People who worked with him said James Lewter, who died earlier this week in Charlotte at the age of 83, was a magician with metal. There has to be a better word for him than machinist,” Larry McReynolds said of Lewter, who was named to a NASCAR “all-pro” team at that position for 10 straight years at one point during his long career. “He was a craftsman, an artist. There wasn’t a problem he couldn’t solve. I would match him with just about any engineer out there.” Lewter died Monday and was laid to rest on Thursday. He’d begun his career as a motorcycle racer and eventually went to work at the legendary Holman-Moody racing facility at Charlotte. He later worked for the NASCAR team owned by Harry Ranier, which was eventually bought and is still run by Robert Yates. McReynolds worked with Lewter when he was a crew chief at Robert Yates Racing. As a machinist, it was often Lewter’s job to build a part that someone could only describe in theory. Today’s teams have high-tech computer-driven machines that can reproduce identically to microscopic tolerances every part on a car, but the cars have to be built first. Memorials may be made on Lewter’s behalf to the Victory Junction Gang Camp, 311 Branson Mill Road, Randleman, N.C. 27317, or to Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, 7407 Steele Creek Road, Charlotte, N.C. 28217.(ThatsRacin.com)(10-18-2003)
