Such was the case with Hank's response letter to the fan who obviously knew the difference between a Pontiac racing engine and a Ford racing engine. Hank never met a subject on which he did not consider himself to be an expert. In addition to those duties, Hank founded and owned Universal Racing Network, broadcasting events prior to ISC owned MRN. Ole bald headed Hank had been sports editor of the Winston-Salem Journal and was the public relations guru for both North Wilkesboro and Bowman-Gray Stadium. If you never knew Hank, let me explain that modesty was not one of his virtues. The letter asked why the engine they'd seen in the 1982 Wrangler T-bird on display in August at a department store in Bristol had the distributor on the wrong side of the engine? Then a letter to the editor from a fan appeared in the Southern MotoRacing paper of the late Hank Schoolfield. I paid the ever reliable former father-in-law of Dale Earnhardt, Robert Gee to hang 1982 Ford Thunderbird sheet metal on our 1981 Pontiac race car, keeping the Pontiac race engine in the vehicle.įor three-quarters of the 1982 racing season, I thought I'd gotten by without anyone discovering what I'd done. When Wrangler signed with Bud Moore to field Ford Thunderbirds for Dale in 1982, I had no money in my budget to build a Ford Thunderbird show car. That wasn't a big problem, except for my show car budget over run. I paid the salary for the late Robert Gee to go to Richard Childress' little shop and skin some sleek #3 Wrangler Pontiacs.Īt the same time, we had to re-decal the Osterlund / Wrangler Pontiac show car #2 to a Childress / Wrangler Pontiac show car #3. A lot of folks forget that Childress ever fielded a Pontiac, but Wrangler had a deal with Pontiac for 1981. Osterlund Racing Manager, Roland Wlodyka took the car back to the Old Statesville Road shop in Charlotte and put a different fan in it to keep it from overheating at slow parade lap speeds.Īs has been well documented, Osterlund sold the Dale Earnhardt team to JD Stacy in summer of 1981 and Wrangler brokered a deal with Richard Childress to field Pontiacs for Dale in the final 11 races of 1981. In fact, I drove that show car in the 1981 Daytona 500 pre-race parade and it overheated. ![]() Osterlund had a former Pontiac speedway car Wrangler bought to use for a show car. The 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup season began with Dale Earnhardt driving a 1981 Rod Osterlund #2 Pontiac sponsored by Wrangler. I don't know anything about the 1982 Wrangler T-bird in the museum, but I do know that not all 1982 Bud Moore / Wrangler / Dale Earnhardt Thunderbirds are what they appear to be. As the Manager of Wrangler NASCAR Special Events, I was in the Bud Moore pits that day and in victory lane with Dale and Bud at Darlington. When I read that statement, I broke out laughing. The event copy also says that the 1982 Bud Moore Wrangler Thunderbird that Dale Earnhardt drove to victory over Cale Yarborough in the 1982 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington is also displayed in the museum and a picture is included on the museum web site. I sure plan to ride up to Mooresville, NC and see my old friend Bud get honored. The event description is found at this link below - just click. Our RR upcoming events calendar lists an event on Sunday, October 14 that is titled MEMORY LANE MUSEUM HONORS BUD MOORE.
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