L. W. Wright

Larry Earnest Wright (April 17, 1949 – January 27, 2024), better known under alias L. W. Wright, was an American confidence trickster and racing driver. In 1982, he posed as a stock car racing driver to compete in the Winston 500, a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Biography Early life Larry Earnest Wright was born on April 17, 1949, and grew up in Richlands, Virginia, United States. He had seven siblings, five brothers and two sisters. According to Wright, he dropped out of school in the seventh grade, to help his family financially, after his father, a coal miner, broke his back at work. At seventeen, according to his statements, he was illegally rum-running moonshine. Claiming to be a 33-year-old driver with 43 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series starts, Wright also announced country artists Merle Haggard, T. G. Sheppard, and Waylon Jennings were to sponsor his team. To participate in the race, Wright submitted a check worth $115 to NASCAR for a competition license; although sanctioning body officials were skeptical of his background, right-to-work laws required NASCAR to allow him to race if he could pay for the license and $100 entry fee and provide a capable car. As part of Music City Racing, Lloyd Barber and Rick Wright also applied for drivers permits, while Dunaway, Freddy Case, Willis Judd, Michael Smith, and Ellis White requested mechanics licenses. Other payments included $1,500–1,800 to Goodyear for tires, $1,200 to driver Travis Tiller for parts, and $168 to the Southern Textile Association's Wayne Wilson for racing jackets.

After Wright conducted a newspaper interview to promote his entry, Sheppard denied his involvement in the effort, with Nashville Speedway co-owner and Sheppard's tax attorney Gary Baker adding he "had never even heard of the guy". When he was questioned at Talladega about Sheppard and his racing career, Wright claimed the Sheppard sponsorship was "premature" and admitted he had participated in Sportsman class races that took place at Grand National tracks, but not in a Grand National race. While missing, he was announced as having failed to qualify for the next race, the Cracker Barrel Country Store 420 at Nashville Speedway. It was later revealed that the checks which Wright gave were invalid; South Central Bell and Wright's landlord received bad checks worth $700 and $4,500, respectively, while United Trappers Marketing Association owner Dean McIntire lost over $10,000 to Wright. and in a documentary aired on NASCAR Race Hub for his immediate disappearance and unknown whereabouts.

Discovery, later life, and death On April 29, 2022, Rick Houston of the Scene Vault Podcast announced that they had found Wright, releasing a podcast interview with him on May 2, 2022, the 40th anniversary of Wright's infamous race and disappearance. The podcast announcement included an audio clip of Wright identifying himself.

On February 13, 2023, Wright was arrested in Knox County, Tennessee, by the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force. He was charged with theft, burglary, and evading arrest. He died of colon cancer in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 27, 2024, at the age of 74.

Motorsports career results NASCAR Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pts Ref 1982 Music City Racing 34 Chevy DAY RCH BRI ATL CAR DAR NWS MAR TAL39 NSVDNQ DOV CLT POC RSD MCH DAY NSV POC TAL MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV NWS CLT MAR CAR ATL RSD 122nd 0