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Ralph Moody’s drove in his first race in
Taunton, Mass. in 1935. From there he competed a string of plowed
fields and old horse tracks in the Taunton and Fall River area of
Massachusetts, until he was called to serve his country in WWII.
After the war, Moody moved to
Florida and began racing modifieds. In 1956 he made the move to the
Grand National division. The next year, 1957, he teamed up with John
Holman to form Holman-Moody, one of the most potent teams in the
history of NASCAR’s Winston Cup division. The two owned and built
Grand National cars until they dissolved their partnership in 1972.
Curtis Turner, Marvin Panch, Parnelli Jones, and A.J. Foyt are just
a few of the Holman-Moody drivers throughout the years. Moody’s
chassis featured improvements such as tube shocks, square tubing
frames, and rear ends with floater housings. “I really had to argue
with Bill France (Sr.)”, Ralph recalls. “He’d say you couldn’t have
this, you couldn’t have that..but drivers were getting hurt.
Finally, in the early 60’s Bill said, “You build the car, and bring
it to the track. We’ll take a look at it. “ Well, we brought it to
Bristol, and ran well. We won at Hickory, and everybody wanted one.”
Ralph, at age 83, lives in
Mooresville, NC., and is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame,
the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the Old Timers Hall of Fame. While his
car building days are over, he and his wife still jump into their
motorhome and hit a few Winston Cup races each year. From the plowed
fields and horse tracks of New England, to NASCAR’s high banked
super speedways, Ralph Moody’s mark on the sport of auto racing will
be obvious for a long, long time |
