham as the top NASCAR crew chief of all-time and Inman placed a close second even though he had more first place votes than Evernham. When asked, Inman said, "I'm not even sure I should be ranked. I think I was second [in the poll], and I'm honored [for] that." He said that the best crew chief that he ever saw was Leonard Wood from the Wood Brothers and Waddell Wilson was also good.

Inman's contributions to racing led to him receiving the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame's first Golden Wrench award on May 25, 2000. In 2008, he was received the Smokey Yunick Award.

On June 14, 2011, Inman was selected to the 2012 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Personal life As of 2000, Inman was married to his wife Mary for over 40 years. They had two children, and four grandchildren.