Bud Moore

So now I'm kind of in the camp.

So now Bud Moore, for example, you know, not really ever considered for the Wood Brothers.

But, you know, a team like Bud Moore, I might be a candidate to drive.

But I never called Bud.

He never called me.

Well, I got to Mercury and that's when I went to Talladega, and that was the beginning of my career.

Darrell, 1973, you did run a handful of races for Bud Moore later in the season.

Yeah.

Did you know going in that that was gonna be a limited deal, or were you maybe hoping for a more long-term program with them?

Yeah, I thought, again, I thought I'd, you know, I thought, well, this is a, Bud Moore, famous car builder.

Uh, Bobby Isaac had been driving the car.

Uh, Bud was in with Ford Motor Company.

Okay." So now I got a seat I don't fit in.

I think so.

You know, David Pearson used to stop by, not as often as Bud Moore.

Oh, yeah.

Bud Moore came weekly, and miss, miss those guys.

But, uh, yeah, what, what deep NASCAR roots we're sitting in right here.

Well, you say you've been here for 80 years, and, uh, we got the holidays coming up, and any kind of special 80 year celebration? And I, I know you've always, uh, got a lot going on for the holidays for, uh, for your, your customers-

Gordon Cock- Gordon Johncock was the winner, and he was from Hastings, Michigan.

He went on in his later life to, uh, um, have a logging company, uh, I believe it was, some sort of tree company, and he also was a pretty decent stock car driver.

Boy, I can really make you change your mind about somebody because I never liked him when he was a driver.

Except when he drove for Bud Moore and kind of...

Greg said he always kind of blamed Bud for not winning the Rookie of the Year because he went from his own car to Bud Moore's car at the end of the 73 season after Bobby Isaac heard voices and quit and just didn't do very well.

And Lenny Pond ended up winning the championship that probably would have been Daryl's.

Well, you know, they didn't go just by points.

I was fortunate.

Worked for Petty for over 13 years.

I worked for Bud Moore, James Hilton, several other teams.

The first, on April 28, 1957, was a 250-lap, 83.25-mile dash that had all the Detroit carmakers there with 19 of the best they had to offer.

When the dust cleared an hour and 52 minutes later, Paul Goldsmith and Smokey Unix 57 Ford nipped Jack Smith and Buck Baker driving Bud Moore 57 Black Widow Chevys, followed by Pete DiPaolo Fords, with Ralph Moody and Fireball Roberts rounding out the top five.

The return bout on October 27th saw a staggering 31-car field, with Buck Baker back in Bud's Chevy beating out teammates Speedy Thompson, Joe Weatherly, Jack Smith in the third Bud Moore Chevy, and Lee Petty in an Olds finishing fifth.

Owned back were factory boys Johnny Allen, Rex White, Marvin Panch, Curtis Turner, and Gwen Staley.

The finale was on May 11, 1958, and a 150-lap, 50-mile sprint won by Bob Welburn and a Julian Petty 57 Chevy over Lee Petty's Oldsmobile in second, with Junior Johnson third, Speedy Thompson fourth, and Doug Cox fifth.