Ralph Moody Made Fords Fast and Safe

by Tom Jensen February 04, 2025

New England racer moved from cockpit to factory, building, innovating and fielding NASCAR Cup Series cars that became the industry standard.

Editor’s note: On Friday, February 7, the late Ralph Moody will join Ricky Rudd and Carl Edwards as inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Tickets for Induction Weekend events are available here.

When it comes to the history of Ford Motor Co. in NASCAR racing, few, if any individuals played a more pivotal role than the late Ralph Moody, who will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

A native of Massachusetts, Moody started driving in the 1930s, competing throughout New England in a variety of race cars, including Midgets, Modifieds and stock cars. Popular and successful behind the wheel, Moody won early and often.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Moody, then 24 years old, enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he drove a tank under the command of General George S. Patton in the Third Armored Division. After returning home he continued to race in New England before relocating to Florida so he could race all year long.

Moody’s prowess behind the wheel caught the attention of NASCAR team owner Pete DePaolo, who was heavily backed by Ford Motor Co. Moody was among the first drivers hired for the Charlotte-based DePaolo Engineering team and won five races in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series in 1956-57.

In the summer of 1957, Ford pulled out of racing and DePaolo did, too, agreeing to sell the team and its cars and parts to Moody and Southern California businessman John Holman for $12,000. Moody mortgaged his airplane to raise the purchase funds. Once the deal was sealed, DePaolo Engineering became Holman Moody Racing, which for the next 15 years would become one of NASCAR’s top teams.

Holman Moody’s first race victory came at Champion Speedway, a 0.333-mile paved track in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on March 15, 1958. Holman Moody went on to win 96 races with nine different drivers between 1958-71 and a pair of championships with David Pearson (Class of 2011) in 1968-69.

But the impact of Moody and the operation he co-owned stretched far beyond that of simply being a car owner. Holman Moody Racing employed more than 300 people at its Charlotte-based manufacturing facility. Holman Moody’s high-water mark came in 1965, when Ford set a manufacturer’s record never to be equaled, winning 48 of 55 races in a single season.

Moody’s experience as a race car driver, coupled with his knowledge of chassis set ups and engineering principles helped him build fast race cars and communicate with the stars who drove for his team. All told, 10 NASCAR Hall of Famers drove Fords for Holman Moody Racing, including Fireball Roberts (Class of 2014), Fred Lorenzen (Class of 2015), Bobby Allison (Class of 2011) and Pearson, among others.

“He (Moody) was the guts of the whole team,” said Richard Petty (Class of 2010), who raced against Holman Moody cars for more than a decade. “He was the team, and Holman was the business part of it. (Holman) probably didn't even know one end of the race car from the other, but Ralph understood all that stuff, so he's the one that mechanically made it all work.”

As a driver himself, Moody knew how to extract maximum sped from each car he drove. “Well, it was the chassis, all the parts of setting (the car) up – the springs, the shocks, the alignment of the car,” said former Holman Moody engine builder Waddell Wilson (Class of 2020). “He (Moody) was good at just setting them up and doing it all.”

“I think his experience as a driver was the key because obviously he had sat in that car, so he understood when a driver would talk to him,” said Kyle Petty. “And when he would watch a car run or he would see a car run, he could tell what a car (needed).”

Moody made another important contribution to the sport: safety. After suffering injuries in several crashes in his younger driving days, Moody was vocal about making race cars safer for drivers.

“Ralph Moody, as long as he was around race cars, which was his entire life, he never saw the race car driver as just another part in the car,” said veteran motorsports journalist Ryan McGee. “He saw that as a human being that he needed to protect as part of his job.”

“Having been a driver, he probably knew what needed to be done,” added Wood Brothers Racing CEO and co-owner Eddie Wood. “And they were the first ones that started stacking more bars from the bottom (of the roll cage) up on the driver's side and just innovating stuff like that as it would come in.”

In addition to their work in NASCAR, Holman Moody helped develop the Ford GT-40 endurance racing car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for four consecutive years beginning in 1966. The team also designed and built cars and parts for a variety of other series, including drag racing, rallying, sports car, speed boat racing and more.

After Ford Motor Co. withdrew from racing at the end of the 1971 season, Moody ended his partnership with Holman and opened his own shop working with a variety of racers, including Bobby Allison and Janet Guthrie.

For his role in Ford Motor Co.’s racing success, Moody holds a place of honor within the company and now the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “Ralph Moody and John Holman set the standard for Ford racing in the ’50s, ’60s, and especially in the early ’70s,” said Doug Yates, president and CEO of Roush Yates Engines and son of former Holman Moody engine builder Robert Yates (Class of 2018). “So the Ford family is big on family … and Ralph Moody is part of the Ford family and they appreciate him for all the accomplishments and all of his dedication and hard work for the Ford Racing family.”

Plan a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and purchase tickets at nascarhall.com/tickets.