American Royal Secures Backer for National Barbecue Hall of Fame

Henry Ford will be among the first inductees into the American Royal’s new National Barbecue Hall of Fame, so it seems fitting that Midwest Ford Dealers has climbed on board as the inaugural sponsor.
The group is sponsoring the first class of inductees, which also includes Johnny Trigg and Guy Fieri. The ceremony is Oct. 6 at the World Series of Barbecue.
“We are proud to sponsor the National Barbecue Hall of Fame and are honored that Ford Motor Co.’s founder, Henry Ford, is being recognized alongside other remarkable individuals for their contributions to the world of barbecue,” Mark Smith, chairman of the Midwest Ford Dealers Advertising Association Inc., said in a release. “We look forward to celebrating this historical moment with the many thousands of fans at the annual American Royal’s World Series of Barbecue event and with barbecue enthusiasts for years to come.”
Henry Ford is being honored in the business/industry category for turning wood scraps from Model T production into charcoal briquettes, which later became Kingsford Charcoal. Johnny Trigg, who is known as the godfather of barbecue, is being honored in the pitmaster category. And Guy Fieri, of Food Network fame, is being inducted in the celebrity/humanitarian category.
The Hall of Fame already has seven members who were inducted before the American Royal bought the hall in March.
The American Royal World Series of Barbecue will be Oct. 4-7 in the West Bottoms.