READ THIS and maybe you can imagine what it was like to stand in Ivo's shoes when he opened the mail that day. It is, in part, the letter that informed him that he was to be inducted into this most prestigious group. He was on THE TOP OF THE WORLD!
This is what Tommy considers to be his proudest achievement. His "Academy Award of Drag Racing". They take one inductee per year into each category. Therefore, it's a very exclusive club of which to be a part.
All of his bygone days sponsors were very generous in taking out ads in the program. It looked more like a TV Tommy Ivo novel than a program for the event by the time they got all the bio's and other pages included.
The night before the black tie awards they had a pre-ceremony party at the museum and unvailed the bronze busts of each inductee. Ivo was floored when he saw his name above the main entrance to the museums doors.
The pictures with bio's of that years inductees lined the wall behind them, where they would stay permanently. Benny Parsons, Holman & Moody, Tom Sneva, Troy Ruttman, Hurley Haywood, Jay Springsteen and TV Tom.
The big night arrived. The audience was star studded with CEO's and the "Who's Who" of the racing community, with Don Garlits as the inductor. TV Tommy Ivo made the speech of his life - IT JUST DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THEN THIS...!!!
But Tommy had just stood up from the head table and it did indeed get better when up charged Mario Andretti with his hand out to congratulate him. TV Tom shook his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming. SHAZAM!!!
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