Joe Weatherly takes his place among sport’s greats

With his racing career cut short by his untimely death in January 1964, NASCAR and its fans got only a glimpse of Joe Weatherly’s potential.

But oh, what a view.

A hard-charger on the track and in life, Weatherly left an indelible mark on NASCAR’s history books and in the vivid memories of friends and fans who had the chance to witness his career firsthand.

“Joe just liked to have fun,” said former Charlotte Motor Speedway president and now consultant Humpy Wheeler. “I don’t know a driver who had more fun in life than he did.

“The pits – that was his pool hall. When he got down there, he would play tricks and practical jokes on everybody.”

Dubbed the “Clown Prince of Racing,” Weatherly will take his place on the throne among the sport’s greats when he is inducted Friday night into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Wheeler, himself known as one of NASCAR’s best promoters, said Weatherly realized how important it was to not just perform well but also “put on a show.”

“Joe and Curtis Turner, they just had a blast,” he said.

Weatherly once rode a mule through the streets of Darlington, S.C., as part of a prerace parade. He repeatedly hid fellow competitors’ car keys before races and the legend still grows to this day of the parties Weatherly and Turner threw during Daytona Speedweeks.

“It looked like that was what they were put here for, to enjoy every minute of it,” said Junie Donlavey, one of Weatherly’s car owners, in a 2009 interview.

Make no mistake, Weatherly’s propensity for fun didn’t detract from his performance.

He began his racing career on motorcycles and won three American Motorcycle Association titles. After moving to stock cars, Weatherly won 102 modified races in 1952 and 1953, including the 1953 series championship.

Weatherly’s first start in what is now called the Sprint Cup Series came in the 1952 Southern 500, when he started 38th and finished 16th driving for Donlavey.

He won his first Cup race in 1958 at Nashville, Tenn., and in the 1961 season he won nine times in just 25 starts and was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver. Running a full schedule in 1962, Weatherly again recorded nine wins and won his first series championship, this time running for Hall of Fame car owner Bud Moore.

“I wanted a driver who would stick his foot in it when we need the speed and one who could drive cautiously when the occasion called for it,” Moore said.

When Moore cut back the team’s schedule the following season, Weatherly was forced to borrow competitors’ cars to run the whole season. It worked – he won three races and the series championship while running for nine owners.

Weatherly, then 41, was leading the standings again in 1964 when he was killed in a crash in a road-course race in Riverside, Calif. With no window net and not wearing a shoulder harness, Weatherly’s head reportedly hit the wall, killing him instantly when his car struck the retaining wall.

As one of NASCAR’s earliest personalities, it shouldn’t come as a surprise Weatherly played a role in creating the first museum to honor the sport’s stars.

After visiting the museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Weatherly suggested to friend Bob Colvin, then president of Darlington Raceway, that he should build a similar museum dedicated to the greats of stock car racing.

Following Weatherly’s death, Colvin brought plans for the Joe Weatherly Stock Car Museum to the track’s board of directors, which unanimously approved the idea. The museum was dedicated on May 2, 1965. The name of the museum was changed after renovation and expansion in 2003.

“Joe thought this sport was bigger than it was at the time,” Wheeler said. “To him, every sport that was big, had a museum.

“For all the fun he had, he thought ahead a lot more than a lot of guys at that time. He had a big-picture view of things.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Joe Weatherly takes his place among sport’s greats."