There haven't been many weekends over the past 50 years in which, weather permitting, Bald Knob's Wayne Brooks has not climbed behind the wheel of a race car at a dirt track.
He will be at a dirt track tonight, but he won't be strapping on a helmet.
Brooks and Mooney Starr, the owner/promoter at Batesville Motor Speedway, will be among those inducted into the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame tonight at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.
"It's truly an honor," Brooks said this week. "I can't begin to tell you how proud I am that they even remembered me."
Starting in the late 1970s, Brooks' UFO late model was one of the most feared in the nation, totaling more than 500 victories. He remains competitive today in the IMCA modified and street stock ranks. Last Friday at Batesville Motor Speedway -- about a month shy of his 70th birthday -- he finished fifth in the IMCA modified main event.
"I have no plans of stopping anytime soon," he said. "I still win races. When I get to where I can't, I'll quit."
Brooks spends much of his time these days working with the Brooks/Shaw Driving School. He and co-owner Kevin Shaw of Shaw Race Cars in Batesville are conducting multi-day classes around the country.
"We have done as many as 25 in a year," Brooks said. "It's not just about driving. We teach everything from the kinds of adjustments on the chassis to how to wash the car when you get home."
Brooks' racing career began in 1969. A few years later, at what is now Batesville Motor Speedway, his path crossed with that of a 14-year-old who already shared his passion for racing and winning -- eventual NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin.
"I really kind of consider him, now that I look back, one of my first students," Brooks said. "We became really good friends and we're friends to this day."
As for his induction, Brooks said he could not overstate his pride.
"I'm going to tell you, it's the most important thing that's ever happened to me in my life," he said.
Starr, along with his wife Connie, has owned and/or promoted Batesville Motor Speedway since 1993. He said the induction is a source of pride, but he joked that it is worrisome, since next week his track will host its biggest annual event, the Topless 100 for late models.
"Yeah, it's bad timing, but there was no way I couldn't go," he said. "I'll go and then hustle back to Batesville because next week is a busy one."
Shaw moving on
Larry Shaw, who has been building dirt cars for drivers and teams across the nation for more than 40 years, is no longer working at Larry Shaw Race Cars in Batesville.
But just don't say he is retiring, Shaw was quick to say.
"It's not retirement," he said. "I've still got lots of things going on."
Scott and Marlene Mosley of Bearden took over ownership and operation of Larry Shaw Race Cars on July 1. The company was renamed Shaw Race Cars.
"I had told Cheryl [his wife], if somebody ever offered to come in and keep our legacy going," Shaw said, "keep all my employees, treat everybody fair and give us a fair price, I wouldn't have a problem getting rid of it."
The Mosleys kept all of the employees, Shaw said, including his son, Kevin, who will continue to head most of the daily operations. Also brought in was Jeff Taylor, Shaw's nephew, who is one of the nation's top modified drivers.
"They [the Mosleys] said they weren't going to buy the business unless Kevin would stay," Shaw said. "Jeff is working out of the shop and helping with it."
Shaw, 74, built his first race car in 1974, when he was part of a group that constructed the first racer for 14-year-old Mark Martin. After helping with Martin's first four cars, Shaw went to work for Baker Engineering, a race engine manufacturer in Nunica, Mich.
Shaw soon moved back to Batesville and started building his own race cars on Oct. 10, 1979. The first 25 or 30 cars were built for asphalt racing, but he was commissioned to build a dirt late model for driver Buck Cadwell of Arnett, Okla. He and Shaw then took the car to a race in Hutchinson, Kan.
"We set fast time, won our heat race, won the dash, and the next day won the feature, lapping up to second place," Shaw said. "When I left the race track that day, I had sold seven cars. I came home and told Cheryl, 'We're out of the asphalt business. We're going to start building dirt cars.' "
One of those buying one of Shaw's new cars was Billy Moyer. Shaw and Moyer soon formed one of dirt late model racing's top teams.
Shaw developed an innovative strut-rod front end for his cars, which was unveiled at the 1986 Dirt Track World Championship at Pennsboro, W.Va., which Moyer dominated to win.
"That winter, we built 286 cars," Shaw said.
Larry Shaw Race Cars became one of the nation's most respected manufacturers, eventually evolving into building dirt modified cars almost exclusively.
Sports on 08/09/2019