Waddell Wilson
Encyclopedia
Waddell Wilson is a former NASCAR
Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) crew chief and engine builder. He was the winning crew chief for the Daytona 500
in 1980
, 1983
, and 1984
. He was crew chief or engine builder for Holman Moody
, Harry Ranier, and Hendrick Motorsports
. Drivers included Bobby Allison
, Mario Andretti
, Buddy Baker
, Geoff Bodine
, A. J. Foyt
, Junior Johnson
, Fred Lorenzen
, Cale Yarborough
and Ricky Rudd
.
. After graduating from the Nashville Auto and Diesel College in Tennessee, he worked for Cummins
Diesel in Miami.
, street stocks, and modifieds
at the Hialeah
, Palmetto and Hollywood short tracks in Florida. "I won a few," Waddell said, "but before long I figured building engines really was my niche."
Wilson began as an engine builder for Holman Moody
in the early 1960s and he worked for them into 1970s. He became recognized after building the engine that Fireball Roberts
used to win the 1963 Southern 500
. Engines built by Wilson had 109 wins, earned 123 pole position
s, and won three championships (David Pearson in 1968-69, Benny Parsons
in 1973). Parsons set the record for the first 200 miles per hour (321.9 km/h) qualifying lap at Talladega
using an engine built by Wilson.
Wilson later took over as a crew chief. His driver Buddy Baker
won the 1980 Daytona 500. Cale Yarborough
drove a Wilson-prepared car to victory in the 1983 Daytona 500, and the combination repeated their win in 1984 Daytona 500. Yarborough and Wilson worked together for Harry Ranier in the early to mid 1980s. Between 1983 and 1986, Yarborough/Wilson won nine races in only 60 starts, including four of sixteen in 1983.
Wilson prepare an engine for Hendrick Motorsports
that Darrell Waltrip
used in a practice session to set an unofficial track record at Daytona that exceeded Bill Elliott
's 1985 mark. Rick Hendrick
changed Wilson to be the crew chief for his new third Hendrick Motorsports team in 1988. Wilson worked with driver Darrell Waltrip
. The friends didn't mess well together as teammates, earning only one win, and Wilson was named the team manager after one season. He was replaced by Jeff Hammond. Wilson became Ricky Rudd
's crew chief in 1990 after Hendricks reduced to a two car team. Hendrick had Wilson be the crew chief for IndyCar
driver Al Unser, Jr.
's only NASCAR start at the 1993 Daytona 500
. Unser finished 36th after crashing out. Between 1979 and 1993, Wilson was the crew chief for 22 NASCAR Winston Cup race wins.
Yarborough later became a car owner. After working for Jim Mattei at Mattei Motorsports in 1998, Yarborough hired Wilson to be his team's general manager for the 1999 season with driver Rick Mast
. Wilson retired from racing in 2000 and he became a consultant for Jerico Performance Products.
. He was featured on the April 9, 2003 episode of the Speed television channel's show Men Behind the Wrenches.
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) crew chief and engine builder. He was the winning crew chief for the Daytona 500
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
in 1980
1980 Daytona 500
Buddy Baker started the decade by winning the fastest Daytona 500 in history, at 177.602 mph , it was Baker's only 500 win and did so in his 18th start, the longest until Dale Earnhardt in 1998. The race was also marked by the death of Ricky Knotts who was killed on the 15th lap of the Gatorade...
, 1983
1983 Daytona 500
In 1983, Cale Yarborough was the first driver to run a qualifying lap of more than at the 1983 Daytona 500 in his #28 Hardees Chevrolet Monte Carlo. However, on his second of two qualifying laps, Yarborough crashed and flipped his car in turn four. The car had to be withdrawn, and the lap did not...
, and 1984
1984 Daytona 500
In 1984, Cale Yarborough completed a lap of , officially breaking the barrier at Daytona. He won the race for the second year in a row, and fourth time in his career, with the identical last-lap pass, this time victimizing Darrell Waltrip who would later go on to win the same race in...
. He was crew chief or engine builder for Holman Moody
Holman Moody
Holman Moody was an auto racing team, racecar manufacturer, and marine engine manufacturer. The team built virtually all of the factory Ford racecars of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It owned racecars that competed in NASCAR, drag racing, ocean boat racing, rallys, and sports car racing. The team...
, Harry Ranier, and Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports , originally named All Star Racing, is a current American auto racing team created in 1984 by Rick Hendrick. The team currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Chevrolet Impalas...
. Drivers included Bobby Allison
Bobby Allison
Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....
, Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
, Buddy Baker
Buddy Baker
Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...
, Geoff Bodine
Geoff Bodine
Geoffrey Eli Bodine is an American motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers . Bodine currently lives in Cornelius, North Carolina....
, A. J. Foyt
A. J. Foyt
Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr., or as he is universally known as in motorsports circles, A. J. Foyt , is a retired American automobile racing driver. He raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes USAC Champ cars and midget cars. He raced stock cars in NASCAR and USAC. He won...
, Junior Johnson
Junior Johnson
Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966...
, Fred Lorenzen
Fred Lorenzen
Fred Lorenzen , nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Flyin Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver active between 1958 and 1972. He won the 1965 Daytona 500. Lorenzen was born in Elmurst, Illinois.-Early career:Lorenzen first caught the car bug young, and had built his first...
, Cale Yarborough
Cale Yarborough
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...
and Ricky Rudd
Ricky Rudd
Ricky Rudd is a former American NASCAR driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and Nationwide Series driver Jason Rudd. Rudd is known as the "Iron Man" of NASCAR; holding the record for most consecutive starts in NASCAR racing. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Rudd had made 788...
.
Background
Wilson grew up Bakersville, North CarolinaBakersville, North Carolina
Bakersville is a town in Mitchell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 357 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Mitchell County.-Geography:Bakersville is located at ....
. After graduating from the Nashville Auto and Diesel College in Tennessee, he worked for Cummins
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...
Diesel in Miami.
Career
He started driving jalopiesJalopy
A jalopy is a decrepit car, often old and in a barely functional state. A jalopy is not a well kept antique car, but a car which is mostly rundown or beaten up. As a slang term in American English, "Jalopy" was noted in 1924 but is now slightly passé...
, street stocks, and modifieds
Modified racing
Modified stock car racing, also known as Modified racing or simply Modified, is one of the oldest types of racing in the United States, dating back to the days of the post-World War II coupes. The name for modified racing cars come from the fact that they are not stock but, rather, modified...
at the Hialeah
Hialeah Park Race Track
The Hialeah Park Race Track is a historic site in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S...
, Palmetto and Hollywood short tracks in Florida. "I won a few," Waddell said, "but before long I figured building engines really was my niche."
Wilson began as an engine builder for Holman Moody
Holman Moody
Holman Moody was an auto racing team, racecar manufacturer, and marine engine manufacturer. The team built virtually all of the factory Ford racecars of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It owned racecars that competed in NASCAR, drag racing, ocean boat racing, rallys, and sports car racing. The team...
in the early 1960s and he worked for them into 1970s. He became recognized after building the engine that Fireball Roberts
Fireball Roberts
Edward Glenn Roberts, Jr. , nicknamed "Fireball", was one of the pioneering race car drivers of NASCAR.-Background:...
used to win the 1963 Southern 500
Southern 500
The Showtime Southern 500 is the annual spring NASCAR Sprint Cup race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, USA, and is the second such event at Darlington to bear the name. It began in 1957 as a race in the Convertible Division, known as the Rebel 300. In 1966, the race was...
. Engines built by Wilson had 109 wins, earned 123 pole position
Pole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
s, and won three championships (David Pearson in 1968-69, Benny Parsons
Benny Parsons
Benjamin Stewart Parsons was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst on TBS, ESPN, NBC and TNT...
in 1973). Parsons set the record for the first 200 miles per hour (321.9 km/h) qualifying lap at Talladega
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, United States. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base just outside the small city of Lincoln. It was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in...
using an engine built by Wilson.
Wilson later took over as a crew chief. His driver Buddy Baker
Buddy Baker
Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...
won the 1980 Daytona 500. Cale Yarborough
Cale Yarborough
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...
drove a Wilson-prepared car to victory in the 1983 Daytona 500, and the combination repeated their win in 1984 Daytona 500. Yarborough and Wilson worked together for Harry Ranier in the early to mid 1980s. Between 1983 and 1986, Yarborough/Wilson won nine races in only 60 starts, including four of sixteen in 1983.
Wilson prepare an engine for Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports , originally named All Star Racing, is a current American auto racing team created in 1984 by Rick Hendrick. The team currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Chevrolet Impalas...
that Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
used in a practice session to set an unofficial track record at Daytona that exceeded Bill Elliott
Bill Elliott
William Clyde "Bill" Elliott , also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville or Million Dollar Bill, is a part-time driver and former champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Elliott was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007. He won the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup...
's 1985 mark. Rick Hendrick
Rick Hendrick
Joseph Riddick Hendrick III , better known as Rick Hendrick, is the current owner of the American NASCAR team, Hendrick Motorsports and founder of the Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Marrow Program. He attended Park View High School in South Hill, Virginia, and began his career in auto...
changed Wilson to be the crew chief for his new third Hendrick Motorsports team in 1988. Wilson worked with driver Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
. The friends didn't mess well together as teammates, earning only one win, and Wilson was named the team manager after one season. He was replaced by Jeff Hammond. Wilson became Ricky Rudd
Ricky Rudd
Ricky Rudd is a former American NASCAR driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and Nationwide Series driver Jason Rudd. Rudd is known as the "Iron Man" of NASCAR; holding the record for most consecutive starts in NASCAR racing. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Rudd had made 788...
's crew chief in 1990 after Hendricks reduced to a two car team. Hendrick had Wilson be the crew chief for IndyCar
IndyCar
IndyCar is the trade name of an American-based open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. IndyCar sanctions three racing series, the premier IZOD IndyCar Series with its centerpiece Indianapolis 500, and developmental series Firestone Indy Lights and the U.S...
driver Al Unser, Jr.
Al Unser, Jr.
Alfred Unser, Jr. , nicknamed "Little Al", "Al Junior" or simply "Junior" is a retired American race car driver and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.-History:...
's only NASCAR start at the 1993 Daytona 500
1993 Daytona 500
The 1993 Daytona 500 by STP was held February 14 at Daytona International Speedway. Kyle Petty's Mello Yello-sponsored #42 won the pole, putting a Petty on the Daytona 500 pole for the first time since 1966, and only the second time ever. Kyle was also the first North Carolina driver to win the 500...
. Unser finished 36th after crashing out. Between 1979 and 1993, Wilson was the crew chief for 22 NASCAR Winston Cup race wins.
Yarborough later became a car owner. After working for Jim Mattei at Mattei Motorsports in 1998, Yarborough hired Wilson to be his team's general manager for the 1999 season with driver Rick Mast
Rick Mast
Rick Mast is a former NASCAR driver. He competed in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series before retiring in 2002...
. Wilson retired from racing in 2000 and he became a consultant for Jerico Performance Products.
Legacy
Wilson received the "Golden Wrench Award" by the North Carolina Stock Car Racing Hall Of Fame in 2006, the same year that Waltrip was inducted in the hall of Fame. Wilson was selected to be one of three retired crew chiefs to vote for the inaugural class for the NASCAR Hall of FameNASCAR Hall of Fame
The NASCAR Hall of Fame honors drivers who have shown exceptional skill at NASCAR driving, all-time great crew chiefs and owners, and other major contributors to competition within the sanctioning body. NASCAR committed itself to building a Hall of Fame and on March 6, 2006, the city of Charlotte,...
. He was featured on the April 9, 2003 episode of the Speed television channel's show Men Behind the Wrenches.
Personal life
Wilson is married to Barbara Wilson. They have two sons and one daughter, and they all work in motorsports.Author
In 1990, Wilson released a book on preparing race motors called Race Engine Preparation.- Race Engine Preparation Waddell Wilson, ISBN 0936834064