Butch Lindley

Clyde Lindley, Jr., nicknamed Butch, was born in Greenville, South Carolina on March 25, 1948.[1] He began racing as a boy[2] and pursued it as a full-time career from his late teens.[3]

Lindley established himself as one of the country's premier short track drivers, winning track championships at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, and finishing first in races at short tracks throughout the United States.[4][5][6] During his career Lindley won more than 500 races, perhaps as many as 550.[7][8] During the six-year span from 1975 through 1980 he started 385 NASCAR sanctioned events and won 154 times.[9]

Of Lindley's wins, four took place in races recognised today as major Super Late Model shows -- the Snowball Derby in 1984, the Oxford Plains Speedway 250 in 1976, the All American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway in 1981, and the Thunder Road International Speedbowl Vermont Milk Bowl in 1977. He was one of the few Southern drivers who successfully won the Northern late model scene.

Lindley was a regular competitor in the NASCAR Sportsman Division for several years. From 1974 through 1976 he finished second, third and third in the final points standings.[10]

Lindley won the 1977 NASCAR National Sportsman championship with a total of 7,566 points.[11]

In 1978 Lindley again captured the National Sportsman championship, finishing with 8,148 points. He competed in 80 events and finished in the top five 58 times, including 23 wins.[12]

In 1979 Lindley finished second in points, and in 1980 he was fifth.[13]

Lindley continued a limited schedule in the Sportsman series after it became known as the Budweiser and then the Busch Series. He ran half of the 1982 schedule for Emanuel Zervakis, making 14 starts and finishing in the top 10 ten times, including four wins. He also won two poles. The first win came at Richmond, followed by wins at South Boston Speedway and the season finale at Martinsville. Despite only competing in half of the events, he finished in ninth place in the final points standings.[14]

Lindley ran 25 of the 35 races in 1983. Lindley won three poles and posted 11 top 10 finishes. He won races at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, South Boston Speedway, and Caraway Speedway despite switching between the Emanuel Zervakis and Dana Racing teams. Despite running only a partial schedule, Lindley still finished 13th in the final point standings.

Lindley made two starts in 1984, both for Ed Whitaker. In his first outing for the team, he started 7th and finished 3rd at Richmond. Later in the year, he started 7th at Martinsville and was running well before engine failure relegated him to a 29th-place finish.[15]

The All Pro Super Series was a stock car racing organization which operated from 1981 to 1990.[16] It was subsequently purchased by NASCAR, and operated as the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast Series until it was terminated in 2006.[17][18]

Having run in selected races of the All Pro Super Series from 1981 to 1983, in 1984 Lindley participated in all 24 events. He finished in the top five 13 times, including seven wins, and was fourth in the final points standings.[19][20]

In 1985 he took part in four of 26 races in the All Pro Super series, and won twice.[21]

Lindley made his debut in the Winston Cup Series in 1979.[22][23] He started 14th in a Kenny Childers Chevrolet at Martinsville and finished 28th after falling out early due to overheating.[24]

In 1981, Lindley made three starts in his own car, the No. 26 Chevrolet. He qualified fourth at Martinsville, but struggled in all three races. He did not finish any, and his best run was 24th at North Wilkesboro.[25]

In 1982, Lindley made four starts and finished only one. Driving the No. 01 Emanuel Zervakis Racing Buick, Lindley started 14th at Martinsville. He dominated the middle portion of the race, leading the most laps of his Grand National career (163), and finished second to Harry Gant.[26] In his return to Martinsville later in the year, Lindley led two laps before dropping out due to engine failure.[27]

Lindley made two starts in 1983. Driving for Zervakis in the spring race at Richmond, Lindley led seven laps and came away with an 11th-place finish.[28] He also ran at Martinsville for Bill Terry, recording a 25th-place finish.[29]

Lindley's last career Grand National start came at Richmond in 1985 for Bobby Hawkins in a car with Larry McReynolds as crew chief. He drove the No. 16 Carolina Tool Chevrolet, started 17th and was running near the front before a lug bolt fell off and he settled for a 19th-place finish.[30]

On April 13, 1985, Lindley was competing in an All Pro Super Series race held at the Desoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida, driving Frankie Grill's No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro. He was leading after the 125-lap distance was complete, but the scheduled distance included a late caution flag, and All Pro rules stated that the final five laps of its races had to finish consecutively under the green flag, so the race continued. During the extra laps, a trailing arm on Lindley's car pulled apart as he entered turn three, sending the car into a spin that caused the driver's side to hit the wall. Lindley's helmet made hard contact with the wall, and he sustained a closed head injury.[31] His crash was one of the factors that led to improvements in window nets, helmets, and head and neck restraints, which have dramatically reduced the number of injuries and deaths resulting from race car crashes.

Lindley remained in a coma until his death.[32] He died at an assisted living facility in Greer, South Carolina on June 6, 1990.[33] He is buried at Springwood Cemetery in Greenville.

In 1965 Lindley married Flora Joan Barbare, known as Joan.[34] She frequently traveled with him and assisted his race teams, and Joan was scoring laps during the race when he sustained his fatal injuries.[32] Butch and Joan Lindley had two children, daughter Tonda and son Mardy.[35]

Mardy pursued a career in racing, driving at Southeastern short tracks including the United Speed Alliance Pro Cup.[36] He later became a mechanic for Roush Fenway Racing, coincidentally on the #16 team, the car number most often associated with his father. He later served at HScott Motorsports as a crew chief in the K&N Pro Series, winning the 2013 championship, having worked later with Rico Abreu. Later he served in ARCA with Lorin Ranier, the son of a former NASCAR car owner himself, at MDM-Ranier Racing, again as a crew chief.[37][38][39][40]

Mardy currently is a crew chief in the K&N Pro Series with GMS Racing, the Chevrolet de facto works team in lower series featuring a JR Motorsports alliance, and won the 2019 ARCA Racing Series East Championship.

Lindley won the Snowball Derby in 1984 driving for crew chief and car owner Frankie Grill's GARC race cars team. Grill's son Augie later himself became a two-time winner of the race.

In 2005, Lindley was inducted (posthumously) into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame. The NMPA ceremony was held in January 2006 in Charlotte, North Carolina.[41]

• Lindley's career stats at Racing Reference
• Partial List of Butch Lindley finishes at Ultimate Racing History
• Butch Lindley's fatal crash on YouTube
• Daytona Beach Morning Journal article on Lindley and his family's situation published in July 1985
• Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal article on Lindley and his family's situation published in February 1988
• The News-Journal article on Lindley and his family's situation published in February 1989