L. W. Wright

L. W. Wright is an unidentified American confidence trickster. 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.

L. W. Wright
DisappearedMay 2, 1982
Talladega, Alabama
StatusUnknown
NationalityAmerican
Years active1982
NASCAR Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
First race1982 Winston 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0

1982 Winston 500

In April 1982, William Dunaway of Hendersonville, Tennessee, contacted a Nashville newspaper to promote a driver named L. W. Wright, who declared he was entering the Winston 500 with Music City Racing.[1] Claiming to be a 33-year-old driver with 43 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series starts, Wright also announced country artists Merle Haggard and T. G. Sheppard were to sponsor his team.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

Wright approached B. W. "Bernie" Terrell, head of Nashville-based Space Age Marketing, for assistance in buying and sponsoring a car. In addition to $30,000 to purchase the vehicle, Terrell gave him a semi-trailer truck and $7,500 to cover expenses.[3] He eventually bought a Chevrolet Monte Carlo from Sterling Marlin for $20,700 with $17,000 in cash and a check for the remainder; suspicious of the excessively high money spending, Marlin followed Wright to Talladega to serve as his crew chief.[4] 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.[5]

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.[4] Marlin expressed further suspicion at Wright's behavior at the track, who regularly asked "questions any driver should have known". Wright crashed in practice, but was able to repair his car and qualified 36th. In the race, he was ordered to exit after 13 laps for being too slow and finished 39th. He received $1,545 in prize money but no points in the Cup standings as a late entrant.[5]

Following the race, Wright disappeared, but not before failing to qualify for the next race, the Cracker Barrel Country Store 420 at Nashville Speedway;[6] Terrell would later recover Wright's car following his final attempt at racing.[7] 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.[5] Marlin commented the bounced check "didn't really surprise me. I sort of expected it."[4]

NASCAR arranged for arrest warrants, while Terrell hired a private investigator to search for Wright.[7] The case remains unsolved. Wright has been referred to as the "D. B. Cooper of NASCAR" by a Racing-Reference writer for his immediate disappearance and unknown whereabouts.[8]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

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 NWCC Pts Ref
1982 Music City Racing 34 Chevy DAY RCH BRI ATL CAR DAR NWS MAR TAL
39
NSV
DNQ
DOV CLT POC RSD MCH DAY NSV POC TAL MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV NWS CLT MAR CAR ATL RSD NA - [9]

References

  1. "If he could have driven as fast as he..." United Press International. June 23, 1982. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  2. Woody, Larry (April 25, 1982). "Marlin Wins Raceway Feature". The Tennessean. Retrieved March 21, 2019 via Newspapers.com.
  3. Woody, Larry (June 25, 1982). "Mystery Driver 'Stings' Another One". The Tennessean. Retrieved March 21, 2019 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Woody, Larry (June 22, 1982). "Officials Searching For 'Mystery Driver'". The Tennessean. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  5. Entriken, Rocky (June 23, 1982). "NASCAR fell for bogus driver's con". The Salina Journal. Retrieved March 21, 2019 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Ridley Heads List Of Second-Round Qualifiers". Grand National Scene. May 13, 1982. p. 9. Two drivers, Bob Schact and L.W. Wright, were not fast enough and failed to make the field.
  7. "$40,000 Swindle Charged to the 'Mystery Driver'". The Town Talk. UPI. June 26, 1982. Retrieved March 21, 2019 via Newspapers.com.
  8. nascarman (June 9, 2015). "Historical Motorsports Stories writes: "The Curious Case of L.W. Wright"". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  9. "L.W. Wright – 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
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