Men Behind the Wrenches - Wadell Wilson

Since the dawn of automobile racing, man has been honored by the raw horsepower exhibited by fast racing cars. Taking the intricate parts that make up an engine, making them reach their potential with that sacrifice and durability is an art. Waddell Wilson is one of the few who have achieved unimaginable success under the hood join us as we take a look at the remarkable career of Waddell Wilson Oh men to hide the riches the life of a ninja builder is not for the faint-hearted you're always under constant pressure to modify the engine to the limit to find more horsepower and God forbid, if a park failed for over 30 years, one man carried the burden of many of the sport's top stars, if you had a With a wad of Wilson engines under the hood, chances were you were a contender.

Hello everyone, I'm Jeff Hammond and welcome to the men behind the riches like so many before him. It was Waddell's failed attempt at the wheel that led to a career under the hood. Wilson grew up in the mountains of North Carolina and throughout high school. Fallen in love with fast cars Rooney named after names like Fireball Roberts Jr. Johnson and Ned Jarrett After graduating from Nashville Diesel Auto College, Waddell lived for a short time in Miami, it was there that he built a race car and won a few races. behind the wheel midway through the 1959 season.

A terrifying accident at a sportsman's race cost Waddell his car. Not having enough money to fix it, he decided to go back and work on cars. Instead, he moved back to North Carolina and in 1963 he ended up in Holman's stores and met someone who bought Howard a heart, who is a general manager and said so. I didn't hurt anyone, so I started heading out the door. It was difficult for me because I wasn't thinking about a good job anyway, so I looked up John Holman, he was what I was doing. I told him, well, I was looking for a job, so he said.

Well, I walked into my office and then he asked me: Well, wait, can you start working? That was just before noon and he was texting me to go to work in the afternoon. I had no idea what he was getting me into at that hour when it was a normal day. Late in the morning, until 10:00 at night, I started at a dollar and a half an hour and they put me in the engine room and they always built it. For the homeland MIDI car, there really wasn't a workshop that built any poles at home. in Moody was the sweet spot in NASCAR for that area, names like Fred Lorenz, David Pearson and Wilson's childhood favorite fireball, Roberts would pilot their cars when I went home to work, where there were only 30 people employed and that included the people in the office and the reputation that they had was incredible at that time, you know they were at the top of the hill, I mean at that time they had Lorenzen and fireball driving race cars and you know that both could win on any weekend and I was signed to shoot the ball car and I remember starting with "You know, I think you know." I don't know if I want to do this because I already had enough pressure in the engines.

I'm worried about that and we had tests and normally Did you know when they had the tests where they changed the whole jacket and whatever I was able to win in the competition, we were just six ninjas and we built Indians for all the Mercury and Ford teams and Not only that? I went to the track and took care of the race car. I put it in and put it in the pits for ten years. Homina Moody worked closely with Ford Motor Company. This gave Waddell the opportunity to learn from the vines of the time and discover ways to find and harness horse power during this period, they would accumulate a staggering 93 victories, those victories included two Daytona 500s for Fireball Roberts and Fred Lorenzen and Waddell-built cars and two championships with David Pearson in 1968 and 1969 using Waddell engines.

Wilson was now well present. the mechanic and was a big part of the success of this organization, you probably know about all the testing that was done. I was involved with it in one way or another and you know we go to California and try out there for maybe a week or whatever. and at Daytona we tested for a week or two and at Daytona before the races and you know, we had all the Ford engineers involved without Waddell knowing, his annuity homeschooling was coming to an end when the organization faced some ills in 1972, Moody's House of Magic was ending when Ralph Moody, part of the organization, Waddell decided it was time for a change.

Additionally, in 1973 he brought his engine building skills to LG to run his operation and help Benny Parsons win his Winston Cup championship. Well, I won a championship with him. In 73, which was a good year, we still had the big block, it was a David killing Goliath. I mean, here's this little operation from Melbourne, North Carolina, with four or five guys winning the championship over a small company or a Johnson junior, which was phenomenal. What happened that day and I'm sure teams watch how it's done, that funding became tight for LG DeWitt in 1975, but that didn't stop the team from surprising the field at the Daytona 500, well, you know, that was in '75.

It was in '74 when we changed to the little ones and you know, the angels exploded left and right. I mean, we didn't have the bits and pieces to work with, you know, and it wasn't much more than the parts to run the tram that we had. I was working through those racing days and I remember when we won the race at Daytona in 1975 and then you tell them I won the race we should never have won, it was like that. I mean, the things that happened happened before that race. means there was no way we were going to win that race three years later, Perry Renier hired Waddell and instantly promoted crew chief during those years Wilson earned a reputation for being demanding and hardworking, his cars ran the distance and were fast that attracted to names like banker friend Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough, who would go through this organization when he took out the carburetor after the engine was in everything, the doors would open, three people following Waddell carrying the carburetor, he put it on, he would tighten it . doing everything himself, I mean, it was a ritual and I thought, God, you know, and we'd say, well, let the Grand Poobah come in and then we'd go to the race track and wow, wasn't that funny, so a big race car. , great power, he wanted his things mentally perfect physically, I don't know if it made a big difference, but mentally he wanted everything to be perfect, what else the power was about to take him to the top of his sport since Korea was about of accelerating with Buddy Baker behind the wheel, the car would win the 1980 Daytona 500, that guy could get more power out of an engine than anyone, the stuff he built for Buddy Baker and that was an incredible combination because Baker's leg It was always there, I mean, right across the floor.

His style, you know, was my style, you know, it was emphatic, but he was an interesting character, I mean, he went with us to the race track, he traveled in the truck with us, we went together, we have been going since the morning. breakfast he would be with us I mean he did well remember the track we did he did with us and you get the car right and I mean I couldn't even look out because you know you knew if you could keep it going and continue. He pointed in the right direction, he's going to win a race.

Zadie Races was a tough winter getting ready to go to Daytona. We had to smoke them and I remember there were only three of us in the shop working on the race car and building the engine. So I remember working on those engines at night and the two men that worked with me had to go home at five o'clock, so I would stay and work and I couldn't. The men were spending the holidays. I know well that I'm the only human being in NASCAR that's working, so when we got to Daytona, then we went through a storm around it and we were on the track and the car got passed, there was no one there that could touch that race car. .

I don't care, they could have started running, they couldn't have caught him, there was a fast pace that day because they were very fast and they ran until the last part of the last two laps without a yellow flag. and the last pit stop, I remember my friend came towards me and was leading the race. Bobby was running second when his friend came down pit road. Bobby got off at the same time as us until we stopped. I'm thinking, I'm saying to myself and there's no way he's going to wait for us to get a can of gas because we had to get a can of gas for the race car to finish the grace and that was always necessary, it was a Campbell , we had to get that can in and I knew in That time, you know, we would always see how fast it takes to go shopping to throw a can of gas and it took six seconds or a little bit of time to plug it in, so the huge amount of money started out like gas in a race car and as soon as it connected, I started counting, but at the same time, and you know, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to keep my friend here for six seconds.

He actually jumped out the window, grabbed me, and timed how long it lasted. he was going to take, you know the six seconds stopped, but he knew me at that time. I'd like to run away, horse man, all I wanted was to get out of there. I was holding on for dear life trying to let him know he was. I didn't want him to leave until we got there and I was counting 1,001 1,002 and Ike, it's not just rails that started out funny and nice and he's going to release the clutch on this thing and I got to about 1004 and he fell. the clutch, but when he did, he was taking me down pit road with him when I finally understood more about the wind and then I looked around and you're coming and that gas can, yeah, and it was a collision that didn't throw piotros.

The pit stop was very quick, I mean when we met on the track we had a nine second lead, but at the same time we didn't get all the gas out of the camp, did we get enough fuel that was still in the back of my car? Yeah, I dropped down to the flat part of the race track to make sure you knew it picked up all the fuel, so buddy, come on over and I'll tell your buddy, you know you're going to go nine seconds, so slow down. , slower. I'll never forget him leaving the start/finish line and getting back on the radio in this Waddell.

I can't hear you and I knew it at that moment, even though he was running as hard as he could and that was something that was just Youngstown. With Garmin, you know it was wide open or not at all, so he went down two laps under the yellow flag and I think that's a good solution, it made Lord quit, that we're going to win that race, that day, we should have won. I ran out of gas and I think that record maybe still stands today the base probably the mouth is close to it there are certain mountains you have to climb in the Daytona 500 my friends the biggest mountain you've ever seen Clym, what L has achieved beyond his His wildest dreams, but as a mechanic he craved the ultimate in power in 1982, which he would meet Benny Parsons during qualifying at Talladega that year.

Benny would be the first driver to exceed 200 miles per hour, ironically, while L had just left the track. and we didn't get a good look at the team with our feet at that time, we had a Pontiac LeMans and it was a very good aerodynamic race car and we had already worked on it the year before when Bobby was driving the car and when I showed up at Talladega, you know, in In the back of my mind I was hoping to be first, but I didn't think we would be able to do it because I knew how hard it is for other people who travel and do the same thing. but I always put a lot of effort into building the engines because, you know, there weren't many people working on a race car at that time and we had worked, you know, all night, I was working on the engines trying to get all the horsepower. , kill them, but not only did I work on any of the brakes on the car and you know, all the parts of the old one that I worked on and you know, I completely shut up in Talde.

I knew I had a good car, but I didn't have the desire. It was so cool what made it happen, was that every time I went to get some passes in the guys' press box, you know, their wives were coming that weekend, they wanted passes, so I went to work, I talked to them and them It ended up in the Museum where I had to go, everything was fine, a talent thing and they were jumping up and down and I never saw the people. I didn't know what was going on and they said, man, you realize what you got. done today, I said you made history and not only that, I mean the phones are ringing and we just can't get enough tickets so I said, you know everyone wants to come to Talladega now that we broke them under my leg which was when he sat down in it, so you know, yeah, haven't we done something pretty spectacular.

What L was in those days was probably the smartest man in the speed business. Weeks a year later, Waddell built a carwith a motor. This sent Cale Yarborough over the 200 mile and qualifying mark, but the number didn't stick because Lap 2 was a disaster for the entire day of practice. I mean, we weren't even close to 200 miles there and I couldn't understand why the car wasn't running faster. I'll have to take some of the blame for what happened. I thought it was going to be close, so just before the night before I got some cars to qualify, we weren't running much smaller back then anyway.

We put the spoilers on pretty good and I walked around the back of that thing and I was thinking about the 200 miles an hour left so I lowered that spoiler a little bit more and if I hadn't, we probably would have been in pretty good pretty good shape. , he said well, they were fine and I couldn't understand, you know what he was trying to tell me because you know he was frustrated because the wheels were turning, we want it close to 200 miles on the first lap. It was a good lap, but it was an audition, well, I knew he was on the rough edge and all of a sudden I felt like he got like that on the first lap, he was running like a 44 70 and I was. tickling a damn hill that you know had over 200 miles on there, so the guys at elTower were checking the intervals around the racetrack and they said when he came down the backstretch they were jumping up and down screaming because broke 200 now at Daytona and they said some guy that was the moment the car said well you think that's something said if He does around this time it'll be about 200 three miles you know when they announced the return of 200 miles an hour, the crowd went crazy and I had all these chills and then they started this big roar again and he was.

He was out of sight again, he hit the flat part of the race track and, in fact, Wayne is a race car and he came and went and ended up too deep, but he's back on his wheels. Dick Beta sent me to a call center in the countryside where they had called. there and him at the table, me and above Regina we lined up and looked at him and then when I came in he said where did you do everything right, one thing, yes, tank, what did I do wrong?, kill, he said we didn't put the control, so I was able to fly, that was one of the highest moments of my life to one of the lowest, you know, in seconds, kale won up to 500, what else is the fourth victory of my career in the coveted race?

I know other races that we have won. and with Kendall that was as masculine as that, but now that a gay never said that didn't mean much because you knew you could do that and no one imagined that we could come back and win with a car that was old and, you know, some that were close to the car we had totaled, so to be able to come back and do it was fantastic, it was a very important victory mainly because of what led up to this, you know. We anticipated going to Daytona and trying to set that 200 mile per hour record and we didn't go out and win the race.

It was a great victory for me. Waddell and Cale would repeat in the 1984 Daytona 500 in dominant fashion. fashion in late 1986 what L would leave Renier to accept an offer from Rick Hendrick to work with his close friend Darrell Waltrip instantly spent PR for the duo's dream team but turned out to be anything but fanfare is one thing fanfare does. to move the car around the track, you know, I don't really know a lot of times and a lot of it in this sport is personalities and you know, I really don't, I don't think they've worked together much before and this just didn't click like they thought it was going to. with kale, Bobbie and Buddy and then coming with Darrell and that was a 180 and you know it was a completely different situation and it was and it was too It was hard for me to adjust, it didn't go well you know we're great friends this day but no , it was difficult for us to work together because my line of thinking and it was different, they turned out to go. from a dream team to a total disaster.

I guess I don't think White ever wanted to be a crew chief. I mean, she did, but her love was the driving force and of all the things I've done in racing, it's probably the most disappointing time of my life you know you know yeah, I left her there and the man that went with me to Rick Hendricks and you know we're waiting so you know looking forward to that working and we put a lot of effort into it and you know, and then I saw that it didn't work out like we had planned and dreamed of what Ellen DW was able to save their friendship, but Waddell became Jeffrey Bones' crew chief the following year, eventually ending.

I joined as head of research and development at Hendrick Motorsports just a couple of years later, that organization would achieve success rivaling any sporting dynasty. I didn't feel better than anyone else when I was building engines. I was always a perfectionist and I want you to know that good enough wasn't good enough for me, you know, I don't know, I remembered over and over again getting ready to go to Daytona for the Daytona 500 and building an engine five times and the first time. time most people came off the test bench. I said why is it okay, but they're all okay for me, you know, if I had another day or another iron to work on the hunt, I'm trying to do that, but I tried to not just work on one part of the engine that I'm on. trying to work. each party was very focused, very, very focused on the job at hand and kept trying something.

Each engine was different. He never made two of the same type. Each engine was a little different because I kept trying this and that, trying to find more. power, it was amazing how each engine had a different camshaft how much time he spent on the phone with piston makers and cam grinders and all that stuff because he kept trying to make molds and became more personified. I would respect it. I learned from I probably wish you hadn't taught me as much as he told me. I'd say he was the horsepower guru in those days. You know, if you had a wide L Wilson engine, you'd know you'd have as much power as anyone.

Out there, yeah, I had to say that the people I once competed for had horsepower, Ray Fox, what L Wilson, those were masters that put out tremendous horsepower and I mean, when you crank that race car on race day, you were in the front. He didn't always make it and he always finished the race first. I'm going to tell you something while they were out there they were forced to do what I did with the other Sol and most of the time he was in the boat he got up and thought about getting hit. of a bass or a walleye or a trout most of the time I was thinking about how I could get five more horsepower for Daytona I was dedicated, I was dedicated and I was dedicated to the engine, it's always been labeled as a winner.

He was probably one of the best all-around people this sport has ever seen. He could do whatever it took to make a race car. A winning car. I hope you know that made a lot of people enjoy their Sunday afternoons watching this. career and what I would like to remember is that I was not a cheater. I tried to do it directly and understand God by the abilities he gave me today. Wilson continues to consult with NASCAR Winston Cup teams and organizations as a crew chief. Waddell had 29 wins, but his contribution to his sport is more than just numbers in the win column throughout his career;

It was his genius and his development of engines and cars that helped NASCAR technology evolve with men behind its inches. I'm Jeff Hammond and thanks for joining us.