Ralph Moody

Ralph Moody
Born	(1917-09-10)September 10, 1917 Dighton, Massachusetts
Died	June 9, 2004(2004-06-09) (aged 86) Mooresville, North Carolina
Awards	North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame (2003) National (1990) International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1994) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2005)
NASCAR Cup Series career
47 races run over 4 years
Best finish	8th – 1956 Grand National Series
First race	1956 Daytona Beach Road Course
Last race	1962 Richmond 250 Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds (now Richmond International Raceway)
First win	1956 Memphis-Arkansas Speedway
Last win	1957 (Wilson, North Carolina)
Wins Top tens Poles 5 27 5

Ralph Moody (September 10, 1917 – June 9, 2004) was an American stock car racer. He eventually became a team co-owner of Holman Moody.

Background[]

He built his first Model T Ford race car in 1935, and ran it on nights and weekends. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and drove a tank under the command of General George S. Patton. He married his wife Mitzi in 1949, and they moved to Florida so that he could race all year.

While still living in Massachusetts, after World War II, Ralph Moody was an active midget chauffeur in the now defunct Bay State Midget Racing Association.

NASCAR career[]

Moody won four races in 1956 for owner Pete DePaolo. He finished eighth in the final points, with 21 Top-10 finishes in 35 races.

He raced the first third of 1957, until Ford and the other American automobile manufacturers pulled out of racing.

Holman Moody[]

for the main article, see Holman Moody
Mr. Moody immediately took out a loan against an airplane he owned, and he and John Holman paid $12,000 to buy the shop and equipment that had been Ford's Charlotte-based racing operation ([1]).

Holman Moody began as a racecar owner operation, but became more famous for their racecar building operation. Holman Moody chassis featured improvements such as tube shocks, square tubing frames, and rear ends with floater housings ([2]). They built around 50 race cars a year until Moody sold his portion of the company after the 1971 season. They had won 92 NASCAR Grand National races.

Ralph Moody, Inc.[]

He then opened Ralph Moody Inc. in Charlotte. He built race engines and race cars, and did research and development of high mileage automobiles at that site for several years.

List of Halls of Fame inductions[]

• North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2003
• in 1990
• International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994
• Motorsports Hall of Fame of America^[1] in 2005
• New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in 2000

References[]

External links[]

• Article on Ralph Moody at ThatsRacin.com, link dead on March 8, 2007
• International Motorsports Hall of Fame
• Holman Moody Website
• Ralph Moody driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Holman-Moody Owner's statistics at racing-reference.info
• Biography at New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame
• Obituary, link dead March 8, 2007
• "Stock car legend Moody dies at 86". USA Today. June 9, 2004. Retrieved 2007-03-09.