The 49-year-old Tasmanian was honoured at Supercars’ Gala Awards ceremony, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Monday night.
Ambrose won two Supercars titles despite completing just five full-time seasons in the championship.
Following a stint racing Formula Ford and Formula 3 in Europe, Ambrose was recruited by renowned talent spotters Ross and Jimmy Stone for the 2001 V8 season.
Ambrose showed his star quality with a surprise pole position on his V8 Supercars debut with Stone Brothers Racing at Albert Park.
After two learning years aboard the SBR AU Falcon, the team and driver combination proved unstoppable with the new BA model.
Ambrose ended a five-year streak of Holden Racing Team title triumphs by winning the 2003 championship and backed it up the following season.
The success restored pride to the Blue Oval at a time when both Ford and Holden were pumping millions into the category amid a fierce rivalry on and off the track.
Ambrose missed out on a title three-peat in a controversial 2005 campaign that involved a famous run-in with Greg Murphy at Bathurst, and clashes with officialdom.
The Ford hero had in March 2005 announced he’d move to NASCAR at the end of that season and spent nine years racing in the United States.
He returned in 2015 as a crucial cog in the new DJR Team Penske alliance, having helped lure the American racing giant to Supercars.
However, he stepped back from driving after just two rounds – returning only for the endurance races amid a desire to step back from the rigours of competition.
Ambrose has returned to motorsport in recent years and is currently guiding the career of daughter Tabitha, as well as taking on a director role with the AASA sanctioning body.
The Hall of Fame honour comes just over a month after Ambrose publicly revealed a battle with colorectal cancer that led to a full liver transplant to save his life.
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