On Monday, Memorial Day [May 25, 2015], as people across America pause to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country, a truly outstanding member of the Greatest Generation celebrates a milestone birthday. Walter “Bud” Moore, World War II hero and NASCAR legend, turns 90 years old on Monday. Moore, a life-long resident of Spartanburg, S.C., is like many a member of America’s Greatest Generation. He grew up during the Depression, went off to war as a young man to fight for the United States in World War II, then returned home and built a thriving business. Moore was the second-oldest child in a family of ten and was the son of a farmer in the grocery business. As soon as Moore finished high school, Uncle Sam came calling. “I got out of school on June 1, 1943, and I got my draft papers on June 2,” Moore said last week as he took a break from mowing the pastures on his cattle farm. When Moore returned home, he and long-time friend Joe Eubanks went into the used-car business. Before long, they traded a 1939 Ford for a race car, and the rest is NASCAR history. In 37 years as a car owner in NASCAR’s elite series, Moore’s cars won 63 races, 43 poles and two championships of the series now known as Sprint Cup. He also won numerous sports car races and was the crew chief for Buck Baker’s championship run in 1957. In 2011, he was inducted into the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Among the people who have come to know and respect Moore over the years are several generations of the Wood Brothers racing team. Eddie Wood said the greatest thing Moore has given him, and everyone else today, is his service in World War II. “Hearing what Bud Moore has said about his experiences at Normandy really makes you think how lucky we all are that people like him did what they did,” he said, adding that there really should have been a movie made about Moore’s life. If they had ever made a movie, there’s only one actor who could have done him justice, and that’s John Wayne.” See the full article at Wood Bothers Racing.(5-25-2015)
