Bud Moore

Walter Maynard "Bud" Moore Jr. (May 25, 1925 – November 27, 2017) was a NASCAR car owner who operated the Bud Moore Engineering team. A decorated veteran of World War II, he described himself as "an old country mechanic who loved to make 'em run fast".

Moore served in World War II as a member of the United States Army. A machine gunner, he participated in the Normandy landings as part of the 4th Infantry Division, landing on Utah Beach. After Normandy, he went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge and ended his military service as a sergeant.

When he returned from the war, he began a career in stock car racing as a crew chief. In the 1960s, he opened Bud Moore Engineering, a team that went on to win two NASCAR Grand National Series championships and 63 races for 37 years until its shutdown in 1999. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.

Early and personal life Moore was born on May 25, 1925, on a farm in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Walter M. "Dick" Moore Sr.; he was one of ten children, including six brothers and three sisters. After attending Jenkins and Cleveland Junior High, he started going to Spartanburg High School. After receiving his driver's license at the age of 14, he and friends Joe Eubanks and Cotton Owens raced their cars in the streets.

He met his wife, Betty Clark, while in high school. The two dated until Moore departed for the military and got engaged prior to his service. When Moore returned, they married and had three sons, Greg, Daryl, and Brent. They also have five grandchildren. Greg and Daryl were also involved in NASCAR, serving as team consultants for Fenley-Moore Motorsports alongside their father; Daryl served as Chief Engine Builder; Greg had also worked as Bud Moore Engineering's team manager.

There is also a South Carolina-born NASCAR driver named Bud Moore who raced in the 1960s and 1970s. Nicknamed "Little Bud", the driver has no relation to the owner.

Moore died on November 27, 2017, in Spartanburg at the age of 92.

Military career On June 2, 1943, a day after graduating high school and a week after his 18th birthday, Moore was drafted into the United States military. Although he expressed interest in joining the Navy as Eubanks, Owens, and Moore's brother Charles were also in the branch, he did not have a college education (which was required for those entering the Navy) and a naval officer attempted to place him in the Marine Corps. Unhappy with this, Moore instead joined the Army. After training at Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi, he went to New Jersey's Fort Dix, where he was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division, D Company, 359th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, 1st Platoon as a machine gunner. As a member of the 1st Platoon, Moore's machine gun was .30 caliber water-cooled, described as a heavy weapon.

Moore and his group were not expecting to participate in the Normandy landings in 1944. In March, they were told they would be involved in an amphibious assault off the English coast, with plans of a dry run upon completing training in Knighton, Powys. The group landed in Liverpool before going to an army camp in Wales, South Yorkshire. On June 4, two days before the landings, Moore observed a map produced by officers and realized the land depicted was not England, but France, and that he would be involved in the invasion of Normandy. The regiment was reattached to the 4th Infantry Division for the operation.

On June 6, Moore's division landed on Utah Beach, where they faced German resistance and other obstacles; at one point, as he waded through the water, Moore stepped in a shell hole and fell in, causing him to go underwater before recovering. Upon reaching land, he hid behind a sand dune before continuing. By nightfall, the division had reached half a mile inland and started settling into foxholes when the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions arrived to divert German attention. There was also discussion among Moore's division about General Dwight D. Eisenhower recalling them due to the lack of progress made at nearby Omaha Beach, though they stayed at Utah. After clearing the beach, Moore joined General George S. Patton at Périers, Manche. At the city, Moore witnessed American airplanes dropping bombs along a ten-mile strip near the city, an event nicknamed "The Big Push". doing so aboard the USS Excelsior; the ship was named after the Excelsior Mills in Union, South Carolina, near Moore's hometown of Spartanburg. Upon returning to the States, Moore reunited with Eubanks and opened a used car business, debuting in the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway; Eubanks drove the No. 4 car to a 19th-place finish with Moore serving as his crew chief. In 1956 and 1957, driver Buck Baker won the Grand National Series championships with Moore as crew chief.

During the 1960s, Moore opened his own NASCAR team, Bud Moore Engineering, operating in Spartanburg. Weatherly would win eight of his 24 races driving Moore's Pontiacs. Weatherly also ended up winning the 1962 and 1963 NASCAR Grand National championships, again driving for Moore, with 12 combined wins. Buddy Baker won three straight Talladega Superspeedway races in 1975 and 1976, and in 1978, Bobby Allison won the Daytona 500 driving for Moore.

Moore also worked with fellow Ford team Wood Brothers Racing, teaching team owners Leonard and Eddie Wood the use of the slide rule to determine a car's horsepower on a dynamometer.

In 1965, Moore and Lincoln Mercury Performance supervisor Fran Hernandez partnered to build drag cars. Two years later, Moore and Hernandez joined Dan Gurney in fielding Mercury Cougars in the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. That year, the Bud Moore Cougar Team, with Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney and Peter Revson driving, winning four races and just missing the series title by just two points, before Mercury left the series at the end of the season. In 1968, Tiny Lund won the newly-formed Grand American division championship driving a Cougar for Moore; over 1970 and 1971, Lund won 41 of the series' 109 races. Moore returned to the Trans-Am in 1969, with Parnelli Jones and George Follmer driving a pair of Boss 302 Mustangs, combining to take 3 wins. In 1970 Jones and Follmer were back in Moore's Boss 302 Mustangs, with Jones dominating the series, handily winning the Trans-Am championship on the strength of his 5 wins. Adding Follmer's win at Loudon, NH would give the Moore Team an even 6 wins for the season.

Other notable racers have driven for Moore, including Darel Dieringer, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Isaac, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Donnie Allison, Geoff Bodine, Ricky Rudd, Brett Bodine, and Morgan Shepherd. Derrike Cope signed with the team for the final two races of the year in preparation to run the full 2000 season, but the struggle to find sponsorship prompted Moore to leave his consultant role in February 2000. The team was unable to pay Cope, who sued Fenley for breach of contract. Moore's last race as an owner was the 2000 DieHard 500 at Talladega with Ted Musgrave; he finished 35th after being involved in a crash on lap 137. The shop was sold to Ernie Elliott Inc. via public auction on April 1, 2002. Converse College currently owns the shop. On May 23, 2011, he was named to the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. During his induction speech, Moore stated he would like to be remembered as "one who made many contributions to the sport. One who's firm handshake was as good as any contract. One who always gave a straight answer. Most of all, to be remembered as a man who loved his family, his country and the sport of racing."

He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2013.