The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation incorporated in Iowa on 25 April 1986, with the mission of "Promoting the Future by Preserving the Past." Its $1.7-million, four-story facility opened on 4 January 1992 on the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville. The first floor houses the Donald Lamberti National Sprint Car Museum, a museum store, and administrative offices. The 8,000-square-foot exhibit space holds twenty-five restored big cars, supermodifieds, and sprint cars on loan, alongside trophies, photographs, helmets, paintings, and other memorabilia tracing the sport's history from its earliest era. Additional facilities include a library and research centre, a 40-seat theatre, a catering kitchen, a conference and banquet facility, and a 150-seat clubhouse for race-viewing. In 2018 the Bryan Clauson Suite Tower opened as a five-story complex adjacent to the existing museum, adding twelve suites across three upper floors and a rooftop observation deck.
Inductions to the Hall of Fame began in 1990, two years before the building opened. Inductees extend back over a century, with early honourees including Arthur and Louis Chevrolet and August and Fred Duesenberg. Candidates must be nominated by 1 September of the year preceding induction and must have participated in sprint car racing for a minimum of five seasons, though exceptions are made for those who moved to other major divisions. Nominees must either be retired for at least five years, be aged 50 or over as of 1 January of the nomination year, or have been deceased for at least six months.
The 72-member National Induction Committee is divided into regional panels covering East, West, Mideast, and Midwest, comprising media members, historians, researchers, and representatives of retired personnel. Balloting proceeds in two rounds: an initial ballot is reduced to a shorter second ballot featuring nine drivers and five candidates each in the Vehicle-Oriented and Event-Oriented classes plus one Pre-1945 candidate. Inductees must accumulate a minimum of 25 per cent of all ballots cast, with the top three drivers, top two candidates in the Vehicle-Oriented and Event-Oriented classes, and the leading Pre-1945 candidate being inducted.
The four ballot categories are: Driver-Oriented; Vehicle-Oriented, covering owners, mechanics, builders, sponsors, and manufacturers; Event-Oriented, covering promoters, officials, media, and series sponsors; and a Pre-1945 category for careers primarily conducted before the Second World War.
The Class of 2026 was announced on 19 December 2025 with the induction ceremony scheduled for 30 May 2026 in Knoxville. The class included driver inductees Steve Chassey, Jerry McClung, and Jerry Stone; vehicle-oriented inductees Jimmy Carr, Ed Iskenderian, and Bob Westphal; event-oriented inductees Eloy Gutierrez and Allan Holland; and pre-1970 inductee Bob Gregg.