Meet L.W. Wright, the NASCAR driver that never existed
Description
On May 2, 1982, the green flag flew for the NASCAR Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and among a grid of legends like Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Benny Parsons, and more was a mystery racer no one had ever heard of before: L. W. Wright.
Wright managed to nab a competition license, a race car, and some positive press, but there was just one problem. He wasn't a race car driver. He was a conman with a big dream and studied confidence so strong that no one much questioned this stranger. At least, not until his checks started bouncing.
Today, we're digging into the story of L. W. Wright, the NASCAR driver who never existed.
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Episode Bibliography:
Driven to Crime: True stories of wrongdoing in motor racing by Crispian Besley
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-lw-wright-debut-announcem/29780910/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/215977023/?clipping_id=29781516
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-officials-searching-for/29780992/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salina-journal-nascar-fell-for-bogus/29781484/
https://www.thescenevault.com/podcast/episode/7995e7c6/episode-193-lw-wright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLCPWLKaOVE
https://historicalf1stories.wordpress.com/2024/11/27/driver-profile-helmut-koinigg/
United States
Great to have you back! As a motorsport fan with a journalist wife, I love how this podcast mixes our interests! It's always very lovingly researched and I've learnt about so many interesting characters.