Walter Maynard “Bud” Moore Jr., a decorated veteran of World War II and D-Day’s Normandy Invasion and a 2011 inductee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, died November 27 at the age of 92. Moore was a self-described country mechanic who fielded championship-winning teams in both NASCAR Cup competition and the SCCA’a Trans-Am series.
Moore’s NASCAR team won Cup championships in 1962 and 1963 with Joe Weatherly, and over the years the list of those who also drove for him included Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Darel Dieringer, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Isaac, Tiny Lund, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Fireball Roberts, Ricky Rudd, Morgan Shepherd, Billy Wade, Darrell Waltrip, Rex White and Cale Yarborough. Bud Moore Engineering’s last win came in May 1993 on the Sears Point road course in California, where Geoff Bodine brought his Ford home first. Moore closed his team in 1999.
Between 1967 and 1971 Moore also ran successful Trans-Am efforts for Ford Motor Company, fielding a pair of factory-backed Mercury Cougars for Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Peter Revson, David Pearson and Ed Leslie, and then Mustangs for Jones — who won the championship in 1970, the series’ most competitive year — George Follmer (above, photo courtesy of Follmer Collection) and Peter Gregg.
Two years ago his hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina, voted unanimously to honor him by naming a street for him, the street on which his race shop was located, formerly known as Beaumont Avenue. To Moore’s family and many friends in and out of the sport, Vintage Racecar extends its deepest sympathies.
