After 92 colorful years on this Earth, “Bud” Moore has moved on. A decorated U.S. Army Sergeant who stormed Utah Beach, participated in the Siege of Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge, captured a German headquarters with a German-speaking driver and a captured POW, got five Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. Without question, by the time Moore was discharged from the Army in 1945 at the age of twenty, he’d lived one hell of a life on it’s own accord, one that saw the horrors of a war that will be forever remembered for it’s own legacy of bloodshed and violence. In his lifetime, that barely accounts for two years.
He married his high-school sweetheart, Betty. He got his driver’s license at the age of 14 and raced with the likes of Cotton Owens in the streets of South Carolina. For fifty years, he was deeply involved in NASCAR racing, as a crew chief or a team owner, but always involved in some manner or way. Moore’s driver’s list that he worked with is star-studded, from the early days with Cotton Owens and Fireball Roberts to the likes of Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd and others. He helped build Mercury drag cars in 1965, and ran Trans-Am in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Parnelli Jones as one of his drivers. After he left NASCAR as a team owner in 2000, he became a farmer in North Carolina with his sons Greg and Daryl, and stayed on with NASCAR as a member of the appeals committee.
Bud Moore is one of a dying breed. He saw hell in several forms, be it in the forests of France or at Riverside, when driver Joe Weatherly died at Riverside, when Billy Wade died during tire testing at Daytona, or when Ricky Rudd went on his horrific barrel-rolling ride at Daytona, yet he persisted on. He ran the team, but worked with the team. He would tell it to you straight, with no dancing around or worrying about what the consequences might be. The man whose handshake superseded any written contract, and the man who would go all-out for those who he worked for and with. Movies are made about people who lived their lives like Bud’s two years in the Army, but when it comes to the rest…only those who knew him personally can properly tell you that story.
Godspeed, Bud Moore.
Rest in peace Bud Moore.
There are those who have made a name for themselves in Nascar…more than I can remember. For me, Bud Moore epitomized Nascar and of all the Ford teams over the decades, the #21 red over white Fords and Mercurys is what defined
Nascar to me. RIP Bud Moore. You are and always will be a legend.
The red and white 21 car was the Woods bros., not Bud Moore. His were normally # 15.
Excellent write-up McT and watching that video is 45 minutes well spent. What a great man Bud was.
In sports of all kinds, they talk of battle, war and warriors. This man, and he was a man among men, knew of real battle, real war and he was a warrior. D Day, Bastogne, Battle of Bulge, Patton’s Third Army, five purple hearts, and two bronze stars for valor is special. As a car guy for decades, I knew of Bud Moore, but it was not until I watched this video that I now know the real Bud Moore.