Lloyd Moore
Born: June 8, 1912      Died: May 18, 2008         Home: Frewsburg, NY
(Also See Below: Julian E. Buesink)

It is with my deepest sorrow that I am writing this email.
At 3:32pm, May 18, 2008, Lloyd D. Moore passed away. He was surrounded by his family in his home through out the day and at the time of his death. He passed in his sleep peacefully.
We have lost a truly great man.
Lloyd would have been 96 on June 8th.
I am proud to have been his friend.

*Team Oldschool Racing*

Reg Houghwot    RHoughwot@windstream.net

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Letters of Condolence may be sent to:
Mrs. Virginia Moore and Family     152 Frew Run Road    Frewsburg, NY 14738

New Stone as of 9/15/08

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Special Thanks to Vietnam veteran Reggie Houghwot, who not only brought Mr. Moore to our attention, but was also instrumental in the following stories to some great racing information websites. Check 'em out!

August 30th, 2008 - Rich Gardner Wins Inaugural Lloyd Moore Memorial                    
Stateline Speedway, Busti, NY
Dave Scott and Doug Eck made up the Lloyd Moore Super Late Model Memorial front row with Jason Dupont and Rich Gardner in row two. Greg Oakes and Andy Boozel were in row three. Scott led after the first circuit with Eck way up on the cushion in second. John Lobb stopped with three laps complete for the first caution. Scott, Eck, Dupont, Gardner and Scott Johnson were the top five for the lap four restart. Starter Mark Matthews waived of the first attempted restart and took the second. Dupont got crossed up on the restart for caution two which also saw Mike Bihler and Bruce Hordusky collected in the incident. Merle Terry looped in turn two with four complete for the third caution. Scott remained on the inside of the speedway as Eck rode the cushion after the restart. Scott was able to slowly pull away from Eck. Bump Headman was the next to have problems with a turn one spin with eight of the thirty laps complete for caution four. Eck moved to the bottom after the restart opening the top for Gardner who quickly took advantage to become the new leader on lap eleven. Scott stayed with Gardner as Eck fell to a distant third. Eck continued his slide turning third over to Oakes just past the half way mark. A smoking Adam Ferri pulled into the pits on lap twenty and the race remained green. Gardner entered lap traffic on lap twenty-two several car lengths ahead of the second place Scott. Oakes passed Scott in traffic to briefly hold the second spot but Scott regained it one lap later. Gardner cruised through heavy lap traffic to win the inaugural memorial event reinforcing his point lead and getting his first win of the season and his eighteenth career win at Stateline.           *Team Oldschool Racing*

Where is ... Lloyd Moore? At 95, recognized as NASCAR's oldest living driver By Rick Houston, Special to NASCAR.COM        September 27, 2007 Most of us can only read about NASCAR history. Lloyd Moore lived it. At 95, he's considered to be the oldest living former NASCAR driver. Moore ran a total of 49 Grand National races between 1949 -- the first year of what's now the Cup circuit -- and 1955. He captured 13 top-fives and 23 top-10s along the way, and one win in 1950 at Winchester, Ind. That's the cold, hard data, the numbers that can be found in any old and dusty record book. Moore's story is far more than just a few columns of statistics. When he talks about Bill Rexford, the 1950 Grand National champion, he speaks not of a myth but of a friend and teammate. When Moore speaks of Lee Petty, Petty becomes more than just Richard's father and Kyle's grandpa. No. Moore remembers the fierce competitor that the elder Petty was. Red Byron, NASCAR's first Strictly Stock champion. Bill France Sr. His own car owner, Julian Buesink. Moore can tell you about all of 'em. "We had no idea what it was going to turn into," Moore said of the sport's growth. "It really, really growed up, from driving on dirt tracks to the tracks they've got now. It's sure a lot of improvement. Moore lives in the Frewsburg, N.Y. house in which he was born on June 8, 1912. Forget NASCAR. That was before the sinking of the Titanic. Before World War I. The airplane was less than a decade old ... and Moore would live to see men walk on the moon. Moore still mows the grass when he's able. He putters around the garage. He does a little bit of housework ... and the dishes. Imagine that. Married 60 years to Virginia, Moore still has a "honey-do" list. Moore's father lost a leg when he was 5. As a result, everybody in the family had to help out around the farm. His mother and the rest of the Moore kids "done a good share of the work." The family had fields to plant, and horses and cattle to tend. "When he picked farming for a life-long job, it's about the worst thing he could've done," Moore said. "Because farming, you need two legs, sometimes four legs, sometimes two or three arms ... sometimes more ... to keep going." Moore drove a school bus beginning in the early 1930s, and he also worked as a mechanic in a Studebaker garage. There was the time he bought an airplane and taught himself how to fly. Call it a wild streak or what, but Moore evidently craved excitement. An old jalopy on the farm became Moore's first racecar. He would branch out into NASCAR in 1949, when he finished sixth in one of Buesink's cars at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh. Rexford took third in a Buesink Ford. The multi-car team concept had been born. In that, and several other instances, Buesink seemed well ahead of his time. The cars Moore and Rexford drove were good cars. They might have different cars for different types of tracks. If they needed it, they took cars right off the showroom floor to race. "You couldn't find any better [a person than Buesink], no matter how far you looked," Moore said. "You couldn't find any better nowhere. He was good, a good sponsor. He owned the cars and Bill and I just drove 'em or wrecked 'em for him. Moore insists that there was "not a bit" of competition between himself and Rexford, who died in April 1994. "Bill ... he had a high temper to a certain extent, but we got along good," Moore said. "We raced each other the same as we raced other drivers on the track." Petty, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. "Out on the track, he was an enemy," Moore said. "He was a good driver. Off the track, he was real friendly. I forget where it was, but I started before him. When we got to runnin', he booted me in the bumper a little bit. That was something I didn't think was necessary, and I told him afterward. He said, 'Well ... that was just an accident on purpose.'" Moore finished second twice in 1950 and third three times before finally winning at the track then known as Fund's Speedway in Winchester, in his next to last start of the season. Only 13 cars were in the field because many, if not most, of the day's top drivers chose instead to head to another Grand National event the same day in Martinsville. "When I first seen the track, we kinda came over a hill and here was the track," said Moore, who would finish fourth in the 1950 Grand National standings. "I told Julie, the car owner, 'I don't like the looks of that track.' It was scary, but after we got onto it, it commenced to being like a regular ol' track of any kind. We just got used to it." Six children -- all girls -- were born to Moore and his wife. Ask how many grandchildren he has, and Moore has to check with Virginia. Moore has 14 grand kids ... and 32 great-grandchildren. All live within a radius of 25 miles. He left the sport to concentrate on providing for his family. Still, to this day, Moore loves racing. "When I quit [racing], I quit a hundred percent," Moore concluded. "That was the end of it. I'd had about five years of it. I figured my job was at home. ... [Racing]'s still in my blood. You couldn't wash it out. If I'd made a little better progress when I was there, financially, I might've stayed for another spell. But not making too much money when you had the family to help support, that didn't go over too good in my estimation." By Rick Houston, Special to NASCAR.COM        September 27, 2007

Beyond The Cockpit : World's Oldest Living NASCAR Driver Shares Memories with Delightful Wit and Down-Home Wisdom NASCAR Driver Q & A · Becca Gladden (www.BeccaGladden.com) · Thursday Sept. 27, 2007 Western New York state resident Lloyd Moore is the last of the ‘49ers. Not the gold-rush ‘49ers – at age 95, Moore is about a hundred years too young for that. Nevertheless, Moore is a pioneer of sorts. He raced cars in the Strictly Stock series – predecessor of modern-day NASCAR – in its very first year of competitive racing. Talking with Lloyd Moore is like chatting with your grandpa or a long-time neighbor. He instantly puts you at ease with his friendly manner and makes you feel like a member of the family. Despite the passage of time – over half a century since he first took to the track – Moore’s memory is crystal clear as he recalls the series of events that led to his start as a race car driver. “Of course, we had jalopies around here,” he said of his humble beginnings. Lloyd was working as a garage mechanic and racing jalopies on local dirt tracks when a nearby resident asked him for a favor. “Bill Rexford wanted to borrow my helmet, and I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he was going to drive for Julian Buesink in NASCAR.” Lloyd Moore – pictured here in 1950 – racked up one win, 13 Top 5s, and 23 Top 10s in a five-year career in Strictly Stock – better known today as the Nextel Cup series. Buesink owned a car dealership in the area and was preparing to launch a NASCAR team. “Well, that was a good start,” recalls Moore. “I was working at the Studebaker garage in Jamestown. Julian had a used car lot up the street. One noon hour, I walked over there and Julian’s brother-in-law was there, and I told him to tell Julian to stop down at the garage sometime. Just a couple of days later, he comes wheeling in and he says, ‘I hear you want to drive a race car,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I do.’” Julian told Lloyd that he was getting ready to field cars at an upcoming race in Pennsylvania. “They were going to Heidelberg (PA), and he said, ‘If you want to drive, that’s a good place to try it.’ So we drove down there and tried to qualify, but the car wasn’t exactly what it should be. I got in the race and it went along pretty good. When it was all over, I took sixth place.” That race was the seventh race of the inaugural Strictly Stock season in 1949, making Lloyd the oldest living former NASCAR driver in the world. With a bit of a chuckle, Lloyd adds that he was victim of “one of the worst things that could have happened” in his first NASCAR race: “A woman beat me out by one spot.” Indeed, Sara Christian finished the Heidelberg race in fifth, one position ahead of Lloyd. The winner that day was a young driver whose name also might be familiar – Lee Petty, father of Richard and grandfather of Kyle. Moore remembers him as the best driver he ever competed against. “There were a number of good drivers, but Lee Petty is the one I kind of looked up to.” Lloyd Moore was 37 years old when he started competing, a farm owner and father of a young family that eventually grew to include six daughters. But he had been bitten by the racing bug and was determined to compete as often as the constraints of time, money, and responsibilities back home would allow. “I went on to race at a number of different tracks in the north here, through the central states, and in Florida,” Moore said. “I wound up down there at Daytona Beach and at a number of race tracks throughout the state.” Racing off and on for the next several years, Moore competed in a total of 49 Strictly Stock and Grand National events, earning 13 Top 5s, 23 Top 10s, and one victory. His lone win came on October 15, 1950, at Funk’s Speedway in Winchester, Indiana; at the time, Lloyd was driving a 1950 Mercury owned by Buesink. “We did a lot of traveling,” said Moore. “We did night traveling as well as daytime. But we drove our cars to the track. Now, they have big vans that haul all the cars. We used to drive our cars and they had the number on the side, and that wasn’t too good if you passed a police officer,” he laughed. Eventually, the balancing act between racing and family demands became too hard to sustain, and Moore was forced to hang up his helmet for good. “I started in about 1950, and I had about five years of it. I had a big family, and we lived on a farm with animals, so I couldn’t spare myself,” said Moore, who still lives in the Frewsburg, New York, house that his father built in the 1890s. “I had too many things going on here. At the end of five years, I just called it quits.” Of course, it wasn’t as financially feasible then, either; being a race car driver didn’t pay much in the early days, especially when compared to today’s purses. The idea of a pension plan for drivers has been bandied about for years…but Moore is not a supporter. “When a driver gets what they get for one of those races (today), I don’t know that it’s necessary to have a pension plan. When they can get a million bucks for a win, that’s a lot of dough, especially compared to what I got.” Another difference between racing fifty years ago and today is the cost and availability of gasoline and other natural resources – a topic which Moore thinks about often. “As far as the gas situation, why waste all the gasoline and the tires and everything when some people can’t even afford transportation?” he wonders. “But, I don’t think they would cancel any of the races on that account.” Like any race fan – especially one whose involvement in NASCAR dates back to the beginning – Lloyd has his favorite and not-so-favorite drivers. “Anybody that drives a Ford, I’ll go along with that,” says the lifelong Ford fancier. “Carl Edwards, I think, is an all-around jolly person. He’s good for the sport. I like to see when he wins a race, he’s really happy.” And the back flip? “There’s nothing like it. I get a kick out of that. I kind of go for that.” On the other hand, Lloyd has reservations about some of today’s biggest NASCAR stars. “Something I don’t really get into is Junior,” he said, noting, “He’s had a lot of family trouble. I’m not really a fan of Jeff Gordon either, but he’s done good and he’s in a good position for the ‘shoot-out’, you might say.” And Tony Stewart? “I think if he’d race more with his hands and feet than he does with his mouth, he might get somewhere,” Moore quipped. The world’s oldest living NASCAR driver also has a bit of advice for the guys in charge of the sport. “I’m just a teeny bit disappointed in NASCAR,” he admits, “the way they’ve played it like Hollywood. If I had charge of it, I would make each driver put on a plain suit. They’ve got advertising on their cars – why do they need it all over their clothes? It looks kind of silly to me. I guess maybe the fans like it, but I don’t. They don’t need to decorate themselves up like Christmas trees.” Moore also voiced concerns about the way races are broadcast on TV these days: “There’s too much monkeying around before the race. They schedule a race for three o’clock, and when you turn it on, you get a whole hour of just baloney. I guess they have to have a certain amount of advertising, but an hour of it before a race – that’s too much.” “But it’s a good sport,” he continued. “I watch it. We have television. Well, I’ll watch maybe the first ten laps, and then the sandman comes,” he laughs. “I don’t like the long races. You can go take a shower and wash your feet and come back and it’s still the same.” Hey, NASCAR, is anyone listening? STILL not getting the Frontstretch newsletter? Consider that in just the past two weeks, we’ve been first in line for the following stories – the sale of Brewco, the inside story behind Rensi Motorsports, and the possibility of Robert Yates using the No. 28 for Nextel Cup competition in 2008. If you want to be the first to know about the week’s breaking stories – and if you can’t get enough of your favorite Frontstretch columnists – then you’re missing out on a special part of our site! Click here to get yourself signed up today! Don't forget to check out the REST of today's stories on The Frontstretch!

USA TODAY 5/21/08
Lloyd Moore, NASCAR's oldest ex-driver, dies at 95 
FREWSBURG, N.Y. Lloyd Moore, a NASCAR winner in 1950 and the oldest former driver, has died at 95.

Moore died in his sleep Sunday in Frewsburg, in the home where he was born in 1912, according to NASCAR's website. James Bailey, Moore's son-in-law who will preside at his funeral as pastor of Wheeler Hill United Methodist Church, said Tuesday evening that Moore had been in generally good health until the day he died.

"He didn't sleep well Saturday night, fell asleep around 5 a.m., and his wife couldn't wake him up Sunday afternoon," Bailey said.

Moore scored his lone NASCAR victory in Winchester, Ind., and finished fourth in the 1950 standings. He drove from 1949-55 in the Grand National series against Lee Petty, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts and other contemporaries.

Happy Birthday Mr. Moore; ARCA's Oldest, Living Winner Special Thanks to Vietnam veteran Reggie Houghwot, who not only brought Mr. Moore to ARCA's attention, was also instrumental in the following story. FREWSBURG NY (5-24-07) - He still lives in the same 1890s-built house his father and grandfather grew up in, and died in. He still cuts his own grass, about two to three acres around the property he grew his roots on. He still attends the same church he has gone to since day one, about a mile over the closest hill. He's still married to his lovely bride Virginia, 60 years and counting. He is not only the oldest, living NASCAR winner, he is also the oldest, living ARCA winner, and he'll be 95 on June 8th. His name is Lloyd Moore, and he's alive and well living just outside of Frewsburg, New York. And he is remarkably sharp in mind and body. The photo here is recent. A school bus driver/mechanic and racecar driver, Moore seemed to get more satisfaction out of delivering kids safely to school than he ever got out of racing. Nonetheless, it was fun while it lasted. In fact, his racing career, which includes a career-best fourth place points finish in the 1950 NASCAR Grand National division (known today as the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series), lasted a brief six years. For Moore, there were more important things pressing - like raising his six girls. "I had a big family," said Moore. "Taking care of them was always more important than racing." While his greatest joys were always his six kids, and now 13 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren, there is one prize in the cabinet he also holds dear - a trophy from his all-time favorite track - Dayton Speedway. And it was there at Dayton Speedway where on June 6th, 1954 Lloyd Moore drove Julian Buesink's Ford to victory lane in the MARC (ARCA)-sanctioned Metropolitan 300. Lloyd Moore was born in the house he still lives in on June 8th, 1912 where he worked the family farm when he wasn't attending school. "I only made it a year and a half into high school. There was just too much work to do on the farm. My father lost his leg just below the knee; I guess he made a poor choice to be a farmer because that put a lot of the work back on everyone else. "My mother used to get on her hay wagon, and we'd shovel it up to her the best we could." In 1930, Moore got a job with the local school system hauling school kids to and from school. In 1935, he went to work for Studebaker "slinging wrenches" for the next 17 years. During that time, he bought his first school bus in 1939 and continued to work for the school system maintaining the buses and delivering students. Then in the mid-40s, his adventurous nature began surface, no doubt a sign of things to come. "I bought an airplane in 1945. Never took a flying test but we figured out how to fly it. I remember my nephew wanted a ride. We cranked it up, took off and got up about a 100 feet. Well, someone didn't turn the gas back on, and the motor just quit. We came back down in the woods, chased the birds right out of the trees. We were lucky to climb out of the crazy thing; that ended my flying for a while." From flying airplanes, Moore, interested in all things mechanical, started racing jalopies locally at dirt tracks known as Warren and Penny Royal. Moore won a lot of races in his jalopy at Penny Royal. "Penny Royal was so dusty you really couldn't see. I remember there was a maple tree in turn three. I knew that when I got to the maple tree it was time to turn left, otherwise you'd end up in the cow pasture." Then Julian Buesink, a local car dealer out of Findley Lake, New York, started a NASCAR team in 1950. Buesink was credited with starting the first multi-car team, even utilizing different cars for different types of tracks. Little could he know how the precedent he set so long ago would take hold in the modern stock car era. "Bill Rexford (far right) came here one evening and wanted to borrow my helmet. I asked him what he wanted my helmet for. He told me he was racing Buesink's car at Langhorne. Well that peaked my interest. "I was working at Studebaker at the time. Well, one noon I went up the street to Julian's used car lot, and I asked him to stop in the garage when he gets a chance. Couple days later, he walks in the Studebaker garage and said, ‘I hear you want to drive one of my cars. Well, I've got one for Heidelberg if you're still interested.' I said, yah, I'd go over there." And so Moore did go to Heidelberg, thus becoming a teammate to Rexford, who would go on to win the NASCAR championship in 1950. "That was my first NASCAR race at Heidelberg in 1949. I'll never forget it. I got my ears pinned back by a girl." Moore finished sixth that day to NASCAR's first female racer Sara Christian, who finished fifth. At left, an early-days huddle-up drivers meeting. Moore is third from right. "I remember getting down there. The car was a standard shift and we had the wrong gear ratio in the rear-end. Julian called back to his shop and told ‘em to get a rear-end out of a car from the showroom floor and have it ready. Julian and I drove the car back home, put a different rear-end in it and drove it back to Pittsburgh for the race. Then we drove it home. "Racing back then was an experience, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but I loved every minute of it. There were lots of tough guys on the circuit then, pioneers of sorts. Most were short on money and equipment but tough as all get out when they got behind the wheel of a car." Moore fondly refers to Lee Petty as being one of the fiercest competitors of the era. "We were best of friends," Moore said of Petty. "Except on the track where we were bitter enemies. I remember once Lee booted me in the rear-end, and we had just started the race. When the race was over, I told Lee I didn't think that was necessary. He looked at me and said, ‘I thought you needed a little help.' We had more fun than a bushel of monkeys! "I remember one time on the way back from a race, we stopped at Lee's house and he invited us in and fed us, so I guess we couldn't have been too big of enemies." At the tail-end of the 1950 season Moore won the 200-lap NASCAR race at Winchester Speedway. Following Moore across the finish line were Buckie Sager in second followed by Bill Rexford, Chuck James and Ray Duhigg. The race paid $1,000 to win, a pretty sizeable payoff for 1950. Moore also ran on Daytona Beach in '50, '51 and '52 with best finishes of 3rd, 10th and 10th. "I loved running the beach. If you went over the bank at the one end, you'd end up in a junkyard. That happened to me once." Through it all, his favorite track was Dayton Speedway. "When I first saw the place, I told Julian I didn't like the place; it was down in a bowl. They were going around at a pretty good clip; it took me a while to get used to. But once I got on to it, I loved it. I remember sitting on the pole there with Fonty Flock. That was quite an honor for me. "Darlington was the first real big track I raced on. I wasn't real crazy about it, but I raced there." As the mid-50s approached, Moore began to have a change of heart regarding his racing career. "I never knew where I was going from one week to the next. Wherever Julian said we were going, that's where we went. If he didn't feel like traveling to wherever NASCAR was, we'd pick up a MARC race somewhere closer. But I was always leaving my family. This went on for five or six years....going all around the country. It just caught up with me. I just decided one day my family was more important than driving cars in circles." So at the end of the '55 season Moore hung up his helmet for good. He attended one more race as a spectator in 1956 and hasn't returned to a racetrack since. After working at Buesink's Corry Ford Garage in Corry, PA for a couple years, Moore returned to his roots and went to work for the local township running the Frewsburg High School bus garage driving and maintaining the buses for the school system. From there he retired in 1974.   These days, he lives with his wife of 60 years, Virginia. With kids, grandkids and great grandkids clamoring all around for photos with their old racing hero, Moore still tunes in every now and then to NASCAR races. "He usually starts out watching the NASCAR race, then he falls asleep," explained his wife Virginia. "Then I wake him up for the last few laps or so." Always a Ford fan, he roots for anyone in a Ford, mostly from the Roush Racing camp. "I have a lot of respect for Jeff Burton," added Moore. "He's really a clean driver...earns his positions the hard way...passes people without moving them or wrecking them. He had a chance to put Matt (Kenseth) out of a race once, and he didn't do it. I respect him for that. For most of the other catbirds it would have been different. "The thing I don't like about NASCAR today is that it's too much Hollywood. I read where the race coverage gets going at 1, or whatever. I turn it on and the race don't start till 3. Way too much Hollywood; just give me the race. "Now I see gas prices as they are, and it just doesn't make much sense to me.....$3.00 a gallon to go around in circles." For many years, Moore was all but forgotten in terms of being a pioneer to NASCAR's top division. "My nephew was watching a NASCAR race on the TV when he heard that Buddy Helms, 87, was being honored as the oldest living NASCAR driver in a parade at one of the races (Homestead-Miami Speedway). "Well, he got right on the phone and got a hold of NASCAR and told them they had the wrong guy. He told them ‘the oldest, living NASCAR driver was my Uncle, and he's alive and well in Frewsburg, New York. Everyone around here knew it, but NASCAR didn't. Well, we finally got that straightened out." These days, Lloyd Moore spends his days at home with his bride Virginia refusing to go much of anywhere outside of an occasional trip to the doctor's office where the doctors continue to tell him he's in remarkably good shape. In the warmer months, he can still be seen riding his 1949 Ford home-built tractor cutting his acres of grass on the very ground he grew up on, and that suits him just fine. When asked if he would ever move from his home to a more accommodating place, he answers quickly and sharply. "I beg your pardon. The next time I move it'll be halfway up the hill to Frewsburg Cemetery.".....right next to that same Methodist church he still goes to in the little mountain town that shall always wear the pride of nurturing one of stock car racing's true blue pioneers. Outside of a small scattering of photos from his racing days, his only memoir is the trophy for winning the ARCA Metropolitan 300 at Dayton Speedway in 1954. After all, he is the oldest, living ARCA winner, and quite fortunately he's alive and well in Frewsburg, New York. And he'll be 95 years young on June 8th. From all of us at ARCA, happy birthday Mr. Moore, and give our best to Virginia. Thanks to ARCA and Don Radebaugh  and Reg Houghwot for the heads-up on the story. For Lloyd Moore requests write Reg Houghwot RHoughwot@windstream.net

RARE Photo Courtesy of Reginald Houghwot
Lloyd Moore (left) and Bill Rexford (right) going through turns 3 & 4
at Penny Royal Race Track, Leon N.Y. in a jalopy race, 1947.

Photo Courtesy of Reggie Houghwot

Moore still revving at 95   -   Is oldest living NASCAR driver By Keith McShea NEWS SPORTS REPORTER      8/23/07            John Hickey/Buffalo News Lloyd Moore was part of the Strictly Stocks season in 1949, the first year of what is now known as the NASCAR Nextel Cup. FREWSBURG — One day this summer, a young man was doing resurfacing work on Frew Run Road. He worked in front of a modest, beige-and-brick two story house, the one with the American flag atop a flagpole out front and a placard of the Ten Commandments resting among flowers at its base. And the young man knew who lived inside. So when Lloyd Moore walked to the foot of his gravel driveway to see what was going on, the young man introduced himself and the two got to talking. “He said, ‘You’re so-and-so, ain’t ya?’ ” Moore recalled. “This guy says, ‘I used to do some racing myself,’ so we ended up having a jam session right down there in the middle of the road. It was fun.” The young man knew Moore because Moore has lived in that house his entire life — all 95 years of it. Which makes him the oldest living NASCAR driver. Moore will tell you that, sure, he drove for a living, but that was at the steering wheel of a school bus, or as he puts it, “haulin’ kids.” And he worked with cars, but that was “slingin’ wrenches” as a mechanic for the Studebaker garage on Washington Street in Jamestown. But for a little more than six years, he skidded through the sand on Daytona Beach and drove dirt tracks against stock car legends such as Lee Petty, Buck Baker and Fireball Roberts. Moore was part of the Strictly Stocks season in 1949, the first year of what is now known as the NASCAR Nextel Cup. His distinction as the oldest living driver — his birthday is June 8, 1912 — has brought him letters from racing fans — some from schoolchildren, some looking for autographs, even one from Australia. He’s even had a few people, eager to hear his story, wind their way down Frew Run Road, about 5 miles from the center of the hamlet of Frewsburg. There they’ve found the house Moore’s father built in the 1890s on what was the family farm. It’s where Moore and his wife of 60-plus years, 84-year-old Virginia, have raised six daughters and a family that has grown to 13 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. Moore tells his story with sharp detail — and maybe even sharper wit — from the living room. That’s where the television and his easy chair are, where Moore sits and watches what NASCAR has become. “There’s too much baloney,” he says with a smile. He tunes into today’s races and revels at the money and the speeds, questions why there needs to be an hourl ong show before the race starts, and wonders how they go through all that gas and all those tires. Today’s NASCAR drivers take jet planes and helicopters each week to the track, to which their race cars — including a backup car — are transported in huge tractor-trailers. In Moore’s day, he’d drive overnight to a race, unload the trunk, then roll that same car out on the track. “We just stuck a number on the side, took ’em down and raced ’em,” Moore said. “Today they talk about putting in a half-pound of air. When we raced, we just made sure we had air in the tires. The suits these guys wear, they’re spotted with advertisements. We used to climb in just about like this [pointing to his buttoned shirt and slacks] with tennis shoes on. On the dirt tracks, you’d get so filthy you wouldn’t be recognized. “Of course, when they do get going, it’s good to watch. The only thing is, it’d be nice if they slowed them down some so I can see them when they go by the camera.” When he invites people to the back room to see his small collection of racing memorabilia, he moves slowly but steadily. Moore is fully recovered from a stroke he suffered last year, and his doctors tell him he is in good health. He wears special eyeglasses for his double vision, which halted his driving in recent years; Virginia drives him to doctor’s appointments. “I’ve got my tractor, and they can’t stop me from driving that,” says Moore, who still gives his great grandkids a ride from time to time and regularly hops on his riding lawnmower to cut 2 acres. On the wall in the back room, there’s a framed picture of Moore and fellow driver Bill Rexford. Moore and Rexford, of Conewango Valley, were something of a Southern Tier racing team for car owner Julian Buesink of Findley Lake. Moore had raced what he calls “jalopies” on Southern Tier tracks in Busti and Leon as well as Sugar Grove, Pa. One day in 1949, Rexford asked to borrow Moore’s helmet. “I asked him what was going on, and he said he was going to race NASCAR with Buesink,” said Moore, who was then 37 years old. Moore asked Buesink if he could race and made his first NASCAR start in Heidelberg, Pa., near Pittsburgh, earning $150 for a sixth-place finish behind winner Petty. The 1950 season would be the most notable for Moore as well as Rexford. Moore earned his only NASCAR win, at Winchester, Ind., and finished a career-best fourth in the standings behind winner Rexford. “Nowadays you look up and see a $5 million purse,” said Moore, his eyes wide behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “Boy, they used to come out and hand us a couple hundred bucks for winning first place. But we didn’t know any different at the time, we were just starting in it. NASCAR, the way it was started, it’s a miracle it turned into the thing it is today. “Because it was started on moonshine. Guys were racing to get away from the cops, and [NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. put them together and let them race against themselves. It sure turned out to be something.” Lee Petty — a three-time series champion, the winner of the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and the father of Richard Petty and grandfather of current driver Kyle Petty — was a friendly foe of Moore. “Bitter enemies on the track but the best of buddies off of it,” Moore said. At Moore’s first visit to the deep paved bowl at Dayton, Ohio, Petty offered the use of his car since it was set up for that track. But in a race at Detroit, Petty rammed Moore in the back bumper and offered Moore an explanation that’s still around today: “That was an accident on purpose.” Another framed picture shows Moore’s No. 59 charging through the sand on Daytona Beach’s North Turn. Before building Daytona International Speedway, France held February races on a 4.1-mile course that ran its frontstretch down an asphalt road parallel to the beach and the backstretch right on the beach. “When the tide came in too much, they’d have to stop the race,” said Moore, who finished third at Daytona in 1950 and 10th the next two years. The only trophy in Moore’s back room is for winning the Metropolitan 300 at Dayton Speedway in 1954. That wasn’t a NASCAR race but was sanctioned by the Midwest Association for Race Cars, which is now known as ARCA. Soon, the responsibilities of home, farming and his family put an end to his racing. “I’d had my fill of it,” he said. “All that gallivanting around the country caught up with me. I just decided that my family was more important than driving cars in circles.” (Editor's Note: Moore won a NASCAR race - see stats below-click) After working as a mechanic and an independent school bus driver, he ran the school bus garage for the Frewsburg school district for 17 years, retiring in 1974. There’s a picture of Moore and his bus driving corps on the wall as well. The garage at the end of the gravel driveway houses his beloved baby blue 1949 Ford tractor, a 1970s Ford lawnmower and the Moores’ tan Ford Taurus sedan. Guess which NASCAR drivers he roots for? “Anybody who drives a Ford,” he says. “I’m a Ford man.” kmcshea@buffnews.com

This is Lloyd's first jalopy. Seated in the car is Lloyd's wife Virginia. The photo was taken at Satan's Bowl of Death (would you race in a place named that?) in Sugar Grove, Pa. in 1941. Lloyd finished in first place.  Courtesy of "TEAM OLD SCHOOL RACING" Reg Houghwot

NASCAR's oldest living driver, Lloyd Moore, is expected to attend the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame's ''A Night with Kyle Petty Dinner and Racing Collectibles Auction'' on Monday, Dec. 11 at the Lakewood Rod and Gun Club. Moore, now 94 years old and still residing near his hometown of Frewsburg, will be the guest of Hall of Fame director, Dr. Chuck Sinatra.
                          
                                          Lloyd Moore with his friend Kyle Petty   (Reginald Houghwot Picture)

Moore, who had 49 starts in his NASCAR career, drove his first Grand National race in 1949, the first year of existence for Bill France's Daytona Beach based sanctioning body. Lloyd, who was 37 years old at the time, drove a '49 Ford for Findley Lake car dealer Julian Buesink in a 200-lap race at the half-mile Heidelburg Speedway located near Pittsburgh. He finished in sixth place, 14 laps behind race winner Lee Petty, earning $150.

The story behind Moore's first NASCAR race illustrates how far the sport has advanced since 1949. When Lloyd got to Heidelberg Speedway, he soon realized his car had the wrong gear ratio for that track. So he called back to Findley Lake and told Julian's mechanics to take the rear end out of another car that was for sale on Buesink's car lot. Moore drove his race car back to Findley Lake, swapped rear ends, and then drove his racer back to Pittsburgh.

Finishing one position ahead of Moore that day was lady racer Sara Christian, who scored a career-best fifth-place result. Lloyd quipped, ''I got beat on the track by a lady and when I got back home, Julian beat me up again.''

The following year, Moore entered 16 of the 19 scheduled NASCAR events. He recorded seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10 results, finishing fourth in the final point championship tally, earning $5,580. Lloyd's highlight of the 1950 season was his first and only NASCAR win, a victory in a 200-lap race at Funk's Speedway, a half-mile oiled dirt track in Winchester, Ind. He wheeled a '50 Mercury from the Buesink stables to the $1,000 first prize money.

Moore was part of a three-car team fielded by Julian Buesink in 1950. Bill Rexford of Conewango Valley entered 17 races and George Hartley of Erie, Pa., competed in eight events. Buesink believed that it took a different kind of car to be successful at the wide variety of racetracks that NASCAR visited and as such he campaigned Fords, Mercurys, Oldsmobiles and Lincolns.

Many NASCAR fans might think that the youngest driver to win the national championship in NASCAR's top division was Jeff Gordon, who was 24 when he won the Winston Cup title in 1995. However, the original ''Wonder Boy'' was Lloyd Moore's teammate, Bill Rexford, who was just 23 years old when he captured the NASCAR Grand National Championship in 1950.

Rexford competed in 17 of the scheduled 19 events in the 1950 season, winning at Canfield, Ohio, in a '50 Olds 88, and recording 11 top-10 finishes to edge Glenn ''Fireball'' Roberts for the title. Roberts, who was just 21 years old, only entered nine races, but earned enough points to finish second, one position ahead of Lee Petty. Actually, Petty may have been able to win the championship had he not been stripped of all his NASCAR points in July for competing in an ''unsanctioned'' race.

Another driver who fell victim to the iron hand of ''Big Bill'' France and his NASCAR rulebook was Red Byron from Atlanta. Byron, the defending 1949 NASCAR GN champ, accrued enough points to land in fourth place in the 1950 championship chase, but he, too, had all his points taken away for racing in an ''outlaw'' event. Officially earning the fourth position in the final 1950 NASCAR GN point listing, therefore, was Lloyd Moore.

The next year, 1951, was Moore's most ambitious NASCARseason as he entered 21 races, scoring four top fives and seven top 10s. He finished 11th in points, earning $2,335. Meanwhile, the defending champion, Rexford, filled the seat in Buesink's cars just 11 times in 1951. Allegedly, there were hard feelings between Buesink and Rexford over the ownership of the 1950 Nash Rambler that was awarded by NASCAR to its 1950 champion.

Moore competed in only a handful of NASCAR races over the next few seasons, finally hanging up his helmet for good in 1955 when he decided he had been away from his family too much. ''It was an experience, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but I loved every minute of it,'' he said. ''There were lots of tough guys on the circuit then, pioneers of sorts. Most were short on money and equipment, but tough as all get out when they got behind the wheel of a car.''

One of the toughest guys Moore raced against was Lee Petty, father of NASCAR icon Richard Petty, and grandfather to current NASCAR racer Kyle Petty. Lloyd related, ''Lee and I were bitter enemies out on the track, but best of buddies when we got off. I first met him at Dayton, Ohio. It was my first trip to that track and I didn't like the looks of it. Lee came over and said, 'You ain't been around here, have you?' I told him I hadn't. We were just getting set up. He said, 'Do you want to take my car?' He offered it to me to drive around the track to see what it was like. Lee was a good guy.''

Moore recalled another incident with Lee Petty that occurred at the one-mile Michigan Fairgrounds track in Detroit. ''We were going into the third turn and Lee came up and banged into the back of my car. When the race was over, I went and chewed him out about it and asked him what was going on. He said, ''Oh, nothing. It was just an accident on purpose.' After that everything was fine.''

Dr. Chuck Sinatra said, ''I am inviting Lloyd to be my guest at the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame event because I think Kyle Petty will get a big kick out of meeting someone who knew his grandfather so well. I also want the attendees of the dinner/auction to meet one of the true pioneers of NASCAR.''

 

Senator Young from
New York giving a Proclamation to
Lloyd Moore in Frewsburg, NY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frewsburg, NY native Lloyd Moore was one of the northern stars in the early days of NASCAR Strictly Stock Grand National racing. Lloyd and his teammate Bill Rexford went traveling in 1950, and were part of a five way battle for the points title. Rexford edged Fireball Roberts for the title, with Moore finishing fourth. Lloyd backed it up in 1951 with an 11th place points finish. He continued racing at that level until 1955, when family concerns curtailed his career. All told, he had 23 career top ten Grand National finishes, including a win at Winchester, IN in 1950.

Currently in his 90's, he is believed to be the oldest living NASCAR Strictly Stock driver.

Parade July 2006. Moore in the rear, Reginald Houghwot in passenger seat    (Reginald Houghwot Picture)

JANUARY 28, 2007

FRIENDS OF AUTO RACING INDUCT

BAKER, COLTON, MOORE, OSBORNE INTO HALL OF FAME

At the annual awards banquet on Saturday, January 27th, the Friends of Auto Racing (F.O.A.R. S.C.O.R.E.) Fan Club inducted four new members into their Hall of Fame. Among the honorees were Ron Baker, Bill Colton, Lloyd Moore, and Lee Osborne.

The annual banquet fetes top drivers in Western New York and Ontario's Niagara Region, and introduces the newest members to the select Hall of those who have had a significant inmpact in the region's rich motorsports history. The event was held at Classics V in Amherst, NY. Masters of Ceremonies Rick Mooney and Dave Buchanan presided over the inductions.

 

Ill health prevented Lloyd Moore from attending the ceremony; racing historian and author Keith Herbst accepted the award on Lloyd's behalf. Long-time area racing announcer Ken Hangauer, Jr. made the presentation.

Those days of racing glory took place at Buffalo's Civic Stadium, Jefferson Avenue and Best Street, with midget and stock car racing events. Memories in words and pictures can be relived through in a new book, "Daredevils of the Frontier," by Western New York native Keith S. Herbst. Promoter Ed Otto, who later helped NASCAR to its big rise, along with early stock car heroes Bill Rafter, Ted Jones, Roy Campbell, Hugh Darragh, Bob Sund, Bill Torrisi, Dutch Hoag, Dick Hurd, Lloyd Moore and Bill Rexford also are featured.

Lloyd Moore generally ran with car numbers 14, 21 59, 95, 195, but mostly #59, especially during 1950 when he finshed 4th overall; The car makes were Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Chrysler

Julian E. Buesink (1931-1998) was Lloyd Moore's car owner and crew chief and was also the owner and crew chief for 1950 Champion Bill Rexford, who ran one more race than Lloyd in 1950. Sometimes the cars were known as the Buesink Police Special. The sponsor was the owner, Buesink Auto Sales.

Julian Buesink is a former NASCAR driver from Findlay Park, NY. He competed in one NASCAR event in his career. That came in 1951, when Buesink competed at Thompson. Starting 17th in the thirty-eight car field, Buesink would finish 27th by the end of the day.
 (Reginald Houghwot Picture)

Julian Buesink Legends Page
 

The first NASCAR race held in Indiana for the division that would eventually the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series took place at Funk’s Speedway in Winchester, Ind. on Oct. 15, 1950. Named for Frank Funk, the man who carved the track out of a corn field in 1916 with a horse-drawn plow, the track featured a covered wooden grandstand holding 5,000 and a high-banked, pot-holed dirt surface which measured a half-mile in length. It is a stark contrast to today’s 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with its super-smooth racing surface, seating for over 200,000 and infield championship golf course. Indiana’s first NASCAR race was for 100 miles or 200 laps. The starting field consisted of 13 cars with the short field due to a major NASCAR race being run the same day at Martinsville, Va. Dick Linder from Pittsburgh, Pa. put Don Rogala’s Olds 88 on the pole for Funk’s event. Linder led the first three laps before being taken out on Lap 4 with mechanical problems. Ohio’s Bucky Sager took over the front spot on Lap 4 and held it to Lap 149, relinquishing the lead to Lloyd Moore. Moore led the last 51 laps for his only NASCAR win, collecting $1,000 for his efforts. Moore, a school bus mechanic from Frewsburg, N.Y., raced on the weekends for New York car dealer Julian Buesink. Moore still lives in Frewsburg and at age 94 is the oldest surviving NASCAR driver.
 

The seventh race of the 1949 Strictly Stock season was held October 2 at Heidelberg Raceway. Al Bonnell won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Lee Petty
2. Dick Linder
3. Bill Rexford
4. Sam Rice
5. Sara Christian
6. Lloyd Moore
7. John Wright
8. Jack Russell
9. Skip Lewis
10. Don Rogala

The first race of the 1950 season was run on February 5 at the Daytona Beach road course in Daytona Beach, Florida. Joe Littlejohn won the pole.

The 1950 running of the Daytona beach and road course moved to the more traditional month of February, becoming the inaugural race of the season for the first time. The “Strictly Stock” name had given way to the “Grand National” division, a name that stuck until 1971. Harold Kite, in his first NASCAR start used his experience as a military tank driver to pilot his huge ’49 Lincoln over the tough and rutted beach sections of the course. Defending champion Red Byron took the lead on lap 15, but his pit stop and a second stop for a jammed gear shifting linkage dropped him from the lead, allowing Kite to take the point again. While Kite led unmolested to cruise to a 53-second lead, Byron thrilled the spectators with a wide open sprint to overtake second place Lloyd Moore, capping off the comeback with a last lap pass to take the second position. Attendance was up to 9,500 people though the winner’s purse was down to $1,500…well, some things always seem to stay the same.

Top Ten Results

1. Harold Kite
2. Red Byron
3. Lloyd Moore
4. Al Gross
5. J.C. Van Landingham
6. Tim Flock
7. Bob Flock
8. Otis Martin
9. Buck Baker
10. Fonty Flock

The third race of the 1950 season was run on April 16 at Langhorne Speedway in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Tim Flock won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Curtis Turner
2. Lloyd Moore
3. Jimmy Florian
4. Tim Flock
5. Lee Petty
6. Frank Mundy
7. Pappy Hough
8. Bob Dickson
9. Dick Linder
10. Pepper Cunningham

The fourth race of the 1950 season was run on May 21 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. Buck Baker won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Curtis Turner
2. Jim Paschal
3. Lee Petty
4. Glenn Dunnaway
5. Clyde Minter
6. Bill Long
7. Donald Thomas
8. Buck Baker
9. Bill Rexford
10. Lloyd Moore

The fifth race of the 1950 season was run on May 30 at Canfield Speedway in Canfield, Ohio. Jimmy Florian won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Bill Rexford
2. Glenn Dunnaway
3. Lloyd Moore
4. Lee Petty
5. Bill Blair
6. Jimmy Florian
7. Dick Burns (driver)
8. Bobby Courtwright
9. Tim Flock
10. Bob Dickson

The sixth race of the 1950 season was run on June 18 at Vernon Fairgrounds in Vernon, New York. Chuck Mahoney won the pole.

Top Ten Reults

1. Bill Blair
2. Lloyd Moore
3. Chuck Mahoney
4. Dick Burns (driver)
5. Lee Petty
6. Bill Rexford
7. Art Lamey
8. Jimmy Florian
9. Dick Linder
10. Dick Clothier

The eighth race of the 1950 season was run on July 2 at Monroe County Fairgrounds in Rochester, New York. Curtis Turner won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Curtis Turner
2. Bill Blair
3. Lee Petty
4. Jimmy Florian
5. Bill Rexford
6. Dick Clothier
7. Lloyd Moore
8. Lyle Scott
9. Dick Jerrett
10. Dick Linder

The eleventh race of the 1950 season was run on August 20 at Dayton Speedway in Dayton, Ohio. Curtis Turner won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Dick Linder
2. Red Harvey
3. Herb Thomas
4. Lee Petty
5. Art Lamey
6. Paul Parks
7. Jack Kabat
8. Lloyd Moore
9. Joe Nagle
10. Paul Smith

The twelfth race of the 1950 season was run on August 27 at Hamburg Speedway in Hamburg, New York. Dick Linder won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Dick Linder
2. Fireball Roberts
3. Curtis Turner
4. Lloyd Moore
5. Jack White
6. Bill Rexford
7. Frank Mundy
8. Ted Chamberlain
9. Pappy Hough
10. Bill Blair

The sixteenth race of the 1950 season was run on October 1 at Vernon Fairgrounds in Vernon, New York. Dick Linder won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Dick Linder
2. Ted Swaim
3. Lloyd Moore
4. Tim Flock
5. Jack Reynolds
6. Bill Rexford
7. Lee Petty
8. Jimmy Thompson
9. Chuck Mahoney
10. Dick Jerrett

The eighteenth race of the 1950 season was run on October 15 at Funk's Speedway in Winchester, Indiana. Dick Linder won the pole.

Top Ten Results

1. Lloyd Moore
2. Bucky Sager
3. Bill Rexford
4. Chuck James
5. Ray Duhigg
6. Carl Renner
7. Jimmy Florian
8. Chuck Garrett
9. Bud Boone
10. Buck Barr

Final Points Standings

1. Bill Rexford 1949.5
2. Fireball Roberts 1848.5
3. Lee Petty 1590.0
4. Lloyd Moore 1398.0
5. Curtis Turner 1375.5
6. Johnny Mantz 1282.0
7. Chuck Mahoney 1217.5
8. Dick Linder 1121.0
9. Jimmy Florian 801.0
10. Bill Blair 766.0
11. Herb Thomas 590.5
12. Buck Baker 531.5
13. Cotton Owens 500.0
14. Fonty Flock 458.5
15. Weldon Adams 440.0
16. Tim Flock 437.5
17. Clyde Minter 427.0
18. Dick Burns (driver) 341.5
19. Art Lamey 320.0
20. Bob Flock 314.0
21. George Hartley 298.0
22. Gayle Warren 287.0
23. Frank Mundy 275.5
24. Jim Paschal 220.5
25. Jack White 211.5
26. Pappy Hough 207.5
27. Ray Duhigg 202.5
28. Leon Sales 200.0
29. Jimmy Thompson 200.0
30. Harold Kite 187.0
31. Neil Cole 183.5
32. Jack Smith 180.0
33. Bucky Sager 180.0
34. Red Harvey 180.0
35. Ted Swaim 180.0
36. Buck Barr 180.0
37. Pepper Cunningham 177.5
38. Ewell Weddle 173.5
39. Donald Thomas 164.0
40. Bill Snowden 163.0
41. Jimmie Lewallen 140.0
42. Chuck James 140.0
43. Dick Clothier 133.5
44. Paul Parks 124.5
45. Al Gross 124.0
46. Jack Reynolds 120.0
47. Jim Delaney 114.0
48. Carl Renner 108.0
49. Jack Holloway 107.5
50. J.C. Van Landingham 105.0

Got a Lloyd Moore Story, Comment or Picture? Email it here.

For Lloyd Moore requests write Reg Houghwot
RHoughwot@windstream.net.

Copyright © 2003 LegendsofNascar.com by Roland Via. All rights reserved.  Revised: 06/08/12 08:11:14 -0400. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. FAIR USE NOTICE: This web page may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This page is operated under the assumption that this use on the Web constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Any text or images that you feel need to be removed please contact me. LegendsofNascar.com is not associated or affiliated with any racing club or organizations including that of NASCAR. It is constructed simply as an internet information source. Images and content made be used with email permission. Opinions and other content are not necessarily those of editors, sponsors. Visit official NASCAR at NASCAR.COM.