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SPEED Reviewed: “HOLMAN-MOODY: The Legendary Race Team”
Written by: Gregg Leary Charlotte, NC – 4/3/2006
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
“HOLMAN-MOODY: The Legendary Race Team”
By Tom Cotter and Al Pearce
With The NASCAR Hall of Fame recently finding a permanent home in Charlotte, N.C., it seems appropriate that I should review a book about one of the legendary shrines to auto racing in the Charlotte area that predated NASCAR’s Hall by almost 50 years. “Holman-Moody: The Legendary Race Team” is a 240 page time capsule chock full of photographs, anecdotes, quotes and statistics about the legendary men and machines wearing the famous flying eagle, intertwined lower case “h” and “m,”… Competition Proven … decals … that did battle on race tracks around the world.
“Humpy” Wheeler in his Foreword writes, “Holman-Moody was to motor sports what the Packers are to the NFL, the Brooklyn Dodgers to baseball, and the Celtics to basketball. Whether it was the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans, or the red clay corners of the Spartanburg Fairgrounds, they proved they could make anything on wheels move very fast.”
Who were John Holman and Ralph Moody? They certainly looked like an “Odd Couple.” (Laurel and Hardy or perhaps Drew Carey and Jim Carrey?) They could be “Jekyll and Hyde.” Tom Cotter does not write about the duo’s numerous battles. “I’ve decided to steer clear of the politics and disagreements and concentrate on the positive aspects of the business, because if both partners agree on everything, one of them is not needed.” A good philosophy.
John Holman was born in Nashville but grew up on the West Coast, hanging around hot rodders and working as a machinist and mechanic on a race team. He loved to drive big trucks and got the nickname, “Honker” for tooting the air horns. Paul Newman would later own a Holman-Moody Can-Am race car, driven by Mario Andretti, called “Honker II” after Holman. It was such an evil handling beast that Mario told Paul, “Why don’t I put MY name on the car and YOU drive it?” It was one of Holman-Moody’s few failures.
Ralph Moody was from Massachusetts and drove a tank for General Patton in World War II. He was a great engineer and race driver that carried the famous No. 28 (It would be passed down to another famous Holman-Moody driver, Fred Lorenzen.). Moody barnstormed the country and was so good he got appearance money just to show up. He won many races. He moved to Florida where he could race year round and drove Fords for Red Vogt and Pete DePaolo. One young fan who watched Moody race his 1940 Ford at Hialeah decided to become a race driver like his hero. His name was Bobby Allison. He later drove for Holman-Moody.
“Holman was an organizational genius and relentless taskmaster; Moody was a mechanic who knew how to get every last ounce of speed out of a car.” In 1956 their fates began intertwining. Holman became the hands-on boss of Ford’s DePaolo Engineering. Moody was one of the drivers. In 1957 the manufacturers “officially” pulled out of racing due to the AMA ban and Ford sold their inventory of cars and parts to Holman and Moody for $12,000. John did not have the money so Ralph refinanced his airplane. The rest is history … and WHAT a history.
Holman-Moody fielded cars for 15 drivers in 1964. Perhaps a photograph on page 82, taken in Ralph Moody’s basement in 1965 best exemplifies the quality of drivers Holman-Moody employed. You want a who’s who? Marvin Panch (17 wins), Curtis Turner (17), Dick Hutcherson (14), Junior Johnson (50), Cale Yarborough (83), Fred Lorenzen (26), Ned Jarrett (50), and A.J. Foyt (7).
Those were just the 1965 drivers! They represent 264 NASCAR Cup victories between them. Mario Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 for Holman-Moody. Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Unser and Jimmy Clark drove their stock cars. So did Bobby and Donnie Allison and Tiny Lund. Swede Savage and Dave MacDonald wheeled the “Competition Proven” stout stock cars … and died at Indy in much more fragile open-wheelers for other teams. David Pearson won two NASCAR Cup Championships for John and Ralph in 1968 and 1969. 1971 was Holman-Moody’s last full season in NASCAR.
Holman-Moody was so much more than just a great stock car team. They were a race car factory. They were Hendrick and Roush before there was a Hendrick and Roush. And they were so much more than just a NASCAR team. They excelled in drag racing … endurance racing at such revered venues as Le Mans and Sebring … offshore powerboating … and “dabbled with Indy racing and even sports car manufacturing.”
Tom Cotter spent 15 years researching this book, along with Al Pearce. Don Hunter supplied many of the superb photographs. Together they have left behind a legacy that belongs in every devoted racing fan’s library. The Holman-Moody shop has been leveled …crumbled back into history. Thank goodness this book remains. I give it four lug nuts out of five.
“HOLMAN-MOODY: The Legendary Race Team” is available now from the SPEED Bookstore.
Gregg Leary is a Researcher/Writer for “Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain” and
Book Reviewer for SpeedTV.com.
Leary was track announcer for Hooter’s IHRA Drag Racing at National Events in the USA and Canada and entertained event crowds during “down time” by conducting “crowd participation” and product giveaways with the Hooter’s Girls. He was Marketing and PR Director and track announcer at Lake Erie Speedway.
As Photo Editor, feature writer, columnist and swimsuit calendar chief photographer for “Sports Jam Magazine,” Leary covered Auto Racing, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association. He has photographed dozens of celebrities from A-Z…including Mario Andretti, Jim Brown, AJ Foyt, Ken Griffey Jr., Michael Jordan, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Mark McGwire, Paul Newman, Walter Payton, Alex Zanardi and Presidents Gerald Ford, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Gregg’s wife, Lynn lives in Jefferson, Ohio. His daughter, Caitlynn is an acting student at UNCWilmington and his son, Sean is a student at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.
Leary has conducted motivational seminars and performed stand up comedy around the country. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio and Exeter University in England. Gregg has hitchhiked 40,000 miles through 36 states and 10 European countries and is a licensed pilot and skydiver. Leary is available for motorsports consulting on a limited basis. Contact him via email at gleary@speedtv.com .